Upland landscapes: values and prospects

Abstract

SUMMARY Upland scenery has been particularly valued by the British since the time of the Picturesque landscape movement and the Romantic literary movement. More recent active mountain and moorland recreation has increased interest in upland landscapes without diminishing the value attached to their beauty. The key elements of upland scenery are open moorland, fell or mountain on high ground; pastoral land; and deep ravines along which streams flow. The variety of each place arises from the variations of these elements and the relation between them. The wild bareness of open moorland vegetation covering skylines is a key characteristic of British uplands. Coniferous forestry is being established across large areas of moorland; whether some areas should be kept free of forestry does not at present seem to be a definite part of land strategy. New agricultural grass intakes are enclosing and fragmenting some moors, for instance Exmoor, the North Yorks Moors and parts of mid Wales. The impact of such intakes o...