PEAK PERFORMANCE

From heathery moors to rolling hills and underground caverns, the Peak District is home to some of the most majestic landscapes in the country

- BEN LERWILL

In the Peak District, heritage takes different forms. Britain is home to 15 National Parks, and the oldest of them is found right here. This much-loved swathe of the Midlands, covering some 555 square miles of dramatic hill terrain, was the very first National Park to be created, back in 1951. To many minds, it still belongs at the top of the pile.

But the history of the Peak District extends way beyond a mid-20th-century assignation. Neanderthal stone tools have been found in its caves, Bronze Age burial mounds still hunch on its ridges, and the remnants of age-old hillforts litter its slopes. The Romans came here too, setting out roads and mining for lead, an abundant mineral which later brought fortune to local landowners. The end result is an area dotted with grand stately homes and ancient remains, all of them dwarfed by the wide-open wonders of the landscape itself.

Looked at on the map, unfurled in the green space between Sheffield, Derby, and Manchester, the region can be divided into two quite separate areas. The northern half of the National Park, sitting on gritstone rock and characterised by high areas of open moorland, is known as the Dark Peak. The southern half, formed of limestone and playing home to gentle dales, burbling rivers, and ash woodland, is known as the White Peak.

Both are fascinating in their own right. The Dark Peak contains the iconic plateau of Kinder Scout, where a mass trespass of 500 walkers in 1932 led to a change in the laws regarding access rights, something the country as a whole still benefits from today. Of the two, however, it’s the White Peak which holds more appeal for the first-time visitor, not least because of the variety of its attractions.