The Peak District became Britain’s first national Park in 1951. Sandwiched between Sheffield to the east and Manchester to the west, the Peak District national Park lies at the southern tip of the Pennines in the very heart of england.
Shaped by natural forces over millions of years, and by human activities over thousands of years, the Peak District national Park provides a breathing space for millions of visitors and is home to around 38,000 people. Its name is thought to come from ‘peac’, an Old english word for hill. The Peak District landscape is rich and diverse, having been shaped by both natural forces and human activities. One of its special features is the contrast between the high exposed moorlands of the Dark Peak, the lower lying enclosed farmland of the White Peak, and the valleys, moorlands and rocky edges of the South West Peak.
