The Malvern Hills National Landscape (AONB)

Short answer: the Malvern Hills were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1959. Like all AONBs in England, they were renamed a National Landscape in November 2023. The protected area covers 105 square kilometres across parts of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

Two organisations, two jobs

People often confuse the two bodies that care for the Malverns:

• The Malvern Hills National Landscape team works across the whole protected landscape, promoting and protecting its natural beauty. It says the area receives roughly 1.25 million visits a year and contains 14 Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
• The Malvern Hills Trust is the working name of the Malvern Hills Conservators, first set up by Act of Parliament in 1884 to protect the hills and commons and keep them open for recreation. It manages about 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of grassland, woodland and scrub. It runs most of the car parks and sets the byelaws.

Your right to walk

The Malvern Hills Act 1995 gives the public a right of access to the hills on foot and on horseback for open-air recreation, subject to the Acts and byelaws. Around 90% of the hills and commons is registered common land, and livestock may be met anywhere at any time.

The rules worth knowing

The rocks underneath

The hills are made of some of the oldest rocks in England, around 700 million years old according to the Malvern Hills Trust. They are protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. See our geology guide.