Created in 1951, the Peak District is England's oldest and most visited national park. What makes it endlessly fascinating to me is its rich variety of landscapes and moods - trying to capture its unique essence is a never ending journey for me. Straddling the counties of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, the White Peak owes its unique landscape features to the limestone deposited 350 million years ago when this area was a shallow tropical sea. The rolling farmland of its hills and dales with chequered fields bounded by dry stone walls, the weathered limestone formations and cave systems - these features are in sharp contrast to the peaty moors and gritstone edges of the Dark Peak to the north, west and east. |