The paradox of Britain's 11 National Parks is that they are neither owned by the nation, nor are they parks in the usually-accepted, swings and roundabouts, sense. Unlike the national parks of larger countries, the British ones are all lived-in landscapes, where most of the land is still privately owned. Yet somehow they have survived as the wildest and most treasured landscapes in England and Wales.
The reason is that their outstandingly-beautiful and well-loved countrysides hold the highest available designation of landscape protection. Between them, they cover about 10% of England and Wales and attract around 100 million visitors every year.
The oldest of the parks - the Peak District, the Lake District, Snowdonia and Dartmoor - celebrate their 50th anniversaries next year, and the Government intends to add two more. Until now, all the parks, with the exception of the youngest, the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, have been in the mountainous north and west of Britain. Controversially, the proposed new ones are both in the softer, southern underbelly of middle England, in the South Downs and the New Forest. Added to the promise of the first ever National Parks for Scotland - in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and the Cairngorms - the National Parks movement finds itself in the political spotlight for the first time since the 1950s, when Clement Attlee's post-war Labour Government first set them up.
But gone are the days when Cabinet members were tempted to stroll along Tom Stephenson's proposed Pennine Way while he subtly indoctrinated them with the National Park message. Today's swarming visitors to the parks are, like most of the present Cabinet, townies who perhaps are discovering, as John Muir - the great Scottish-born founder of the American National Parks system a century ago - did, that: "Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilised people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."
Brecon Beacons
The great striated sandstone escarpment of the Brecon Beacons towers like a tidal wave about to break over the green, hedged landscape of the Usk Valley beneath. The highest point of Pen-y-Fan (2,907ft/886m) is the most popular summit for hillwalkers, as the serious erosion around the summit and the heavily-restored but easy three-mile route up from the Storey Arms on the A470 show. The scalloped cwms of the south-facing central Beacons are a favourite launching site for hang-gliders and parascenders.
The Beacons are bracketed to the west and east by two quite different ranges of hills, both confusingly described as Black. The Black Mountains to the east form a natural boundary between Wales and England, and are crossed by the Offa's Dyke National Trail. The Black Mountain, or Mynydd Ddu, to the west is the real "wild west" of the National Park, where little-visited summits such as Bannau Sir Gaer and Bannau Brycheiniog watch over a landscape rich in myths and legends. In sharp contrast is the delectable limestone country of beautiful waterfalls and caves that lies to the south, along the Mellte and Hepste rivers around Ystradfellte.
Recommended walks: Try the six-mile circular from the Storey Arms to Corn Du and Pen y Fan, returning via the Tommy Jones Memorial and Y Gryn. Or, if you like things a little easier, the four-miler along the track of the former Abergavenny-Merthyr railway from to Govilon to Llanfoist and back along the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal.
Other activities: The Beacons are the pony-trekking centre of Wales, and many riding schools offer day rides into the hills for beginners. More strenuous - and only for the experienced - is the caving in the Ystradfellte valley, and there's yachting and windsurfing on Bala Lake. More leisurely boating can be enjoyed navigating a narrow boat on the Monmouth and Brecon Canal - the only one in a British National Park.
Favourite place: Lyn y Fan Fach, beneath Bannau Sir Gaer, in the Black Mountain.
Recommended pub/B&B: Upper Trewalkin Farm, near Talgarth (01874 711349).
Maps: Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure Nos 12 & 13, Brecon Beacons, West & Central and Eastern areas.
Further information from: Brecon Beacons National Park (01874 624437).
Norfolk Broads
The origins of Britain's youngest national park were not discovered until the 1960s, when academics proved that, in common with most of Britain's "wildernesses", they were, in fact, man-made.
For many years, the perceived wisdom was that the Broads - large, reed-fringed lakes and waterways centred on the Rivers Bure, Yare and Waveney between Yarmouth and Norwich - were natural, formed by the flood plains of those winding rivers. But then it was discovered that their sides were unnaturally steep, and were the result of flooded, large-scale medieval diggings when peat was used to heat places such as Norwich Cathedral. Even now, it is hard to imagine this "last enchanted land" of flat, misty fens and grazing marshes; slow, winding waterways; and tangled wet woodlands as anything but natural, so effective has been Nature's reclamation.
The Broads are a boater's paradise, of course, but the waterways can get horribly crowded during the summer months. However, there's more to the Broads than the 130 miles of often-polluted and fast-eroding waterways for which they are best known. Visit the evocative ruins of St Benet's Abbey near Ludham or the remains of the Roman fort at Burgh Castle to see how Man has always been attracted to this underrated area.
