Where are the UK’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty?

You’ll have doubtless heard or read the phrase ‘Britain’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ before – and perhaps made a mental note to find out more. So, just what are these inviting-sounding regions, is there one near you, and can you and your campervan stay overnight in any of them?

Britain’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty make excellent destinations for a campervan trip: representing, as they do, some of our islands’ most treasured landscapes, they are liberally dotted with campsites to allow everyone to linger amongst the beauty for a while.

Many of these sites’ welcome campervans, and we’ll be listing a few favourites below. So, read our handy guide, pick your destination, make sure there’s fuel in the van and the insurance for your campervan is up to date – and you’re ready to start exploring these most special landscapes.

AONBs: the essentials

Between them, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have a total of 46 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). Scotland, meanwhile, has its own designation – National Scenic Areas, of which there are 40.

Put simply, the AONBs are wonderful landscapes whose beauty and character have been deemed so valuable that they are protected, to some extent, from development – and exist to encourage leisure activities for visitors, as well as protecting the livelihoods of those people living and working within their boundaries.

This makes them some of the best areas in Britain for walking, cycling, nature… and for visiting in your campervan. Being wild landscapes, the AONBs often have facilities for more active pursuits, such as canoeing, fishing, sailing, caving and more.

The AONB designation spans a great variety of landscapes, from rolling farmland via ancient forests to wild moorland.

Our rugged coastline also features prominently: just over one fifth of the English coast has been designated an AONB, including large tracts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, East Anglia, and Northumberland.

The AONBs of England and Wales cover about 18% of the UK countryside. Of Britain's 46 AONBs, 33 are in England, four in Wales, one (Wye Valley) in both England and Wales, and eight in Northern Ireland.

A glance at the map reveals that the south and west of England are particularly rich in AONBs – as are Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the far north. The first AONB, the Gower in South Wales, was created in 1956.

There is a great variety of size – Britain's largest AONB is the Cotswolds, at 787 square miles, and the smallest the Scilly Isles, at just 62 square miles. The AONBs also vary in their landscape type, and in how much of them is open to the public.

More than 19,000km of footpaths and bridleways pass through AONBs – including 10 National Trails, such as the South West Coast Path, Cotswold Way and South Downs Way.

Scotland's National Scenic Areas, meanwhile, cover 13% of the country, and – as you'd expect from a nation so rich in variety – span everything from majestic mountain ranges (Ben Nevis and Glen Coe; the Cuillins on Skye), via dramatic island landscapes across the Hebrides and Northern Isles, to the gentler woodland, river and upland scenery of Perthshire, the Borders, and Dumfries and Galloway.

Visiting the UK’s AONBs

Of course, the UK's Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty make great touring locations for you and your campervan, and there are a great many excellent campsites within their boundaries.

Once again, we’d recommend making sure that your campervan insurance is fully up to date and will safeguard you against any eventualities.

Here is a brief introduction to a few of England and Wales' AONBs – and perhaps Scotland's most dramatic National Scenic Area.

The Norfolk Coast AONB

Norfolk's coastline is spectacular, and the long northern strip that constitutes the Norfolk Coast AONB includes many of the wildest and most beautiful of the county's many remote beaches and marshlands.

Plenty of varied landscapes await you in north Norfolk, from the endless sandy expanses of Holkham to the bird-rich saltmarshes of Cley and Titchwell, both world-famous nature reserves.

Norfolk is justly famed for its avian wildlife and, at the right time of year, a trip to Titchwell or Cley may be rewarded with marsh harriers, bearded tits, avocet and bittern among the star species.

Elsewhere, the high clay cliffs around Sheringham, Cromer and Happisburgh are an important geological landscape – and, with their ongoing threat from coastal erosion, a vanishing one, too.

Away from the coastline itself, you'll find picturesque villages and towns of elegant brick and flint houses and handsome churches.

You should make time for the pretty coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea, with the seemingly endless sandy expanses of Holkham Beach nearby, as well as the elegant Palladian Holkham Hall.

A handsome town, Wells has had its own harbour for 600 years: this is also your departure point for a wonderful boat trip to see the seals off the Norfolk headland of Blakeney Point. And why not take the family for a ride on the charming Wells and Walsingham Light Railway?

If you're seeking that traditional British seaside experience, meanwhile, you should set the compass for Cromer.

Fine sandy beaches, surfing, museums, and some great walks along the Norfolk Coast Path: there will be plenty to detain you here.

Campervans are welcome at numerous campsites across the region. If you want to be near the excitement of Cromer, Manor Farm campsite is a good bet. The campsite also has splendid views of the sea, while the beach at nearby East Runton is a rock-pooler’s favourite.

Elsewhere, north Norfolk's prettiest campsites include Blue Skies campsite at Wells, and the Norfolk Brickyard at Burnham Market – a truly off-grid, back-to-basics camping experience, where campfires are allowed and where resident barn owls can be seen patrolling the fields.

The North Pennines AONB

If you like your scenery rugged and windswept, the North Pennines should definitely be high up your list of AONBs to visit. An extensive, unspoilt wilderness region, it boasts an eventful history and plenty of wild beauty.

North Pennines specialities include rushing waterfalls, panoramic moorland views, and pretty stone villages tucked into the crooks of the hills.

The second largest AONB, the North Pennines is also sandwiched between two National Parks (the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland), meaning that you're positively surrounded with dramatic, inspiring and beautiful landscapes.

