Wild Peaks

Join acclaimed travel writer and incurably curious hiker Tom Chesshyre in this celebration of the Peak District, Britain’s first National Park, on its 75th anniversary

'Funny, fair and honest, and effortlessly readable' Matthew Parris

In the heart of England lies a fascinating landscape of rugged dark gritstone plateaus and gentle green limestone valleys: the Peak District. But this national treasure hasn’t always been open to all.

On a spring day in 1932, 400 disgruntled ramblers embarked on a ‘mass trespass’ of Kinder Scout, the Peak’s highest point. Their aim? To establish a right to roam across the land, against the wishes of wealthy owners. And in 1951 they finally got what they wanted: the Peak District was established as Britain’s first national park. Home to striking dragon-back ridges of rock, vast expanses of peat, farms and villages, cloughs and caverns, the Peak is much more than the ‘howling wilderness’ described by Daniel Defoe three centuries ago.

To mark the park’s 75th anniversary, celebrated travel writer Tom Chesshyre hit the trails on a 360-odd mile ramble to find out how this dramatic landscape has fared – and to celebrate this symbolic home of hiking.

Wild Peaks follows winding paths, pausing at old inns and mountain huts, and along the way meeting a rich cast of landowners, farmers, historians, mountaineers, publicans, rangers, right-to-roamers, travellers, mountain-rescue members, mystics, dreamers and fellow hikers.

Don your cagoule, grab a compass and join Tom as he explores how this place has changed, and how we have too.