Recommended walks: From Berney Arms Station and Mill up the Yare Estuary and back across the Halvergate Marshes. You can see what the Broads looked like 100 years ago by taking the boarded walkway, suitable for wheelchairs, from Woodbastwick to the beautifully-restored Cockshoot Broad.
Other activities: The Broads are obviously a great place for messing about in boats. If you want someone to do the sailing for you, try a trip on one of the famous black-sailed, broad-beamed Norfolk wherries,such as Hathor, or the Electric Eel, the park's electrically-powered boat. Bird and butterfly watchers and botanists are in their element in Britain's biggest protected wetland.
Favourite place: Toad Hole Cottage, near How Hill, on the River Ant.
Recommended pub/B&B: The Greyhound, Hickling (01692 598306).
Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure No 40, The Broads.
Further information from: Broads Authority (01603 610734).
Dartmoor
Often dubbed "the last wilderness of southern Britain", Dartmoor is still perhaps best known for the grim prison buildings in the heart of the moor at Princetown. Although the story of the prison - originally built in 1809 to take French prisoners from the Napoleonic War - is inescapably part of the Dartmoor story, its history goes back much further.
This now barren moorland is recognised as one of the finest "fossilised" prehistoric landscapes in Europe. Almost everywhere you look, there's evidence of prehistoric Man, whether it be hut circles (the most famous of which are found at Grimspound), cairns, stone circles or the enigmatic stone rows which, like the mysterious "reaves" or boundary banks, cross the moor for mile after mile.
Geologically speaking, Dartmoor is a large "knuckle" or boss of granite in a series that extends north-east from Land's End. The open moor is punctuated by its distinctive tors - the weathered remnants of the former rock cover, such as Hound Tor, Hay Tor and Yes Tor - and is walkers' country. But walkers remain excluded from large parts of the northern moor, which the Army still uses for military training.
Recommended walks: The three-mile walk from Firth Bridge on the minor road that crosses Challacombe Down north of Widecombe and takes in Grimspound, Hameldon Tor and King's Barrow is a fine introduction to the prehistory of the moor. Wistman's Wood National Nature Reserve, full of stunted oaks dripping with mosses, can be reached by the two-mile walk north from Two Bridges, passing Crockern Tor, the meeting place of the Stannary (tin miners) Parliament.
Other activities: There are many pony-trekking centres, and there are few finer ways to appreciate this ancient landscape than on an all-day ride. There's good fishing, too, if you have a licence, on the fast-flowing rivers like the twin West and East Darts or Okements, which flow off the moor. One of the more eccentric activities is "letter-boxing" - that is, tracing the 500 or so letter boxes scattered in remote places.
Favourite place: The fairy tale Wistman's Wood, near Two Bridges.
Recommended pub/B&B: Warren House Inn, on the B3212 near Postbridge (01822 880208).
Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure No 28, Dartmoor.
Further information from: Dartmoor National Park (01626 832093).
Exmoor
It might be unkind to call it "Exmoor", but in truth, the amount of true moorland that is left in Britain's least-visited and most intimate national park is now small. Only on the heights of Dunkery Beacon, the highest point at just over 1,700ft (519m), and on the boggy ridge of The Chains does the walker get that "top of the world" feeling you get with true moorland.
But that's not to say that there are still plenty of wild places left in this precious remnant of what the rest of upland Devon and Somerset looked like before agricultural "improvement" tamed it. Some of the highest sea cliffs in England form the northern boundary, and are crossed by the roller-coaster route of the South West Coast Path National Trail. The beautiful wooded bays of the Bristol Channel coast, such as Woody Bay and Heddon's Mouth, provide some of the most striking coastal scenery in Britain, and wildlife watchers delight in spotting Exmoor's famous native herds of red deer - Britain's biggest land mammal.
Recommended walks: Try the three-mile circular walk from Bossington over Bossington Hill and Selworthy Beacon for a grandstand view of Exmoor's dramatic coastline. Or walk west from Ilfracombe over The Torrs along the South West Coast Path to Lee Bay, the former home of smugglers and wreckers.
Other activities: Like Dartmoor, Exmoor has its own primitive breed of ponies, and pony-trekking is popular. Lynmouth is a centre for surfers and sea-kayaking, and there's yachting and sailboarding on Wimbleball Lake. A newer and much more dangerous sport, is "coasteering", scrambling along the steep cliffs of the north coast.
