Chiltern Hills

The Chiltern Hills stretch in a broad chalk ridge for 72 kilometres north-east from the Thames at Goring to Hitchin. They form a clear escarpment on the north-west side, while the dip slope falls gently south-east into the Vale of Aylesbury. Almost half of this 1,700-square-kilometre landscape was protected in 1964 as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The hills provided an Iron Age route across southern Britain and later guided turnpikes and canals. Railways in the 19th century helped High Wycombe and Tring to grow, while flint from the chalk has been quarried since Neolithic times. The highest point, Haddington Hill, reaches 267 metres and is marked by a stone monument. Visitors find beech woodlands covering one-fifth of the area and enclosed fields covering two-thirds. Long-distance paths such as the Ridgeway start at Ivinghoe Beacon, while the Grand Union Canal winds through the valleys. Chalk streams like the Chess and Ver rise here before joining the Thames basin.