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The Dauntsey Vale is a geographical feature in the north of the English county of Wiltshire. It is characterised by a wide flat clay flood plain of the upper reaches of the Bristol Avon river, which divides the Cotswolds to the west with the chalk downland of east and south Wiltshire to the east. It is unusually triangular in shape with the north edge running from the town of Wootton Bassett in the east to Malmesbury in the west. This prominent north ridge is the setting for the village of Brinkworth, which at five miles long, claims to be the longest village in England. The western edge of the Vale is the edge of the Cotswolds running from Malmesbury to Chippenham in the south. The edge of the Cotswolds here is by no means as pronounced as the classic escarpment which forms the western edge of the Cotswolds. It is characterised by a gradual drop in level, but more in the different building materials of the villages. For instance, Stanton St Quintin above the Vale has a distinct Cotswolds feel with the typical honey-coloured building stone and roof slates, while villages just a few miles away to the east like Christian Malford and Sutton Benger have typically thatched homes. The eastern edge of the Vale is more pronounced, with a steep and high hill forming a ridge running from Wootton Bassett in the north to close to Calne in the south. This ridge top provides the location for RAF Lyneham, the home until recently of the RAF's Hercules transport planes. It takes its name from the village of Dauntsey in the centre of the vale. ==Agriculture and land use== The Dauntsey Vale, with its wet and lush green fields, is traditionally dairy pasture land. It was once a major milk and cheese producing area. Today, much dairy still survives but is increasingly being replaced by arable farming, some sheep grazing and especially equestrian use. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dauntsey Vale」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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