High Weald National Landscape

A website that brings a protected landscape to life

Spanning 1,461 square kilometres across Kent, Sussex and Surrey, the High Weald National Landscape is one of the most distinctive and best-preserved medieval landscapes in northern Europe. It’s a living mosaic of ancient woodland, rolling farmland, and historic villages – and it needs careful stewardship.

The High Weald team – a small, specialist group working on behalf of the Joint Advisory Committee (JAC), Defra and Natural England – manages and promotes the landscape’s conservation, planning guidance, research and education.

Over time, their website had grown into a vast online archive of reports, data, and resources. While it was a goldmine of information, it had become increasingly difficult for users to navigate. The challenge was to design and build a new website that made this wealth of content accessible to a diverse audience – from landowners and planners to teachers and local residents – without losing the depth and authority of the original.

The Solution

Every website design project has its challenges and this one was no different. We worked closely with the High Weald team to rethink how such a complex body of information should be organised and presented. Through workshops and discovery sessions, we mapped user journeys, restructured hundreds of pages, and designed a new site architecture that makes it simple to explore by theme, activity, or audience.

We introduced powerful search and filtering tools to help users find exactly what they need in seconds, alongside flexible templates that allow the team to publish new content without technical support. The visual design balances clarity with character – letting the landscape’s beauty and heritage shine through while maintaining accessibility and ease of use.

The project was a long journey – almost two years from initial planning to launch – but it was a genuinely collaborative one, shaped by the team’s expertise and commitment to the High Weald’s future.

The Outcome

The new High Weald National Landscape website now provides a clear, intuitive gateway into a vast and valuable library of information. It reflects the team’s professionalism, the landscape’s natural beauty, and the Partnership’s mission to protect it for generations to come.

The response from stakeholders and the wider community has been hugely positive, and the new platform now gives the team a sustainable foundation for communication, education and outreach.

After two years of hard work, the result is a website that truly matches the scale and significance of the landscape it represents.