Chiltern Hills

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Chiltern Hills at Nettlebed

The Chiltern Hills are a range of chalk hills in south east England . They extend in a south-west-north-east diagonal from the Thames in Oxfordshire across Buckinghamshire to Dunstable in Bedfordshire . The hills are also called "Chilterns", coincide roughly with the southernmost extent of the glaciation during the Würm Ice Age and are part of the southern English chalk formation .

The highest point of the Chilterns with 267  m of Haddington Hill in Wendover in Buckinghamshire with a saddle height of 180 m. Other significant hills are Coombe Hil (260 m) and Ivinghoe Beacon (249 m); the latter is the starting point of two long-distance hiking trails , the Icknield Way and the Ridgeway . The steeply sloping Dunstable Downs (243 m) in the far east are very popular with glider pilots . The rivers that have their source in the Chilterns include Lea , Ver, Misbourne, Chess and Gade , among others .

The gently sloping slopes in the southwest of the Chilterns are covered with extensive beech forests. Because of the good quality of the wood, the Chesham and High Wycombe area was known for its chair industry. A large part of the range of hills is classified as an Area of ​​Outstanding Natural Beauty and is therefore subject to special planning regulations. An administrative district in central Buckinghamshire, the Chiltern District and an open air museum, the Chiltern Open Air Museum, are named after the hills .

Cities in or near the Chiltern Hills

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Coordinates: 51 ° 40 ′  N , 0 ° 55 ′  W.