Ovingdean is a part the South Downs National Park situated within the city of Brighton & Hove; the protected valley is largely isolated from the downs by suburbia with only thin corridors of grassland to the main park. Ovingdean is open to the English Channel but bounded by Brighton Racecourse and Whitehawk/Race Hill Nature Reserve to the west, an ancient chalk grassland supporting colonies of Adonis and Chalkhill Blue butterflies. The suburban sprawl is to the north and the east, including the wonderfully named Happy Valley.