Favourite place: Pinkworthy Pond on The Chains for what's left of wildest Exmoor.
Recommended pub/B&B: South Cheriton Farm, near Lynton (01598 753280).
Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure No 9, Exmoor.
Further information from: Exmoor National Park (01398 323665).
Lake District
The National Park movement could be said to have started in the Lake District, when William Wordsworth first expressed the wish that it could be set aside "as a sort of national property". It took another 140 years to happen, but now the Lake District is the biggest and best-known, attracting 20 million visits a year. The reason is not hard to find - nowhere else in Britain has such a perfectly harmonious combination of mountain and lake, fell and dale.The tourist board is not guilty of hyperbole by calling it "the most beautiful corner of England".
Most people come for the lakes, of which the most popular are Windermere, Coniston Water, Derwent Water and Ullswater. Others head for the hills, tempted by that doyen of guidebook writers, Alfred Wainwright. The Lake District's fells may be the highest in England, but they are easily attainable by the reasonably-fit walker guided by Wainwright's meticulous, if sometimes out-of-date, draughtsmanship. The vertiginous rock-climbing crags of Wasdale and Langdale were the birthplace of the sport in Britain.
Recommended walks: One of the finest excursions in Lakeland is to take the steamer from Glenridding to Howtown and walk the seven glorious miles back along the eastern shore of Ullswater. Or just enjoy the four miles around the shores of lovely Buttermere in the heart of the Western Fells.
Other activities: The crags of Wasdale Head and the Langdale Valley contain some of the finest rock-climbing in Britain. Water sports enthusiasts - yachting or canoeing - are catered for on Windermere, Derwent Water, Ullswater and Coniston. High-speed powerboats and water-skiers will be banned from Windermere by 2005.
Favourite place: This is difficult, but I might plump for Dock Tarn, above Watendlath.
Recommended pub/B&B: The Mason's Arms, Strawberry Bank, near Windermere (01539 568486).
Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure Maps Nos 4, 5, 6, 7; The English Lakes, North Western; North Eastern; South Western and South Eastern areas.
Further information from: Lake District National Park (01539 724555).
North York Moors
The greatest glory of the North York Moors National Park is the vast expanse of purple heather - the finest in Britain - which carpets the moors in late summer. Despite their natural appearance, the moors have to be carefully managed to create that magnificent show. They are deliberately burned (or "swaled") by rotation in the spring to encourage the fresh growth of heather.
The highest points of the moors are crossed by the 40-mile Lyke Wake Walk, a popular if arduous 24-hour challenge that has caused serious erosion problems and is no longer promoted. Much quieter are the park's 150 miles of glorious coastline facing the North Sea, and followed by the Cleveland Way National Trail.
When you add the pretty village of Hutton-le-Hole, the Heartbeat country around Goathland, the coastal villages of Staithes and Robin Hood's Bay, and the glorious monastic ruins of Rievaulx and Byland, you'll see that the moors have much to offer.
Recommended walks: The seven-mile walk from Old Byland via Nettle Dale to Rievaulx and back by Low Gill is a favourite, and for a taste of the high moors, try the four-mile circular walk from Clay Bank Top to the weird outcrops of the Wainstones and back via Hasty Bank.
Other activities: There's gliding and hang-gliding from the moors escarpment at Hasty Bank, sailing on Gormire Lake, pony-trekking from a number of centres around the park, or fishing in the Rivers Esk, Derwent and Rye or off the North Sea coast.
Favourite place: I have a soft - not to say sore - spot for Ravenscar, because it marks the end of the Lyke Wake Walk!
Recommended pub/B&B: The Milburn Arms, Rosedale Abbey (01751 417312).
Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure Map Nos 26 and 27, North York Moors, West and East.
Further information from: North York Moors National Park (01439 770657).
Northumberland
I always regard Northumberland as England's "empty quarter". With only five residents to the square mile and a mere 1.5 million visitors a year, Northumberland is the place to go if you really want to get away from it all.
And this troubled landscape, the "debateable land" of the Border reivers for 300 years and still the scene of controversial Army manoeuvres and live firing on the Otterburn ranges, imparts a sense of history like no other. Everywhere you look, there are traces of the past, whether it is in the fortified houses at places like Elsdon or the unforgettable sight of Hadrian's Wall still marching across the neck of England after nearly 1,900 years.