Above all, this is a landscape shaped by geology – from the awesome torrent of the High Force waterfall, where the River Tees tumbles down over 20 metres of sheer rocks, to High Cup Gill with its arresting, U-shaped valley.

Not for nothing has the North Pennines AONB been designated one of the UK’s eight UNESCO Global Geoparks (places whose geological heritage are of international significance).

Nowadays, around 80 per cent of the AONB area still uses less intensive, more traditional farming practices, which means that large tracts of the region remain a haven for wildlife.

The North Pennines has 40% of the UK’s upland hay meadows and 30% of England’s upland heathland, while Sites of Special Scientific Interest cover over a third of the designated region.

Unsurprisingly, it's a wildlife lover's paradise, featuring red squirrels, otters, rare arctic alpine plants and 22,000 pairs of breeding wading birds.

Campervan visitors have some great campsite options, including Greencarts Campsite in the Tyne Valley. Perched in the lee of the Roman Hadrian's Wall, Greencarts makes a great base for walks, bike rides and leisurely campervan tours.

Or try Haltwhistle Camping and Caravanning Club Site, sited in a clearing of Bellister Wood, once part of Bellister Castle Estate. If you’re lucky, you may awake to the sounds of woodpeckers and other woodland birds in this forest paradise.

Haltwhistle town itself is a historic place, featuring a 12th Century church and several reminders of its past as a fortified town, at the centre of the raids that flashed across the border between England and Scotland.

The Wye Valley AONB or Dyffryn Gwy AOHNE

We've given this one both its English and Welsh names and designations, as it straddles the two countries.

Meandering down from the cathedral city of Hereford to the castle town of Chepstow, the Wye Valley is a landscape of wonderful, mellow beauty.

The northern sections, where the river is younger, feature the wide meadows and hedges of Herefordshire, one of England's most sparsely populated counties, famed for its farming and orchards.

Further downstream, the landscape becomes more dramatic as the Wye cuts its way through steep limestone cliffs such as the famous Symonds Yat Rock, which is also a breeding ground for the dive-bombing peregrine falcons.

Any castle lovers among your party will certainly be happy here. The English and Welsh Marches – the border region between the two countries – have, like the North Pennines, seen plenty of cross-border hostilities, and as a result both river banks are dotted with fine old castles.

Key sites to visit include Chepstow and Goodrich castles, plus the remote White Castle – and, swapping militarism for meditation, the wonderful abbey at Tintern. Keen walkers will also want to try some sections of the Offa’s Dyke Path National Trail, which marks some of the border.

A region as scenic and awe-inspiring as this is, of course, well blessed with campsites. Try the Forest and Wye Valley Camping Site, named for its proximity not just to the Wye but also to the extensive and atmospheric Forest of Dean.

We also recommend Beeches Farm Campsite, perched high on a bluff over the Wye, with beautiful walks down through woodlands to the historic riverside village and abbey of Tintern.

Ben Nevis and Glen Coe NSA

Even for those who’ve not ventured within a hundred miles of its vast, empty expanses, the very name of ‘Glen Coe’ conjures up certain images – a huge, desolate and windswept valley, encircled by towering peaks.

The valley itself, plus Britain’s highest mountain, the 4,406-ft Ben Nevis, make up the heartland of this 400-square-mile National Scenic Area.

The designated region covers a large swath of Highland Scotland, from Glen Spean in the north to Glen Kinglass in the south, and from the remote Rannoch Moor all the way westwards to the point where Loch Leven meets the sea.

Approaching Glen Coe from the south, you will pass the near-perfect mountain cone of Buachaille Etive Mor (the Great Herdsman of Etive), which watches over the glen’s south-eastern entrance.

The mountain reminded WH Murray, the famous Scottish mountaineer, of a Gothic cathedral or a Neolithic arrowhead. In Mountaineering in Scotland, his 1947 survey of the country’s major peaks published in 1947, Murray labelled the Buachaille as “the most splendid of earthly mountains”.

If you’re thinking that the scenery here sounds all of a piece – mountains and bleak moorland – think again. Ben Nevis, Glen Etive and Rannoch Moor are granite landscapes, while Glen Coe itself is largely composed of volcanic rock.

The result is a variety of land formations, from smooth, grass-covered hills to jagged, steeply falling crags and precipitous crags – such as those that dot the northern face of Ben Nevis, and which make up some of the hardest climbing routes in the UK.

As for Ben Nevis itself… depending on your climbing expertise, it may be best admired from afar, rather than attempted.

You don’t need to be a professional mountaineer to reach the summit, but it is a difficult climb – typically some four hours’ ascent, and two to three hours’ descent – and can be dangerous.

For us, it’s more about having this most majestic of peaks in the background as you enjoy the dramatic scenery hereabouts.

As regards campervan-friendly camping options, you are once again spoilt for choice, with peace and scenery among the attractions wherever you choose.

Try Invercoe, right on the shores of Loch Leven – or the Ben Nevis Holiday Park, right in the shadow of the great mountain itself.

Protect your home on wheels with campervan insurance

We hope our brief guide has inspired you to get out in the van and explore Britain’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

A serene and relaxing time awaits you at any of these renowned beauty spots. But it always pays to be prepared for the unexpected.

Benefits of campervan insurance through Lancaster include:

• Motorhome Club member discounts
• Windscreen cover
• Optional breakdown cover
• 24-hour claims helpline
• UK-based call centre
• Personal effects cover up to £6,000

Contact us today to arrange a quote for your campervan insurance.

Policy benefits, features and discounts offered may very between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. Information contained within this article is accurate at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.