In 2020, after fours years of development, the Quantock Landscape Partnership Scheme has been awarded a £1.8m National Lottery grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The award will allow the £2.6m, five-year scheme to begin delivery to enhance the landscape, natural environment and provide more opportunities for people to engage and enjoy the 200km2 scheme area.
The scheme, developed by the AONB Team in partnership with South West Heritage Trust, Friends of Quantock and others, aims to inspire the local communities to learn from the centuries of landscape development on the Quantock Hills and undertake a wide range of projects providing resilience and protection of the landscape into the future.
The Reimagining the Manor scheme is made up of 23 separate projects which aim to work together to -
Inspire - engage people in understanding the landscape, its cultural influence and work with communities to understand the pressures and opportunities into the future.
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Live - undertake physical works to conserve and enhance the landscape and heritage assets of the Quantock Hills.
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Learn - increase knowledge of the Quantock Hills and the role of the estates in the formation of its landscapes.
The Quantock Landscape Partnership Scheme covers an area of nearly 200 square km. It includes the whole of the AONB and a significant area outside the designated area and was developed through looking at the physical and cultural landscape.
Find out more about the the QLPS Team on the website at
The Quantock Landscape Partnership Scheme Partners
The Landscape Partnership Scheme is a partnership of organisations who care about the Quantock Hills. The partners, led by the Quantock Hills AONB Service, have joined to work together to conserve and enhance the Quantocks and to encourage understanding and appreciation of this special landscape. The partnership is made up of the following organisations (January 2020):
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As well as the core partnership there has been significant consultation and development with a wider community. This includes groups and organisations within the catchment of the the Quantock Hills who historically have not engaged or accessed the area. The “word cloud” is made up of responses to the question 'what makes the Quantocks special' is a lovely illustration of why they are such a well-loved landscape.
Reports and Studies
As part of the development phase of the project, various reports and studies were commissioned which provided evidence and supported the development of the Landscape Conservation Action Plan (LCAP).
You are welcome to download, use, or quote from any of these documents, but please credit the Quantock Hills AONB Service and the National Lottery Heritage Fund if you do.
Quantock Landscape CONSERVATION action plan
At the heart of the Quantock Landscape Partnership Scheme are a suite of twenty three projects in three themes: Inspire, Live and Learn. Together these themes will conserve, enhance and restore the distinctive features of the Quantock landscape, improve access opportunities for communities within the scheme area as well as in the surrounding towns and villages and explore longer term issues such as climate and landscape change.”
The scheme will also increase understanding of the development of the manorial landscape, how it underpins the character of the Quantocks, and of the wider natural, built and cultural heritage of the area.
It will increase the resilience of organisations, communities and individuals, building the capacity and skills of the volunteer base in the area, and giving more communities and people opportunities to contribute
User Survey & Economic Report
This report examines the volume and value of tourism and the impact of visitor expenditure on the local economy in the Quantock Hills AONB in 2017.
This report contains the key findings for the user survey which included face to face surveys conducted on various sites throughout the Quantock Hills and online surveys during 2018.
Quantock Landscape character assessment
Undertaken in 2018 the Quantock LPS Landscape Character Assessment built on the work of the Quantock Hills LCA to describe the landscape and assess its condition.
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Press Release 9th January 2020