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The Lake District National Park is the largest of the National Parks in England and Wales, with 866 square miles (2242 sq km). The first strongly organised pressure for National Parks and access to mountains came during the 1920s and 1930s when walking and mountaineering became popular pastimes and access to open country in some parts of Britain was much restricted. The outbreak of war postponed progress, and following the reports of John Dower on the need, and the Hobhouse Committee’s recommendations on implementation, an Act, The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, was passed. ‘People need the refreshment which is obtainable from the beauty and quietness of unspoilt country’. The provision for those needs of the people, and the protection from spoilation, were written into the Act.

In many countries of the world National Parks are areas of wilderness hardly influenced by man, and the land of these parks is owned by the nation or state. There is no true wilderness left in Britain. The ‘natural’ beauty of the landscape reflects the pattern of husbandry, and with so many owning and making a living from the land nationalisation of it was not contemplated. A British National Park is a defined area of unspoilt countryside, usually with some wild, if not wilderness, country, which is specially protected from unsuitable development; public access for its enjoyment is secured, and due regard made for the needs of the local community.

The National Park authority must exercise planning control, but must also provide information and ranger services. In 1969 England’s first National Park Visitor Centre was set up at Brockhole in Windermere and is an excellent starting point for exploration of the National Park.

The National Trust and the Lake District National Park Authority work closely with other large landowners, the Forestry Commission and the Water Authority, to provide protected public access unrivalled anywhere else in Britain. It is indeed as Wordsworth said ‘a sort of national property’ for those ‘with eyes to perceive and hearts to enjoy’.