National Character Area 151 - South Devon : Key Characteristics

Rounded hills, without strong patterns, separated by steep, intricate wooded valleys with fast flowing rivers.

Diverse and complex coastline, often reaching deep inland along rias and estuaries. Distinctive cliff formations with raised beaches and caves. The classic landform of Slapton shingle ridge and lagoon, which supports many internationally important bird species and rare plant communities.

Rias, or drowned river valleys, with large expanses of tidal water and mudflats extending far inland. The rias are often steep-sided, with broadleaved woodland down to the tidal edge.

Arable and pasture fields, with larger fields on the higher flatter land and a more intact, smaller irregular field pattern on the valley flanks. When ploughed the characteristic red soils add to the pattern of the landscape.

Wildflower rich, often treeless, hedgebanks providing field boundaries and borders to the typical narrow sunken lanes linking scattered farmsteads and hamlets.

Villages and towns generally in sheltered valley locations or at the heads of rias, with the larger urban settlements located at either end of the coastal stretch. Rural buildings of local stone and slate, with some cob and thatch.

Industrial heritage of the mineral mining in the Tamar Valley, with mine chimneys, quarries and mining settlements. Distinctive landscape of ball clay extraction in the Bovey Basin.