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 Peak District national park was the very first of the UK national parks and was designated in 1951 of which there are now a total of 13 national parks in total, with the recent addition of the New Forest National Park in southern England.

The UK national parks cover a total combined area of 27.3% of the UK landmass.

The Peak District 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 Peak district 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 f 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 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.

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