National Character 140. Yeovil Scarplands Area profile: Supporting documents www.naturalengland.org.uk 1 National Character 140. Yeovil Scarplands Area profile: Supporting documents Introduction National Character Areas map As part of Natural England’s responsibilities as set out in the Natural Environment White Paper,1 Biodiversity 20202 and the European Landscape Convention,3 we are revising profiles for England’s 159 National Character Areas North (NCAs). These are areas that share similar landscape characteristics, and which East follow natural lines in the landscape rather than administrative boundaries, making them a good decision-making framework for the natural environment. Yorkshire & The North Humber NCA profiles are guidance documents which can help communities to inform West their decision-making about the places that they live in and care for. The information they contain will support the planning of conservation initiatives at a East landscape scale, inform the delivery of Nature Improvement Areas and encourage Midlands broader partnership working through Local Nature Partnerships. The profiles will West also help to inform choices about how land is managed and can change. Midlands East of Each profile includes a description of the natural and cultural features England that shape our landscapes, how the landscape has changed over time, the current key drivers for ongoing change, and a broad analysis of each London area’s characteristics and ecosystem services. Statements of Environmental South East Opportunity (SEOs) are suggested, which draw on this integrated information. South West The SEOs offer guidance on the critical issues, which could help to achieve sustainable growth and a more secure environmental future. NCA profiles are working documents which draw on current evidence and knowledge. We will aim to refresh and update them periodically as new 1 The Natural Choice: Securing the Value of Nature, Defra information becomes available to us. (2011; URL: www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm80/8082/8082.pdf) 2 Biodiversity 2020: A Strategy for England’s Wildlife and Ecosystem Services, Defra (2011; URL: www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb13583-biodiversity-strategy-2020-111111.pdf) We would like to hear how useful the NCA profiles are to you. You can contact the 3 European Landscape Convention, Council of Europe NCA team by [email protected]. (2000; URL: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/176.htm) 2 National Character 140. Yeovil Scarplands Area profile: Supporting documents Summary The Yeovil Scarplands run, in an arc, from the Mendip Hills around the Woodland, covering 4 per cent of the area, is relatively scattered, though southern edge of the Mid Somerset Hills and the Somerset Levels and Moors where it sits on steep scarp slopes or fills the steep goyles cut into the scarps to the fringes of the Blackdowns. This remote, rural landscape comprises a it can be a strong local feature. series of broad ridges and steep scarps separating sheltered clay vales. Less than 5 per cent of the area is urban, though Yeovil, lying in the south of the The NCA’s biodiversity is scattered and fragmented, though important area, has grown to become a sizeable town with a busy industrial zone. grassland assemblages and ancient woodlands do occur. The southern extreme of the area is one of the most intensely rural parts, and it is here The area has a long history of settlement reflected through the archaeology, that the 12 per cent of the area lying within the Dorset Area of Outstanding from Neolithic hill forts, through Roman villas, to remnant medieval open Natural Beauty can be found. fields – along with many Listed Buildings. The area is known for its collection of fine manor houses and associated parklands. The area also boasts a variety of limestones and sandstones from which distinctive local settlement character is derived. Foremost among these is the Ham Hill stone: Stoke-sub-Hamdon, South Petherton and the notable Elizabethan Montacute House are all constructed principally from this stone. Approximately 85 per cent of the National Character Area (NCA) is farmed and, away from the towns, this sets the rural landscape character; indeed, in some places the NCA is intensely rural. The south-west of the area features arable systems with a tradition of growing soft fruit and vegetables, as well as a remnant scattering of orchards. The rest of the NCA is mainly pastoral in nature, though in some of the clay vales between the scarps mixed farming brings a variation of character. Click map to enlarge; click again to reduce Click map to enlarge; click again to reduce 3 National Character 140. Yeovil Scarplands Area profile: Supporting documents Statements of Environmental Opportunities: ■ SEO 1: Work with the local farming and land management community to ■ SEO 3: Protect and manage the National Character Area’s rich cultural adapt to evolving funding mechanisms and climate change, encouraging inheritance, including its historic environment and geodiversity. Raise