Landscape Character Types

View south from Great Torrington Common across the Torridge valley to strongly wooded valley slopes

Summary description

This Landscape Character Type (LCT) covers the steep wooded slopes enclosing the main river valleys that cross the two districts (the Taw, Torridge, Tamar, Carey and Mole).

Link to Devon Character Areas

DCA 59: Taw Valley

DCA 63: Torridge Valley

DCA 64: Upper Tamar Tributary Valleys

Key characteristics

• Steep valley slopes with folds created by small tributary valleys feeding into main rivers. Elevated landform allowing extensive views across river valleys below.
• Underlying geology of Carboniferous mudstones, siltstones and sandstone, with river courses below carving steep sided, open valleys through the landform.
• Extensive tree cover clothing valley sides - including areas of oak-dominated ancient semi-natural woodland, beech and non-native broadleaved plantations, patches of wet woodland and large tracts of conifer plantations (often on ancient woodland sites). There are many County Wildlife Sites reflecting biodiversity importance.
• Mixture of field sizes and origins, including irregular medium-scale medieval fields as well as larger regular fields of modern origin.
• Fields divided by mixed species Devon hedges often with wildflower-rich banks and frequent hedgerow trees on lower slopes. Some use of fencing.
• Agricultural land between woodlands comprising a mixture of sheep/dairy pasture, arable fields and rough grazing land.
• Valued semi-natural habitats associated with densely wooded valley slopes, supporting a rich ground flora. Patches of gorse and rough grassland contribute to local landscape diversity. Orchards form occasional features and are often associated with farms.
• Historic features including Iron Age hillforts occupying prominent positions on hill summits above river valleys.
• Estate woodland relating to areas of Grade I registered parkland along the valley and on some wooded slopes.
• Local vernacular building styles of cream/whitewashed thatched cottages, with some exposed stone and slate as a roofing material. Clusters of listed buildings (some Grade I) in some historic villages.
• Lightly settled with high levels of tranquillity - occasional farms and individual properties linked by steep narrow lanes plunging down valley slopes and wrapping around valley sides.
• Peaceful landscape with strong sense of remoteness - broken in the Taw Valley by the presence of the Tarka Line railway and main A377 following the valley floors.
• The Tarka Trail passes along a stretch of the River Torridge.

Sloping pasture fields and wooded valley slopes of the Taw valley.

Valued landscape attributes

• Broadleaved woodlands covering valley slopes, important for biodiversity, flood mitigation and carbon sequestration.
• Significant semi-natural and woodland habitats with associated flora and fauna.
• Narrow green lanes forming tunnels through woodland and roadside hedges.
• Importance for recreation, including the Tarka Trail.
• Sense of peace and tranquillity.

View west overlooking the Torridge Valley towards Merton.

Isolated farm building on winding lane with characteristic local vernacular of cream/whitewash and exposed stone.

Management guidelines

Protect

Protect and manage remaining traditional orchards.

Conserve existing areas of semi-natural habitat including rush pasture, unimproved rough grassland and scrub.

Manage

Manage species-rich Devon hedgebanks through the regular coppicing of hedgerow trees, planting new (climate-resilient) specimens and re-laying gappy sections, strengthening irregular medieval field patterns.

Manage agricultural run-off into the rivers from adjacent areas to reduce water pollution and impacts on ecological networks. Reduce nutrient and sediment pollution of water courses by creating riparian buffer strips, creating new hedges along contours, and constructing wetlands to intercept pollutants.

Manage broadleaved woodlands on valley sides (including use of traditional techniques such as coppicing) to maximise age and species diversity and a rich ground flora and promote woodland planting which extends and strengthens the existing woodland and hedge network, in line with Devon Local Nature Partnership's Right Place, Right Tree guidance.

Manage the area's existing plantations for sustainable timber production and wildlife interest, creating new green links to surrounding semi-natural habitats as part of local nature recovery networks.

Manage parkland estates, resisting conversion from pastoral to arable use. Manage wood pasture and grassland habitats extensively to prevent damage to tree root systems.

Retain veteran/dying trees for their wildlife habitats, seeking to plant the next generation of parkland trees using locally prevalent, climate-resilient species.

Manage and control/ eradicate where possible invasive water-borne weeds including Himalayan Balsam.

Manage important areas of rough grassland on upper slopes through a continuation of livestock grazing at appropriate levels. Support farmers to continue to farm these 'marginal' areas as an integral part of their farming system, including through the future Environmental Land Management Schemes.

Plan

Restore lengths of lost Devon hedges, respecting traditional bank styles and species composition, to contribute to landscape structure, provide important linkages between semi-natural habitats and to prevent agricultural run-off.

Create, extend and link woodland and wetland habitats to enhance the water storage capacity of the landscape (reducing incidences of downstream flooding) and improve water quality through reducing soil erosion and agricultural run-off. Restore riparian corridors of native broadleaved trees to provide shade and keep rivers cool.

Encourage natural regeneration of woodland (particularly ancient semi-natural woodlands) and undertake new planting (using climate-hardy species) to link fragmented sites.

Develop long-term restructuring of conifer plantations to a more mixed structure, while retaining their role in sustainable timber production. Re-create and restore open habitats as part of a varied mosaic.

Understand likely hydrological changes in watercourses resulting from climate change and the impact of these changes on flood risk. Natural flood management and allowing space for flooding by restoring wetland habitats should be enhanced where appropriate within the landscape.

Respond to the national policy drive for woodland planting, following the principles set out in Devon Local Nature Partnership's Right Place, Right Tree guidance. Extending woodland along and up the valley sides could make an important contribution to local nature recovery networks, reducing flood risk and improving water quality.

LCT 3G River Valley Slopes & Combes (PDF) [1MB]