South Downs National Park

South Downs National Park
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
View of the South Downs from Devil's Dyke
Map of the South Downs National Park
LocationUnited Kingdom (South East England)
Coordinates50°54′40″N 0°22′01″W / 50.911°N 0.367°W / 50.911; -0.367
Length140 km (87 mi)
Width11.2 km (7.0 mi)
Area1,627 km2 (628 sq mi)
Established1 April 2010
Visitors16 million
Governing bodySouth Downs National Park Authority
Websitewww.southdowns.gov.uk

The South Downs National Park is England's newest national park, designated on 31 March 2010.[1] The park, covering an area of 1,627 square kilometres (628 sq mi) in southern England, stretches for 140 kilometres (87 mi) from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex. The national park covers the chalk hills of the South Downs (which on the English Channel coast form the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head) and a substantial part of a separate physiographic region, the western Weald, with its heavily wooded sandstone and clay hills and vales. The South Downs Way spans the entire length of the park and is the only National Trail that lies wholly within a national park.

  1. ^ "South Downs walks celebrate national park status". BBC News. April 2012.

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