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Discover National Parks 2020

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Discover National Parks Fortnight 2020

This is the time of year we’d normally be encouraging people to be outside with our Discover National Parks Fortnight campaign and events. Because of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions, we’ve changed our plans and postponed the campaign and related events. But be assured we’ll be back later in the year with a host of great ideas and events to help you be outside once restrictions begin to lift. Why not sign-up to our newsletter to hear the latest news and updates as soon as they happen.

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Canoeing, Broads National Park © Fraser Johnston

A canoists on a reed lined river at dawn

The view from the summit of Snowdon, Snowdonia National Park.

Walkers enjoying a view over tarns and a glacial valley below

Cyclists near Rosedale, North York Moors National Park © Tony Bartholomew

Cyclists on a quite road with heather and grassy fields beyond

Loch Arklet, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Family with two young daughters walking in mountains in winter

Summer meadow, Yorkshire Dales National Park

A gate in a stone wall, with a path across a flower meadow stretching into the distance

About National Parks:

  • There are 15 National Parks in the UK, spanning the length and breadth of the country. 10 in England, three in Wales and two in Scotland. National Parks protect almost 10 percent of England, 20 percent of Wales and 8 percent of Scotland.
  • The oldest National Park is the Peak District, founded in 1951 because of its impressive gritstone edges, steep limestone dales, moorland, farmland (which covers about 90% of the park) and caverns famed for rare Blue John stone.
  • The South Downs is the newest National Park, established in 2010 for its hundreds of square kilometres of woodland, bustling market towns, rolling chalk uplands and river valleys.
  • The Lake District National Park, is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site and is part of a special family of iconic places across the planet, such as the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, Easter Island and the Great Barrier Reef.
  • The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is the only National Park to be designated primarily for its coastline, the whole of which can be walked via the 299-kilometre Pembrokeshire Coast Path.
  • The Broads is the smallest National Park at around 305 square kilometres, with almost 200 kilometres of navigable, tendril-like waterways to explore.
  • The largest National Park in the UK is the Cairngorms. At 4,528 square kilometres, it’s bigger than the whole of Luxembourg.