Learning About
The Learning and Discovery Team provides high quality education services. Contact the team on 01433 620373 or email us
- Education Services
Student and teacher resources and our environmental education centres - Education factsheets
Curriculum-linked factsheets and resources for students and teachers - Family and Community
Day and residential visits at centres across the Peak District
Happy 60th anniversary to our landscape diamond!
Sixty years ago the Peak District National Park became Britain's first national park - land protected for current and future generations to enjoy.
Since then the area’s natural beauty and all it offers has inspired and transformed the lives of thousands of residents and millions of visitors.
The Peak District National Park Authority has existed for the same amount of time and works to safeguard and promote the Peak District’s special environment and ways of life.
So we are inviting you to join us in our diamond anniversary celebrations.
Events celebrating 60th anniversary of the Peak District National Park
The actual anniversary of the creation of the national park took place on Sunday April 17 2011, with celebration events being held on both the 16 and 17 April. Other celebrations during the year have included several villages producing well dressings about the anniversary, a church service held in Edale in October and a time capsule burying event at Surprise View, near Hathersage in December.
List of anniversary events held in April >>
However, you don't have to be part of an organised event to enjoy the national park. We are encouraging everyone to get out and about in the beautiful national park countryside and enjoy activities like walking, cycling, horse riding and climbing.
Memories of the national park
To mark the 60th anniversary we have invited a range of people to share their thoughts about Britain's first national park and tell us what they think makes it so special.
Find out what the Peak District means to a range of people
including actor Brian Blessed, horse riders, farmers, volunteer archaeologists and a former chief executive of the Peak District National Park Authority.
Prince Charles has written to the authority with his thoughts about the 60th anniversary and congratulating everyone on the achievement. Read his letter in full.
Our chief executive Jim Dixon carried out some interviews with key figures in the national park, including the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire and former ranger Gordon Miller. See the interviews on his personal blog
Diamond dates
1602-1860 Parliamentary Enclosure Acts ‘fence off’ half England’s countryside
1872 Yellowstone National Park established in USA
1930's Dovedale proposed as UK’s first national park
1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act passed
1951 Peak District National Park is set up followed by the Lake District, Snowdonia and Dartmoor
1953 First access agreement to open countryside signed for Edale Moor
1954 Ranger Service is set up – Tom Tomlinson is the first warden
1965 Pennine Way opens – first national trail from Edale to Scotland
1968 Countryside Act passed
1976 Peak District suffers drought and devastating moorland fires
1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act passed to protect listed species and habitats
1990 Rights of Way Act established
1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro calls for sustainable development
1995 Environment Act updates National Park purposes and duty
2000 Countryside and Rights of Way Act brings freedom to roam on wild land
2000 National Parks (Scotland) Act passed
2001 National outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease has a big impact on Peak District communities
2007 75th anniversary of Kinder Mass Trespass celebrated
2010 South Downs becomes the 15th British National Park
Did you know?
Britain has 15 National Parks: 10 in England, 3 in Wales and 2 in Scotland.
Globally, there are 113,000 National Parks and similarly protected areas covering about 6% of our planet’s land surface, that's about 149 million square kilometres. (Source: IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature).
Visit www.nationalparks.gov.uk for more facts and figures
