Northern England’s National Parks

There are fifteen national parks in the United Kingdom, ten of which are in England and four of these in the North (or five if the Peak District is counted as Northern).

At this stage most of our journeyings “Around-England” are in the northern counties so we’re going to limit ourselves chiefly to the four northern national parks for now. Emphasis so far has been on the Lake District, next will come the Yorkshire Dales, then Northumberland and the North York Moors.

The Web site addresses:

The Lake District National Park Authority

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority

The North York Moors National Park Authority

The Northumberland National Park Authority

Other national parks outside the north can be found through

The UK Association of National Parks. This site includes not only web links but also information on the parks’ use of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Also, don’t forget the AONBs, the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty of which there are thirty-four in England, including seven in the North. More of these later.

Below is a collection of past blog posts. To see posts relating to specific locations please use the navigation bar under the header photo.

Yorkshire Dales Award for Far Moor Bridge

October 17, 2011

Congratulations to the Yorkshire Dales National Park for their new award for the Far Moor bridge. This innovative design and timber construction was developed with the help of the Forestry Commission and provides an important river crossing on the 200-mile Pennine Bridleway national trail currently being developed, and opening next year. Far Moor bridge in [...]

To Protect? Or To Preserve? (Opinion Piece)

September 7, 2011

There are wild places, described by poets, painted by artists and loved by country walkers which must be protected for future generations to enjoy. I suspect that most readers of Around-England will have no difficulty in agreeing with that statement. I fear, however, that this post may lose me some friends as I consider the [...]

The Dales in the Damp

September 3, 2011

This morning, looking in any direction from my home in the Eden Valley it seemed clear (although actually it’s ‘misty’ and unclear in a literal sense) that whether to the north (The North Pennines), to the west (The Lake District) or to the south-east (The Yorkshire Dales) it was quite probable that people were going [...]

More Pictures from Grasmere

August 29, 2011

Following my visit to Grasmere in the English Lake District last week I blogged about the 2011 Summer Exhibition of the Lake Artists Society. Here now are some more photos from that afternoon. The weather was varied. Overall it was a very pleasant afternoon, although from a photography point of view the light kept shifting [...]

Bolton Abbey, Jewel of the Yorkshire Dales

August 24, 2011

Growing up in the Lancashire-Yorkshire borderlands I quite often found myself crossing the Pennine watershed from the red rose into the white rose county. One of our frequent outings was to Bolton Abbey. As a child, following in the footsteps of former generations, I did exactly what the children are doing in the photograph above [...]

Lanthwaite Wood – Memory of 2009

August 19, 2011

Lanthwaite Wood is a National Trust property at the foot of Crummock Water in the Lake District, alongside the point where the River Cocker leaves the lake. The car park there provides an excellent starting point for walks, which often give opportunity to see Red Squirrels. The River Cocker flows from here down Lorton Vale [...]

Bassenthwaite Lake from the Whinlatter road

August 17, 2011

A very short post today. Few words, just a view of Bassenthwaite Lake that has been photographed and painted times without number. From near water level it is difficult to get a good view of this the most northerly of the Lake District waters – the only one which actually has “Lake” in it’s name. [...]

Derwentwater at the End of a Day

August 2, 2011

What a splendid evening to be able to stroll down by Derwentwater in the English Lake District. I didn’t have my Nikon kit with me tonight so this shot was taken with my pocket camera (Fujifilm Fuji Finepix F72EXR) during a walk down past Keswick’s “Theatre by the Lake” to Friar’s Crag, with a little [...]

Copper Mines at Coniston

July 20, 2011

For many centuries the presence of copper in the Lake District mountain rocks above Coniston Water provided a livelihood for people in the area. Now Coniston coppermines are mostly visited by walkers and mine explorers (scroll down for video). Looking at the area today it is not easy to imagine a time (much of it [...]

Ullswater and The Lady of the Lake

July 15, 2011

The Ulswater steamer, ‘The Lady of the Lake” is thought to be the oldest working passenger vessel in the world. She has lived all her long life on Ullswater, and was first launched here in 1877. I say “first launched” because the Lady has had a challenging life, having twice been sunk, firstly in 1881 [...]

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