Mid Kent Downs • Boxley to Selling

Key Characteristics

  • Series of wide ridges and steep-sided dry valleys.
  • Extensive coppice woodlands and some large expanses of conifer woodland.
  • Much surviving original ancient woodland.
  • Large arable fields on the plateaux.
  • Hedgerow trees prominent in parts.
  • Orchards and shelterbelts around Chatham, Bicknor and Faversham.
  • Tiny, scattered villages linked by narrow lanes.
  • Hop gardens and parkland.

Overall Landscape Character Objectives

  • To manage and restore hedgerows, trees and woodlands, especially in the valleys.
  • To seek to conserve the small scale of the roads and villages and the remote quality of the countryside.
  • To maintain the existing diversity of orchards, hop gardens, parkland and farmland, and control urban fringe pressures.