The Lake District National Park is a national park in Cumbria, northwest England, established in 1951 as one of the first wave of national parks designated under Britain's National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949. It protects a mountainous landscape of glacially carved valleys and lakes, including England's largest lake, Windermere, and its highest peak, Scafell Pike, shaped over centuries by traditional fell farming that remains part of the working landscape today. The park inspired the writing of William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter, and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017 in recognition of its combined natural beauty and cultural landscape.
Facts
Designation Category Established Year Area (sq km) Governing BodyLake District National Park Authority 2 IUCN Category Classification
Governance TypeGovernance by Government 1 International DesignationUNESCO World Heritage Site 2 Governing Body
Governing Body (category)UK National Park Authority 1 FAQs
Why is the Lake District listed by UNESCO as a cultural landscape and not only as a natural one?
UNESCO values the working farmed landscape together with the mountains and lakes.
UNESCO's record for the English Lake District treats its farming and its scenery as one thing. It describes the surviving land use, a long history of agro-pastoral farming, as forming a distinctive cultural landscape that is outstanding for its harmonious beauty and for the way it shows people interacting with their environment. The glacier-carved mountains, valleys and lakes are the setting, but the listing rests on that long partnership between the land and the people who work it.
Sources
1. Lake District (Wikipedia)
Lead
The park is governed by the Lake District National Park Authority, which is based at offices in Kendal.
Source text, realm: terrestrial
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region and national park in Cumbria, North West England.
View the Source2. Lake District - Wikipedia
Lead paragraph
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region and national park in Cumbria, North West England.
Infobox: Established
9 May 1951
Lead section
The Lake District National Park was established in 1951, and covers an area of 2,362 km2 (912 square miles), the bulk of the region.
Infobox: Governing body
Lake District National Park Authority
Infobox: IUCN category
V (protected landscape/seascape)
Governing body field (existing citation)
Lake District National Park Authority
entity-description, international-designation unesco-world-heritage-site
The park inspired the writing of William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter, and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017 in recognition of its combined natural beauty and cultural landscape.
View the SourceWikidata: Lake District National Park
- Wikidata Q11811449, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Part Of: United Kingdom, Wikidata item, property P17 (country)
View the SourceWikidata: United Kingdom
On Continent: Europe, Wikidata item for United Kingdom, property P30 (continent)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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