Check out Will Self pondering the meaning of cemetries, AONBs and the meaning of 'english heritage' in his latest blog

Will Self's latest Madness of Crowds Column ponders Death in the Suburbs and wonders whether we would not all be better buried under areas of outstanding natural beauty

Check it out at http://will-self.com/2012/01/22/death-in-the-suburbs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=death-in-the-suburbs

See the AONB exhibition on the Medieval Chase this Saturday in Tisbury

This Saturday, 3rd December, the AONB team will be taking part in Tis The Season 3pm to 7pm on Tisbury High Street. The event will feature the normal festive cheer such as carol singers and santas grotto. The AONB team will also be attendance with our trailer featuring an exhibition on the Medieval Chase and a photographic exhibition in the Hinton Hall celebrating our 30th Anniversary.

Hope to see you there

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Art Exhibition at Devizes Museum - The Past is Another Country

Winter Exhibition at the Devizes Museum

The Past is Another Country: an Exhibition by the Elementals Art Group

Artwork inspired by the pre-history of Wiltshire.

The Elementals art group brings together the ideas and inspirations of six different artists under a central theme - Jenny Ford, Jan Knight, Julia Leyden, Christine Shorney, Josephine Sumner, plus guest artist Charlotte Sainsbury. Julia Leyden particularly has been inspired by the collections at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum. The project has been as much about the process of an idea, as the finished works of art.

The group studied archival maps and diagrams, artefacts in museums and photographic aerial views of the landscape - and walked and looked, and looked and walked! Rather than recreating the past they have distilled their own personal and emotional responses to the creations of the Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples of Wessex. Inevitably this involved straying outside Wiltshire to look at and compare sites and artefacts from other places.

Each artist has an individual ‘take’ on the project and this is reflected in the finished works themselves; which includes paintings, printmaking and mixed media, plus a twelve verse illustrated poem in book form and as a wall hanging. Exhibition will be on show in the Museum's Art Gallery from 5 November 2011 to 2 January 2012 at 41 Long Street, Devizes, Wiltshire. SN10 1NS

Following on from the blue plaque - explore Lancelot Capability Brown and the Cranborne Chase AONB

Lancelot Capability Brown has been honored with a Blue Plaque - find out about his contribution to the landscape of the AONB

Lancelot Capability Brown is to be commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque at Wilderness House, Hampton Court Palace, his home from 1764 – when he was appointed Chief Gardener at the palace – until his death in 1783. The plaque will be unveiled on Wednesday 9 November at 11am.Capability Brown was the leading landscape gardener of his age and his legacy can be seen today in many parks and gardens across the country.

He is credited with designing over 120 landscapes and demonstrated a flair for creating idyllic, pastoral scenes that complemented some of England’s grandest country houses.

In the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB he was the original designer of the mid 18th century extensive parkland surrounding Longleat and advised on plans to alter the park at Wardour in 1754.

See http://www.historiclandscape.co.uk/exploring_parksandgardens.html for more information

Explore Vernditch Chase for autumn colour and spectacular archaeology

I had a wonderful walk yesterday across the open access land on Vernditch Chase



It is a great place to see archaeology including two Long Barrows, Grim's Ditch, panoramic views of the Bokerly Dyke and the earthwork aga of the Ackling Dyke Roman Road.

You can explore all of these sites easily from the main Martin Down Nature Reserve car park or alternatively park by the Ox Drove to the north for a longer 4 mile circuit.



Ackling Dyke Roman Road, Vernditch Chase (Jim Champion) / CC BY-SA 2.0

English Heritage guides offer info on heritage assets that are important to AONB landscape

English Heritage has produced a suite of 40 Introductions to Heritage Assets which offer more detailed overviews of different categories of archaeological asset. This includes Assets particularly relevant to the AONB such as Banjo Enclosures.