Introduction

The Lake District, located in the north west corner of England, is the country's premier National Park and a World Heritage Site. Situated within the county of Cumbria, the Park covers an area of approximately 885 square miles.

The unique landscape of the Lake district has been shaped over millenia. The oldest rocks were laid down some 500 million years ago and these are exposed in places, notably the 'Borrowdale Volcanics' between Derwent Water and Wast Water, and the 'Skiddaw Slates' to the east of Bassenthwaite. In the intervening period the area was subject to flooding, desertification, uplift and mountain building movements, and finally the signature U shaped valleys were carved through the mountains by glaciers from a series of ice ages, the last of which ended a mere 10,000 years ago. As the ice retreated north many of these valleys were left filled with the lakes that give the district its name.

Buttermere and Crummock Water from Red Pike

This is the geological landscape of the area but the charm of the Lake District owes as much to the pastoral order brought by human habitation, as it does to the dramatic mountain scenery which soars above these fields and villages. Sheep farming has been practiced here since Roman times and its influences on the landscape such as the close cropped grasses of the fells and the dry stone walls, are so much part of the scenery they seem more natural than man-made. Today sheep farming and particulaly that of the hardy Herdwick breed, remains an important part of Lakeland life.

Fast Facts

All the land in England higher than three thousand feet above sea level lies within the National Park. The Lake District also contains Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England.

Only one lake in the National Park has the word "Lake" in its name, namely Bassenthwaite Lake. All the others use alternative names such as 'Mere' or 'Water'

The 16 highest mountains in the Lake District are: