The first of 30 new road signs on main road entry points to the North Wessex Downs National Landscape have been installed in Wiltshire and Hampshire. Over the coming months signs will be installed on the boundaries in West Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Swindon.
Raising awareness of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape
This complex project is led by the North Wessex Downs Landscape Trust (NWDLT) with funding from the North Wessex Downs National Landscape Partnership. The project has been planned for many years, so we are delighted it is now being completed. Volunteers at the NWDLT have worked closely with the five local authorities, the Highways Agency and contractors.
Henry Oliver, Director of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape says:
“This is a great opportunity to raise awareness of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. We hope it will increase people’s appreciation of the landscape and encourage action to protect the unique qualities that make it outstandingly beautiful. Everyone can help, from the very local level, getting involved in community conservation projects, to influencing decision makers in local authorities and at the national level.”
The road signs have been generally welcomed in the community, one farmer near one of the new signs commented;
“I think the new signs are a good thing – it is great that people will now know they are in a national landscape, the logo draws attention to the fact that our landscape is home to white horses.”
A lot of careful thought went into the design and positioning of the signs, balancing the benefits of increased awareness with the need to minimise highway clutter.
Image: new road sign at Collingbourne Kingston
Signs use new name and logo to reflect the national importance of the landscape
The signs use the new North Wessex Downs National Landscape name and logo which were adopted in late 2023. All 46 designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are now known as National Landscapes to better reflect their national importance. Individually and collectively, National Landscapes make a vital contribution to nature recovery, heritage conservation, public health and well-being, nature-friendly farming, tourism, access, and climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience.
The logo is part of a ‘patchwork’ of logos for all of the National Landscapes. A white horse figure was chosen because they are such a special characteristic of the North Wessex Downs and represents the important chalk geology of the landscape. White horses also represent the interaction of people with the natural environment and its geology and ecology over a very long period – a defining feature of the North Wessex Downs.
Uffington white horse was chosen because it is so well recognised and is, as far as we know, the oldest of the eight extant white horse hill figures in the North Wessex Downs. There is some continuity with our previous logo, which also featured Uffington white horse. Find out more about white horses in the North Wessex Downs on our interactive visitor map.
The blue in the logo was chosen to reflect the ‘big skies’ that are such a feature of people’s experience of the downs, it also helps our logo to stand out from the more commonly chosen green for environmentally focused organisations.
We look forward to seeing more of the signs going up over the coming months, and the greater awareness of the national landscape this will bring.
Image: Patchwork of logos for all of the National Landscapes.
Find Out More
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