The site is in three areas, two of which are managed as a nature reserve called Hook Norton Cutting by Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

[2][3][1][4] Hook Norton Cutting is a nature reserve along two stretches of a disused railway line separated by a tunnel.

Most of it is unimproved calcareous grassland with a rich variety of flora.

The cutting exposes rocks dating to the Middle Jurassic, around 167 million years ago, which are the type section of the Hook Norton Member of the Chipping Norton Formation.

Hook Norton Bank is a steeply sloping limestone grassland by the River Swere.