American rap artist Eminem once asked, in all seriousness, whether England was in London. While this ignorance is amusing, the capital city does gain most of the plaudits as well as the majority of visitors. But there is much more to the country than Piccadilly Circus or Hyde Park, especially for the energetic and the nature lover. The English northwest provides some of the most idyllic and greenest landscapes in the world, not to mention, much needed breathing space and fresh air away from the urban sprawl.
The Yorkshire Dales National Park, established by the British government in 1954, sits astride the Pennine range of hills (known as the backbone of England), which stretch north from Derbyshire’s Peak District to the Cheviot Hills on the border with Scotland. The hills then slope down to Hadrian’s Wall, built by the Romans in 122AD to keep out the marauding, barbarian Scots. There is also a 429-kilometer footpath running along the entire length of the Pennine Way and it is a popular attraction for hikers, cyclists and horse riders.
The Yorkshire Dales have been inhabited for over 10,000 years, with about 20,000 people living there today in remote farms, villages and market towns. The region sees over eight million tourists every year, drawn to the tranquil environment of hay meadows full of wildflowers, birdsong, streams and waterfalls tumbling over the rocky uplands, where the land turns into an open heather moorland and unique limestone pavements. Indeed, south of the Dales (meaning ‘valleys’) one can find some of the best examples in Britain of classic limestone, or Karst scenery, with crags, pavements and extensive cave systems.
Geographically the region is notable for its Three Peaks –Whernside (736 meters), Pen-Y-Ghent (694m) and Ingleborough (723m) — not exactly Himalayan, but they do present a worthy challenge to walkers and runners who meet annually for the 40 kilometer long Three Peaks race during which, competitors run up and down a course over the hills, attempting to better the current record set, at a blistering pace of two and a half hours.
It is only 60 kilometers from the Dales to the Lake District on an uphill journey to the highest ground in England. This trip is best made on the Settle to Carlisle Railway line, which operates a service with antique steam engines, running through lyrically rural scenery along the route.
Like the Dales, the Lake District’s unique beauty has had protected National Park status since the 1950s, with rangers employed to maintain this standing. The region, lying entirely within the county of Cumbria, is home to England’s highest peak — Scafell Pike (978m) – with views from its summit, on a clear day, all the way to the Mourne Mountains in Scotland and Snowdonia in Wales. It also has the deepest and longest bodies of water in England, Wastwater (76meters) and Windermere (16.8km), respectively. In total there are 94 lakes hosting countless fish, including several endangered species, and offering fun to countless water sports enthusiasts.
In 1724, author Daniel Defoe -who gained worldwide fame with his bestselling book Robinson Crusoe- traveled through the region and noted that it was, “The wildest, most barren and frightful of any that I have passed over in England, or even Wales itself.”
While life might have brightened up since those days, the rain does teem down, even in summer, and the village of Seathwaite holds the dubious distinction of being the most sodden spot in England, receiving around 124 inches (3.15m) of rainfall each year.
Although tourism — the park’s major industry, with about 12 million visitors a year — does drive away wildlife, the Lake District is still one of the few places in England where red squirrels have a habitat, wild Fell ponies, native solely to northwest England, roam the countryside and the only Golden Eagle believed to live in the country, patrols the sky.
The picturesque dry-stone walls and traditional stone-built field barns on the hillsides aren’t merely for show, as they are intricately connected to agriculture. The sheep especially play a major role in the life and culture of the Lakes. Sheep farming has been a major industry in the region since Roman times and the breed most closely associated with the area is the tough Herdwick, while the Rough Fell and Swaledale sheep are also common.
An abundance of rock types has meant that mining and quarrying have long been significant activities in the local economy, with copper, lead, silver and slate commonly unearthed. Surrounding woodland was used extensively to provide charcoal for smelting, and the discovery of graphite led to the development of the pencil industry.
The Lake District has long been associated with some of Britain’s greatest writers, attracted there by the wide-open spaces and stunning views, with the peaceful tranquility fueling their inspiration. In the early 19th century, local poet William Wordsworth was so inspired by the sight of daffodils on the shores of Ullswater that he wrote, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, one of the most famous poems in the English language. Sixty of Wordsworth’s eighty years were spent amid the lakes and mountains, and subsequently other writers followed and found stimulation there, including Percy Shelley, Sir Walter Scott, and Lord Tennyson.
Between 1930 and 1947, Arthur Ransome wrote his “Swallows” and “Amazons” series of books set in the Lake District, while the doyenne of Lakeland writers was undoubtedly children’s author Beatrix Potter. She was also a keen natural scientist and conservationist but gained fame for her inspired creations featuring animals such as those in “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” and “The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck”, which celebrate the joys of the English landscape and its country life.
In 1905, thanks to her publishing success, Potter bought Hill Top Farm in Sawrey, a tiny village on Ambleside. For the rest of her life she became deeply involved in farming and was intent on preserving the distinctive hill-country landscape. When she died in 1943, aged 77, she left almost all her property to the National Trust (a UK conservation charity, protecting historic places and green spaces) and is credited with preserving much of the land that now comprises the Lake District National Park. Her books continue to sell throughout the world, in multiple languages, and her former house is now a museum.
Infrastructure for tourism is well established in this part of England, whether it’s a cozy village pub with an open fire, a traditional stone cottage or a luxury hotel. Wherever you visit, a serenely striking landscape awaits, providing the ideal location for a healthy holiday only three hours by train from the intensity and crowds of the capital city.
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