The approach of the Plan is underpinned by an understanding of the history of the landscape and forces that have shaped it. ‘The Making of the High Weald’ and other studies in support of this management plan have provided time-depth and objective analysis so that the management aims and priorities for the AONB are firmly based on an understanding of the fundamental and defining character of the whole area – that is, those components of natural beauty that have made the High Weald a recognizably distinct and homogenous area for at least the last 700 years and that will continue to define it in the future.