the business choices that balance food production with provision of a range profile of the Yeovil Scarplands as a landscape of distinction and, in many of ecosystem services. places, great beauty. ■ SEO 2: Protect, manage and enhance the diverse but coherent pastoral and ■ SEO 4: Manage and plan for growth in the area around Yeovil and the mixed farming landscape character of the clay vales and limestone and other towns in this part of the National Character Area as they expand as sandstone scarps, their semi-natural grasslands and woodland and their employment and housing centres, ensuring that landscape character is characteristic wildlife. Manage the simple patterns of land use maintained used as a framework for future growth and enhancement. by the long history of agriculture. In the south-west of the NCA soft fruit growing has been a traditional agricultural practice. Here, fields of blackcurrant are being grown. 4 National Character 140. Yeovil Scarplands Area profile: Supporting documents Description Physical and functional links to other National Key characteristics Character Areas The rivers Brue, Parrett and Yeo flow through the National Character Area ■ Contrasting and varied but complementary rhythm of the scarps (NCA) towards the west, forming a significant part of the upper catchment and vales, with the flatter margins of the Levels and Moors. of the Mid Somerset Hills and the Somerset Levels and Moors NCAs. The Axe ■ Scattered woodlands, many on steeper scarp slopes and within deep Valley separates the NCA from the Marshwood and Powerstock Vales NCA to ‘goyles’ (steep, narrow valleys) and wet valley floors. Conifer Plantations the south as the River Axe flows into the Blackdowns NCA to the south-west. on Ancient Woodland Sites, relict orchards and poplar shelterbelts. ■ Rural, agricultural character across the majority of the area, with Both the A30 and A303 cross the NCA, linking it east to west with the Blackmore Vale distinct pastoral, mixed and arable areas. and Vale of Wardour NCA and the Blackdowns NCA. The A37 forms the western ■ Several rivers draining east to west and a network of tributary boundary with the Mid Somerset Hills NCA between Ilchester and Shepton Mallet. streams, sometimes in goyles. ■ Small villages and farmsteads contrasting sharply with urban and Two rail links cross the area, both serving Yeovil, but not meeting. One, peri-urban Yeovil. the Exeter to Waterloo line, runs east to west from the Blackdowns to the ■ Widespread earthwork remains, including medieval settlements, Blackmore Vale and Vale of Wardour. The other, the Weymouth to Bristol line, Roman villas and prehistoric forts, settlements and ritual sites. runs northwards into the Blackmore Vale and Vale of Wardour and then into ■ A range of principally Jurassic strata, particularly limestones and Avon Vale, and southwards into the Blackmore Vale and Vale of Wardour and sandstones, giving rise to a suite of locally distinctive building then into Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase. stones, themselves imbuing distinctive local vernaculars. ■ Relict open fields in the south-west contrasting with extensive thick Within the NCA, land rises to meet the Mendip Hills to the north, the hedgerows with frequent mature to veteran trees elsewhere. Blackdowns to the south and Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase to the ■ Winding rural lanes, bounded by verges and hedgerows, connecting south-east. Elsewhere, from the highest points of the limestone scarps there villages and hamlets cut across by busy A roads linking larger towns are panoramic and sometimes far-reaching views over the Mid Somerset Hills and neighbouring NCAs. and the lowlands of the Somerset Levels and Moors and across the Blackmore ■ Manor houses and large mansions in landscaped parks. Vale towards the Dorset Downs, Cranborne Chase and the Vale of Wardour. 5 National Character 140. Yeovil Scarplands Area profile: Supporting documents Yeovil Scarplands today Despite being crossed by the busy A303 and A30 and with Yeovil as its centre of Coppice, is an SSSI and, due to the presence of the rare Bechstein’s bat population, the Yeovil Scarplands NCA has a rural character, often intensely so. population, a Special Area of Conservation (SAC); additionally, a section of the This is a diverse landscape of gently undulating clay vales, deep goyles, hills and West Dorset Alder Woods SAC is found in the south-west corner of the area. combes united by steep, exposed scarps. To the west are extensive flatter areas Willow pollards and alder line many stream sides, particularly in the vales. of Jurassic clays with a classic ‘clay vale’ character, similar to the neighbouring Blackmore Vale to the east and the Marshwood Vale further south. There are some coniferous plantations and scattered remnant orchards, some with poplar shelterbelts. Generally, hedgerows are thick, with substantial The land is primarily in agricultural use, with a mixture of arable, dairying and hedgebanks, and feature many, frequently veteran or ancient, hedgerow stock rearing.