Cornwall's Nationally Protected Landscape

Separated into 12 Sections

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Community Groups

We've curated our content for community groups, find out more.

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Farmer & Land Managers

Are you farming in the protected landscape?

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Partners & Stakeholders

Positioned for partners and strategic organisations.

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Visitors & Tourism

For day trippers, local explorers and tourism businesses.

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Cornwall AONB Trust

The Cornish charity caring for the landscape and environment.

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As spring awakens Cornwall National landscape, we nurture people, place, nature and climate - protecting Natural Beauty for generations to come.

Latest Announcements

Forest For Cornwall - Celebrating 5 years of tree planting

The team at Forest for Cornwall are celebrating an incredible five years of the project. So far over 1.6 million trees have been planted in 971 projects across Cornwall, with many more projects in the pipeline for this winter!

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The Natural Beauty Series: Part 6 – Scenic Quality

This article is the sixth part of our featured series on Natural Beauty and explores the concept of Scenic Quality, one of the recognised factors contributing to Natural Beauty (as identified by Natural England, Statutory Body for all National Landscapes).

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St Mawes Harbour Conservation Trust

St Mawes and the Roseland form part of the South Coast Central section of the Cornwall National Landscape (formerly AONB). It includes the magnificent dramatic cliffs and coastline of Mevagissey Bay, Veryan Bay and Gerrans Bay separated by the headlands of The Dodman, Nare Head, and St Anthony Head and beyond this the enclosed seascape of the Carrick Roads.

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Restoring the Fal catchment for farming, nature and communities

The Fal Rivers to Reef project is working to restore the Fal catchment for farming, nature and communities by taking an innovative source-to-sea approach to restoring 18,000 hectares of land. The Fal catchment is one of the most beautiful areas in Cornwall, but its beauty masks some real issues affecting nature, water quality and farm profitability.

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We are Cornwall National Landscape

Cornwall National Landscape is the new name for the protected landscape in Cornwall, endorsed by Natural England. We are still in law a designated area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB). Cornwall National Landscape is 12 separate sections making up one third of Cornwall and our primary purpose remains to conserve and enhance Natural Beauty.

Cornwall is a beautiful part of the world, with a world-renowned coastline, a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, and a host of natural and heritage features that make it unique and such a draw for visitors and residents alike. National Landscapes are protected landscapes whose distinctive character and natural beauty are so outstanding that it is in the nation’s interest to safeguard them. As such they have been nationally designated by the same legislation as National Parks and have the same status and level of protection.

Cornwall National Landscape is unique, it is the only protected landscape that has 12 separate sections totalling almost a third of Cornwall – an area bigger than Dartmoor National Park.

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Our Focus

Our Primary Purpose is to conserve and enhance Natural Beauty.

Our priority is to lead and support projects which deliver under these four key priorities.

benefit to people

People

Communities in the Cornwall National Landscape live entirely outside the main towns, within villages, hamlets and scattered farmsteads, dispersed throughout the landscape. It’s a mixed picture with areas of extreme wealth and also extreme deprivation.

benefit to place

Place

The beauty and character of the protected landscape is primarily owed to the stewardship of generations of farmers and landowners. It is essential to appreciate, understand and value its unique and diverse character and reinvest in this precious resource in order to continue to conserve and enhance it for future generations.

benefit to nature

Nature

Set against a backdrop of unprecedented concern for the future of the natural world and ecological crisis the current global response to the effects of human impact on nature is insufficient. The ‘richest’ sites for wildlife are too few, too small, too degraded and too disconnected. Nature Recovery must take place to restore and reverse this ecological decline.

benefit to climate

Climate

The climate emergency is the defining challenge of our time. In January 2019, Cornwall Council declared a climate emergency, recognising the need for urgent action to address the climate crisis. Climate change also poses threats to Cornwall National Landscape's cultural heritage and heritage assets, including historic landscape and seascape.

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1 Designated Protected Landscape

Separated into 12 sections

Section 01

Section 02

Section 03

Section 04

Section 05

Section 06

Section 07

Section 08

Section 09

Section 10

Section 11

Section 12

management plan cover

It's all part of the plan

A shared strategy for those who live, work and visit the Cornwall National Landscape. It provides guidance to help Government, statutory organisations and any public body to ensure they are fulfilling their Section 85* duty to ‘have regard to the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty’ of the protected landscape.

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