It is part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and Sharpenhoe Clappers is protected as a scheduled monument (for its prehistoric and medieval features).

[1][2][3] Much of the site is unimproved chalk grassland with many plants which are now rare, and Festuca ovina is dominant over large areas.

An uncommon rose, Rosa stylosa, is found in scrub areas.

There is also beech forest with a ground layer including primroses.

[4] Sharpenhoe Clappers is an Iron Age hill fort, together with medieval rabbit warrens and associated agricultural earthworks.