Peak District Tourism

The Peak District is arguably one of the outstanding areas of natural beauty in the UK and is situated roughly in central to northern part of the country.

The Peak district or The Peak District national park to give it its correct title is actually quite large covering an area that encompasses not only the northern part of Derbyshire but also parts of Cheshire, greater Manchester, both south and west Yorkshire and Staffordshire.

The National park actually covers an area of some 555 Square miles and is 636 metres above sea level at its highest point at a place called Kinder Scout and the principal main settlements are Bakewell and Tideswell with the large cities of Sheffield, Huddersfield, Derby and Stoke on Trent also close by.

The Peaks largely due in part to its close proximity to so many major cities is the most visited national park in England (and by all accounts the second most visited in the world where recorded).

The Peak district tourism is not only the reserve of the English of course and is also visited by many other international visitors as well from the four corners of the globe.

Being so popular there is a huge demand for accommodation around the park and the area has a thriving trade with a huge diversity of accommodation ranging from the humble (and sometimes not so humble) Peak District B&Bs right up to Peak District Luxury Hotels.

There are also a lot of barn conversions in the area which are ideal for larger groups and families, but for the romantics you can always cuddle up in one of the many Peak District holiday cottages that can be found in the area and are the favoured by those visitors who want to stay for longer periods of time.

The Peak District contrary to it name is not really mountainous as the term would conjure up, but is made up of more rounded hills or uplands and gritty escarpments.

The area is geologically split into two distinct parts namely, what is called the Dark Peak in the northern reaches, predominately moorland based on gritstone. And the southern region known as White peak whose principle geology make up is lime stone.

The Dark Peak area tends to be quite boggy so is not really suitable for agriculture but is widely used as grazing land for the local sheep population and if you are into game shooting this part of the Peak district is widely used for grouse shooting as well.

The southern area of the peak district is where most of the agriculture is found and you will no doubt see a large number of dairy cattle grazing on the limestone plateaus’.

Surprisingly although there are over 2500 thousand farms in the area most of them are small holdings so agriculture only forms a small percentage of employment in the area, the biggest employer is of course tourism but if you are into mineral water this is also the home of the world famous Buxton and Ashbourne mineral water which is also bottled here as well.

If you plan to visit the Peak district during your visit to England make sure you also put some time aside to visit the nearby city of Sheffield which is the eighth largest city in England. It’s also known as the city of trees with more trees per capita of population than any other city in Europe. It is also a cultural centre with numerous theatres’ galleries as well as many open parks so is well worth the time for a visit.