UK ~ South Downs National Park ~

... Beautiful green rolling countryside. with grazing sheeps... wide open spaces... England's newest and fifteenth national park... the third biggest NP... the park provides the setting for "the South Downs Way", a national trail for hikers, cyclists and horse riders and is the only National Trail that lies wholly within a national park.... Big Thanks Andrene for another fantastic new National Park!! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Photo:Bob Crofford
The South Downs National Park became fully operational in April 2011. The park, covering an area of 1,627 square kilometres (628 sq mi) in southern England, stretches from Winchester to Eastbourne 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 Hampshire or Hampshire Down is a breed of sheep which originated around 1829. This sheeps are still an important part of the landscape today, helping to manage the beautiful chalk downland and maintaining fertility on the thin chalk soils of the area, as well as providing delicious local meat.

Stamp:

Universal Mail UK postage stamps
(October 2008)