• Lake District
• Loch Lomond
• Dartmoor
• New Forest

There are plenty of different destinations for you to choose from and some of the national parks maybe very close to where you love. For more information, you can check out the website of the national park you are interested in visiting.

The Lake District

The Lake District is a massive national park which has lots of things for you and the family to do and enjoy when you visit. Throughout the year, there are lots of different events and shows on throughout the area where you can visit and also join in. From the Black Combe Walking Festival n May to the various agricultural shows throughout the summer, there is something to keep everyone interested. You can even take your bicycles with you and go out for a ride with the whole family. There are also various hiking trails that you can follows as well. There is a wide range of accommodation available from Self Catering Chalets, B&B’s to static Caravan parks as well.

Lake District National Park, UK by Chris Perriman

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond is a beautiful location in Scotland, boasting the largest inland stretch of water in the UK. There are plenty of activities to keep you busy such as hiking, cycling and kayaking as well. Windsurfing, water skiing and also fishing are in offer as well as the more traditional swimming. Also in 2013 Europe’s biggest open water swim series is coming to Loch Lomond so you may wish to time your visit with this. Although it is bound to be very busy as over 2000 people are expected to take part. There is a lot of different type of accommodation available within the area, and you will be amazed at some of the jaw dropping natural beauty available in Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond, Scotland, UK by baaker2009

Dartmoor

If you are looking to try and get the best weather when you go away, you may wish to think about Dartmoor. Being located in Devon, so being quite far south, you are more likely to get better weather than some of the other national parks around. There are plenty of things to do just the same as other national parks, so plenty of walking, cycling, and animal watching as well as local events and festivals. A famous landmark is White Horse Hill in Uffington which is a prehistoric white figure in the hillside and is about 110 meters long. Being so far south you do tend to see a lot more people visiting in the summer months so you may need to book accommodation in advance, even if you are just pitching your tent or pulling your caravan up.

Dartmoor National Park, Devon, UK by Miles Wolstenholme

The New Forest

The New Forest is a little further north than Dartmoor and is very popular with an estimated 10 million people a year visiting the forest for just the day. There are plenty of activities to do as well as some awesome scenery to take in as well. The forest was first set up about 1000 years ago by William the Conqueror in 1079. It was set up for the sole purpose of hunting, and lots of different species of deer and also wild pigs were kept in the area, so there were plenty of animals to hunt. There is an awful lot of history on show in the New Forest ad you will be able to explore this by visiting the many sites throughout the forest and getting the information available from the various information points dotted about the park. You can also visit the information centre where there is a lot of information for visitors. One thing is for sure that when you visit out national parks in Britain, you will be able to appreciate the natural beauty of the area and also explore some of our history as well. You may just have your best holiday yet and want to come back again!

New Forest National Park, England, UK by Hardo Müller

Ted Hunter wrote this article for Travel Republic. Ted is a keen history buff and enjoys exploring local history and sharing his finds in the articles that he writes. He loves reading reviews too about cheap holidays from Travel Republic.

The post Going on Holiday to a National Park in the UK appeared first on Europe Explored.

The largest of these rocks is called Yes Tor and rises to a height of 620 meters above sea level. The local peat bogs are among the largest in Europe. There are herds of ponies running free across the protected area, which serves also as a granite mine. You can also find here a number of prehistoric monuments.

Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by Mark A Coleman

Like for the whole Britain, also for this area is typical a fog, which occurs suddenly, absorbs the surrounding countryside and suddenly disappears as well. Dartmoor landscape has always been an inspiration for writers and ideal for creating mystical and sometimes spooky stories. The park is connected with many legends about the mysterious unknown characters and bloodthirsty monsters. It is a place where the legend about a Baskervilles Dog was born. There are constant rains, strong winds, foggy weather and damp. Gloomy atmosphere of this area is also doubled with the famous Dartmoor prison, which was built in 1806 here and was used for the prisoners of the Napoleonic wars. The local largest village of Princetown once served as a hostel for prison staff.

Since 1951, Dartmoor National Park includes also a huge swamp of the total size of 945 km2. First settlements dating back more than 10 000 years, when it was still densely forested plateau. The felling of local forests started in the Stone Age, when the hunters and gatherers tried to get as close as possible to the animals. Also the first agricultural settlements were established here in the Early Stone Age. During the Bronze Age was that landscape completely without forests. There were found the remains of settlements from the Bronze Age, such as houses, yards, burial grounds, megalithic series, stone circles and obelisks having religious significance. There are also the remains of stone walls that were delimiting the pastures and fields, which prove the early human existence. The objects that people used everyday, such as ceramics, various metal objects or bones, were unfortunately not preserved at all.

Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by Tomorrow Never Knows

Dartmoor National Park protects a number of rare habitats. The central part of Dartmoor is composed of a large marshy area. The surrounding terrain is a combination of moorland and meadows, and in the valleys you can find oak forests. Typical for this landscape are also granite rocks – “tors” and roaring rivers falling into deep gorges, cave systems and limestone ridges. There were found the remains of prehistoric animals in the local caves. This collection of the remains is one of the largest in Great Britain and its age is estimated to more than 150 thousand years. For example, in a cave Joint Mitnor Cave were discovered the bones of hippos, hyenas, lions, wild pigs and even Straight-tusked Elephants.

The largest part of the national park is covered with the rare mud. Dartmoor bogs have a depth of at least half a meter, but there are also places where they reach even a depth of 7 metres. In the park there is also very rare Tor Royal Bog, covering an area of 8 km2. National Park became home to a large number of marsh birds.

Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by Michal Stehlík

In the Dartmoor National Park you can even find very interesting sight. It is a large Merrivale megalithic complex. You can also visit the Postbridge, sometimes called the Clapper Bridge. This is the most beautiful and best preserved bridge from all the bridges built in this area during the 13th and 14th centuries.

Necessary equipment for hiking along this marshy landscape is the compass and actual map. So do not forget them!

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