Our verdict
A genuinely special piece of never-ploughed downland, though it's a working farm as much as a nature reserve — keep dogs on a lead around the grazing Longhorns and sheep, and expect the grassland to feel wilder than a manicured reserve.
One of the finest remaining examples of species-rich chalk downland in England, covering 680 acres near Winterbourne Stoke and run as a working farm — the only one directly managed by Natural England. It's home to the oldest registered herd of English Longhorn cattle in the country, and more than 150 wildflower species including five types of orchid: pyramidal, fragrant, green-winged, frog and burnt-tip.
National Nature Reserve — one of the country's finest wildlife sites. Open, but stick to marked trails.