The Natural Areas of England are regions, officially designated by Natural England, each with a characteristic association of wildlife and natural features. More formally, they are defined as "biogeographic zones which reflect the geological foundation, the natural systems and processes and the wildlife in different parts of England...".
There are 120 Natural Areas in England ranging from the North Pennines to the Dorset Heaths and from The Lizard to The Fens. They were first defined in 1996 by English Nature and the Countryside Commission, with help from English Heritage. They produced a map of England that depicts the natural and cultural dimensions of the landscape.
Natural Areas are assessed by Natural England, the UK Government's advisor on the natural environment, to be "a sensible scale at which to view the wildlife resource, from both a national and local perspective". Natural Areas were also used by English Nature as an "ecologically coherent framework for setting objectives for nature conservation."
Many Natural Areas coincide with a further natural division referred to as National Character Areas; however, in other cases a Natural Area may contain two or more National Character Areas.
1. North Northumberland Coastal Plain<br /> 2. Border Uplands<br /> 4. North Pennines<br /> 5. Northumbria Coal Measures<br /> 6. Durham Magnesian Limestone Plateau<br /> 7. Tees Lowlands<br /> 98. Northumberland Coast<br /> 99. Tyne to Tees Coast
3. Solway Basin<br /> 9. Eden Valley<br /> 10. Cumbria Fells and Dales<br /> 11. West Cumbria Coastal Plain<br /> 12. Forest of Bowland<br /> 13. Lancashire Plain and Valleys<br /> 14. Southern Pennines<br /> 26. Urban Mersey Basin<br /> 117. Liverpool Bay<br /> 118. Morecambe Bay<br /> 119. Cumbrian Coast<br /> 120. Solway Firth
8. Yorkshire Dales<br /> 14. Southern Pennines<br /> 15. Pennine Dales Fringe<br /> 16. Vale of York and Mowbray<br /> 17. North York Moors and Hills<br /> 18. Vale of Pickering<br /> 19. Yorkshire Wolds<br /> 20. Holderness<br /> 21. Humber Estuary<br /> 22. Humberhead Levels<br /> 23. Southern Magnesian Limestone<br /> 24. Coal Measures<br /> 34. North Lincolnshire Coversands and Clay Vales<br /> 35. Lincolnshire Wolds<br /> 36. Lincolnshire Coast and Marshes<br /> 100. Saltburn to Bridlington<br /> 101. Bridlington to Skegness
25. Dark Peak<br /> 27. Meres and Mosses<br /> 28. Potteries and Churnet Valley<br /> 29. South West Peak<br /> 30. White Peak<br /> 31. Derbyshire Peak Fringe and Lower Derwent<br /> 40. Needwood and South Derbyshire Claylands<br /> 41. Oswestry Uplands<br /> 42. Shropshire Hills<br /> 43. Midlands Plateau<br /> 44. Midland Clay Pastures<br /> 56. Severn and Avon Vales<br /> 57. Malvern Hills and Teme Valley<br /> 58. Clun and North West Herefordshire Hills<br /> 59. Central Herefordshire<br /> 60. Black Mountains and Golden Valley<br /> 51. Dean Plateau and Wye Valley<br /> 116. Severn Estuary
32. Sherwood<br /> 33. Trent Valley and Rises<br /> 34. North Lincolnshire Coversands and Clay Vales<br /> 35. Lincolnshire Wolds<br /> 36. Lincolnshire Coast and Marshes<br /> 37. The Fens<br /> 38. Lincolnshire and Rutland Limestone<br /> 39. Charnwood<br /> 44. Midland Clay Pastures<br /> 45. Rockingham Forest<br /> 52. West Anglian Plain<br /> 53. Bedfordshire Greensand Ridge<br /> 54. Yardley-Whittlewood Ridge<br /> 102. The Wash
37. The Fens<br /> 46. Breckland<br /> 47. North Norfolk<br /> 48. The Broads<br /> 49. Suffolk Coast and Heaths<br /> 50. East Anglian Plain<br /> 51. East Anglian Chalk<br /> 52. West Anglian Plain<br /> 53. Bedfordshire Greensand Ridge<br /> 54. Yardley-Whittlewood Ridge<br /> 65. Chilterns<br /> 66. London Basin<br /> 67. Greater Thames Estuary<br /> 102. The Wash<br /> 103. Old Hunstanton to Sheringham<br /> 104. Sheringham to Lowestoft<br /> 105. Suffolk Coast
63. Thames and Avon Vales<br /> 64. Midvale Ridge<br /> 65. Chilterns<br /> 66. London Basin<br /> 67. Greater Thames Estuary<br /> 68. North Kent Plain<br /> 69. North Downs<br /> 70. Wealden Greensand<br /> 71. Romney Marshes<br /> 72. High Weald<br /> 73. Low Weald and Pevensey<br /> 74. South Downs<br /> 75. South Coast Plain and Hampshire Lowlands<br /> 76. Isle of Wight<br /> 77. New Forest<br /> 78. Hampshire Downs<br /> 79. Berkshire and Marlborough Downs<br /> 106. North Kent Coast<br /> 107. East Kent Coast<br /> 108. Folkestone to Selsey Bill<br /> 109. Solent and Poole Bay
55. Cotswolds<br /> 62. Bristol, Avon Valleys and Ridges<br /> 63. Thames and Avon Vales<br /> 79. Berkshire and Marlborough Downs<br /> 80. South Wessex Downs<br /> 81. Dorset Heaths<br /> 82. Isles of Portland and Purbeck<br /> 83. Wessex Vales<br /> 84. Mendip Hills<br /> 85. Somerset Levels and Moors<br /> 86. Mid Somerset Hills<br /> 87. Exmoor and the Quantocks<br /> 88. Vale of Taunton and Quantock Fringes<br /> 89. Blackdowns<br /> 90. Devon Redlands<br /> 91. South Devon<br /> 92. Dartmoor<br /> 93. The Culm<br /> 94. Bodmin Moor<br /> 95. Cornish Killas and Granites<br /> 96. West Penwith<br /> 97. The Lizard<br /> 110. South Dorset Coast<br /> 111. Lyme Bay<br /> 112. Start Point to Land's End<br /> 113. Isles of Scilly<br /> 114. Land's End to Minehead<br /> 115. Bridgwater Bay<br /> 116. Severn Estuary