|
The Peak District National Park doesn't recognise county boundaries and whilst the lion's share is within Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire also get a small share of the area. It's reach is one of the many factors that makes it popular with visitors and there are estimates that 50% of the UK population live within 50 miles of its borders. That's quite a large number of people, not all of whom have ever visited the area of course, but certainly helps to account for it being very busy on some summer weekends when the sun is shining. It is surrounded by large cities and towns: Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield, Doncaster, Leeds, Halifax, Rochdale, Manchester, Warrington, Stoke, Stafford, Birmingham, Leicester and many others are all within easy reach of the Peak District. It is the UK's first National Park, the highest peak is an accessible 631m above sea level, there's great walking, rock climbing, fishing, cycling, gliding and much more.
If all that sounds exciting, it is, and it makes it a vibrant and a popular place to visit. It is also one of the most beautiful parts of the English landscape with contrasts on a par with the rest of the United Kingdom. Sure, it doesn't have the high mountains of Scotland or the Lake District, but what it doesn't have in height it makes up for in the grandeur and beauty of its dales and valleys. It also has plenty of contrast from the high Dark Peak moorland areas on top of large expanses of millstone grit, some of which is exposed to reveal a strip of rocky edges that traverse the area from north west to east, to the rush of streams and rivers winding their way through the White Peak dales of limestone valleys and gorges.
|
