East Dorset Landscape Character Assessment - Dorsetforyou.com

View to Penbury KnollTree-cover within the area is sparse, except for a number of fairly smalland self-contained woods, the most significant of which are BlackbushPlantation and Salisbury Plantation in the north east, Chetterwood in thewest and Jubilee Wood and Great Col Wood in the south west. To thesouth west deciduous tree species tend to be more prevalent, particularlybeech and oak. The celebrated Beech Avenue along the Wimborne-Blandford road forms an impressive landscape feature.Several telecommunication masts have recently been installed in thedownland character area, however their location within or adjacent to theareas of established woodland has helped to mitigate their visual impactin this elevated, open landscape.Beech AvenueHedgerows also give the landscape shape and form accentuating thecontours of the land and accounting for the ‘soft’ appearance of thelandscape. Hedges tend to be kept low and enable long distance viewsfrom the road.The land to the south of the Beech Avenue falls towards the Stour, nearShapwick the fall is gradual and constant, permitting long-distance viewstowards Badbury Rings and the Avenue, whilst further to the east theland has a more rolling character with relatively shorter, steeper slopes.There is a group of woods in the vicinity of Badbury Rings -Target Wood,Jubilee Woods, The Oaks, High Wood and on the Rings itself, some ofwhich are classified as Ancient Woodlands. These, including theEast Dorset District Council District Landscape Character Assessment 200811