The challenge of The Cheviots, the bald and boggy last leg of the Pennine Way, is matched by gentler walking in the Simonside Hills or along the line of the Wall - soon to become a National Trail. To the west, the boring, bottle-brush conifers of the Border Forest spread around Kielder Water, the largest man-made lake in Europe.
Recommended walks: My favourite bit of the Wall is the two-mile stretch between Steel Rigg and Housesteads, across Hotbank and Cuddy's Crags - and it's also the best-preserved. The short walk over the historic landscape of Lordenshaws, with its hillfort and cup-and-ring marked stones at the foot of the Simonside Hills above Rothbury, is also not to be missed.
Other activities: Mountain bikers are in their element on the forestry tracks of the Border Forest and around Kielder Water, where there are hiring facilities, and some water-based sport. There's a little climbing on the Whin Sill at Crag Lough on the Wall, but lots of opportunities for watching wildlife, including curlew, golden plover, peregrine falcon, buzzards and ravens on the moors, and roe deer and red squirrels in the forests.
Favourite place: Hen Hole in the College Valley.
Recommended pub/B&B: The Hermitage, Swinburne (01434 681248).
Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure Maps No16, The Cheviot Hills; No 42, Kielder Water; and No 43, Hadrian's Wall.
Further information from: Northumberland National Park (01434 605555).
Peak District
The Peak District, the first National Park, has a split personality - the limestone White Peak of the centre and south of the park has a gentle character, with a network of drystone walls spreading across the softly swelling plateau which is split by intimate, steep-sided dales. The surrounding gritstone Dark Peak is, in contrast, a stern, forbidding, landscape of high and wild peat moorland with steep, dark "edges" of naked rock topped by weird, wind-eroded tors.
The Peak is claimed to be the second most visited national park in the world, and its staggering 22 million annual visitors nearly all come from the surrounding ring of the towns and cities of the industrial North and Midlands. Half the population of England lives within 60 miles of its centre - and that's more than live within 60 miles of Charing Cross. The miracle is that you can still get away from it all by donning your boots and walking away from the honeypots of Bakewell (and its puddings) and Castleton (and its show caves). But places like Dovedale, perhaps the most beautiful of the White Peak dales, are worth avoiding on a summer weekend or Bank Holiday, when thousands will also flock to those villages which are holding their annual well-dressings - a unique and flourishing example of folk art.
Recommended walks: For a taste of the gritstone edges and glorious views of the Derwent Valley, try the easy promenade along Froggatt Edge from the Curbar Gap car park. The four-mile concessionary footpath through the Lathkill Dale National Nature Reserve, starting either from Monyash or Over Haddon and returning via field paths above the dale, is also highly recommended.
Other activities: The three-mile-long gritstone crag of Stanage Edge, near Hathersage, is a Mecca for rock-climbers with more than 500 routes up its steep, sharp walls, but when they are queuing at Stanage (and they do) there are many other climbing crags including Froggatt, Curbar and Birchin's Edges, and some spectacularly severe routes in the limestone dales at Ravenstor, Miller's Dale and the delightfully-named Water-cum-Jolly. Horse riders and cyclists enjoy the converted railway lines of the Tissington, High Peak and Monsal Trails, and there's sailing on the Errwood and Torside Reservoirs. Cavers head for the unseen, under- ground splendours of the Castleton area.
Favourite place: Lathkill Dale, or Alport Castles, Bleaklow.
Recommended pub/B&B: The Barrel, Bretton (01433 630856).
Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure Maps Nos 1, The Dark Peak and 24, The White Peak.
Further information from: Peak District National Park (01629 816200).
Pembrokeshire Coast
The Pembrokeshire Coast is the only predominantly coastal national park in Britain, so everything is influenced by the pounding waters of the Atlantic and the Irish Sea. Nowhere are you more than 10 miles from the sea, and most places are only three miles from it.
The best way to see the park is from the 180-mile Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail, which runs from Amroth to Cardigan and passes above the rugged, wave-battered cliffs and secluded, sandy coves. And the best time to walk this superb route is in the spring or early summer, when it is carpeted in a riot of wild flowers. Lying just off-shore but easily accessible by boat are Pembrokeshire's islands, - including Grassholm, Skomer, Skokholm and Ramsey Island - which are famous for their huge colonies of seabirds such as gannets and Manx shearwaters.
