Greensand Country Landscape Partnership

For the very latest information from Greensand Country please visit the project website.

‘Greensand Country’ is an island of distinctive, beautiful and loved countryside, based on a band of higher ground stretching from Leighton Buzzard to Gamlingay, rising out of the surrounding clay vales.

It contains all of Bedfordshire’s remaining heathland, more than half of its woodland, and more surviving historic parkland than any other landscape in the country, often surrounding notable manor houses. This landscape character is a legacy of its underlying Greensand geology, which led to much of it being regarded as ‘marginal land’ not suitable for agriculture, as well as its management over centuries by major estates.

A changing area

However, the area’s distinctiveness has been weakening over decades due to modern development and the changing economics of land use.

Key habitats are becoming fragmented and unsustainable in the longer term; views both of and from the area are being lost or impaired; houses are being built of the wrong vernacular; and traditional heritage skills are dying out.

Just as significantly, there is a low level of awareness locally of the significance of the area’s landscape value and heritage.

Greensands Country Map

The Greensand Country Landscape Partnership has been formed by a range of partners in the area to work with landowners and local communities to take a joined up approach to meeting the challenges in the area.

Our vision is for the Greensand Country to be a living and working landscape that is cherished by present and future generations.

The vision

A strong partnership to care for and protect the distinctive, beautiful and much-loved landscape of Greensand Country, for the benefit of everyone.

The Greensand Country Landscape Partnership have completed a National Lottery Heritage Funded Programme of more than 100 projects, helping to raise awareness of the heritage value of the landscape and to reverse the gradual decline in the distinct landscape character of this beautiful and loved place. The Partnership continues to operate beyond this Lottery-Funded phase, bringing together organisations to develop and delivery projects across the landscape.

Now led by The Greensand Trust, the Greensand Country Landscape Partnership has six main aims, to:

  1. Combine knowledge and expertise from the public, private and voluntary sectors.
  2. Improve the landscape, biodiversity and historical heritage of Greensand Country.
  3. Enable everyone to access, enjoy and connect with the landscape.
  4. Support sustainable recreation and tourism to boost the rural economy.
  5. Take action on climate change that inspires local communities, businesses and visitors.
  6. Add value to the work of the Greensand Trust as the accountable body of GCLP.