Mendip Hills National Landscape
Protected area · Bristol
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The Mendip Hills National Landscape, formerly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, covers 198 square kilometres of Carboniferous limestone rising sharply from the Somerset Levels. Its karst terrain holds gorges, dry valleys, sinkholes and underground cave and river systems, alongside species-rich scarp woodlands and limestone grassland, with dry stone walls marking out the open plateau above.
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From Wikipedia
The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Chew Valley and other tributaries of the Avon to the north. The highest point, at 325 metres (1,066 ft) above sea level, is Beacon Batch which is the summit area atop Black Down. The hills gave their name to the former local government district of Mendip, which administered most of the local area until April 2023. The higher, western part of the hills, covering 198 km2 (76 sq mi) has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which gives it a level of protection comparable to a national park. The hills are largely formed from Carboniferous Limestone, which is quarried at several sites. Ash–maple woodland, calcareous grassland and mesotrophic grassland which can be found across the Mendip Hills provide nationally important semi-natural habitats. With their temperate climate these support a range of flora and fauna including birds, butterflies and small mammals. The dry stone walls... Wikivoyage: The Mendips are a range of hills in northern Somerset in the south-west of the United Kingdom. The area is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).