The hidden, inner sanctum of the park is the area inland from the natural harbour of Milford Haven, which is known as the Daugleddau, where extensive reed and mudbanks fringe well-wooded shores, in complete contrast to the sea cliffs of the coast. To the north lies the other inland part of the park, centred on the Preseli Hills from which came Stonehenge's celebrated bluestones.
Recommended walks: One of the most spectacular sections of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path is the six-mile circuit of the rocky headland of St David's, which overlooks Ramsey Sound and Island. Or if you want to ponder how the bluestones got to Stonehenge, try the five-mile walk from Rosebush to the Preseli's summit at Foel Cwm Cerwyn (1,760ft/536m).
Other activities: Pembrokeshire is Britain's Californian-style surfers' paradise, and beaches like Freshwater East and West, Broad Haven, Manorbier and Whitesands are renowned for their consistently good waves crashing in from the Atlantic. Sailing on the prevailing south-westerlies is based at the safe anchorages of Tenby, Saundersfoot, Solva or Angle, but there's also windsurfing, diving and canoeing and kayaking. Sea-cliff climbing is centred on the Castlemartin and St David's Head areas.
Favourite place: St Govan's Chapel, St Govan's Head.
Recommended pub/B&B: Tregyon, Gwaun Valley (01239 820531).
Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure Maps Nos 35 and 36, North and South Pembrokeshire.
Further information from: Pembrokeshire Coast National Park (01437 764636).
Snowdonia
The finest mountain scenery south of the Border awaits the visitor. Centred on the 3,560ft/1,085m peak of Snowdon, (more correctly Yr Wyddfa), the park also takes in the ranges of the Carneddau and the Glyders, the Moelwyns and the Arans, the Rhinogs and Arenigs, with Cadair Idris in the south. It also includes about 23 miles of the best coastal scenery of Tremadog and Barmouth Bays.
The Welsh name for Snowdonia is Eryri - which is translated as either the abode of eagles or simply the high place, either of which fit this rugged, uncompromising landscape. These forbidding heights have sheltered generations of Welsh nationalists ever since the days of Owain Glyndwr, and Welsh is the accepted first language for 65% of the local population.
This inherent foreignness is reflected in the almost Alpine scenery of the highest hills, where rare Arctic and Alpine plants, like the fabled Snowdon lily, still flourish in the rocky recesses of places like the Devil's Kitchen (Twll Du) above Lyn Idwal.
Recommended walks: There are at least seven well-trodden routes to Snowdon's summit, but all are serious mountain expeditions and none should be undertaken lightly with poor equipment or navigation skills. You can always, of course, take the train to the summit, but shorter and safer walking routes include the famous three-mile Precipice Walk along the superb Mawddach Estuary, near Dolgellau, or the four-mile forest trail through the Gwydyr Forest near Betws-y-Coed, for fine views of the Snowdon range.
Other activities: Rock climbers drool over cliffs like Clogwyn dur Arddu, or "Cloggy" as it is affectionately known to its aficionados, on Snowdon and the vertical crags of Dinas Cromlech in the Llanberis Pass. Beginners can learn the skills at the National Centre for Mountain Activities at Plas y Brenin, Capel Curig. Water-sports enthusiasts are catered for at Bala Lake or on the coast at the National Water Sports Centre at Plas Menai.
Favourite place: Cwm Cau, Cadair Idris.
Recommended pub/B&B: Llwyndu Farmhouse, Llanaber, Barmouth (01341 280144).
Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure Maps Nos 17, 18 and 23, Snowdonia, Snowdon & Conwy Valley; Harlech, Portmadog & Bala, and Cadair Idris & Lake Bala.
Further information from: Snowdonia National Park (01766 770274).
Yorkshire Dales
Limestone lies at the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, with some of the finest examples of karst scenery to be found in Britain. The showplaces are the great 250ft high amphitheatre of Malham Cove - once a waterfall higher than Niagara - the awesome cleft of Gordale Scar, and the great hooded cowl of Kilnsey Crag in Wharfedale. But just as fascinating, on a smaller scale, are the acres of limestone pavement like those around Ingleborough, each grike (or fissure) creating its own micro-climate to nurture a wealth of wildflowers in its cool and shaded depths. Capping the limestone are the Yoredale grits, which give us the stepped "lion couchant" profiles of magnificent hills like Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen y Ghent - the famed Yorkshire Three Peaks.
Although the only extractive industry in the Dales today are the unsightly limestone quarries at places like Swinden and Horton-in-Ribblesdale, the valleys were once the scene of extensive lead mining and, in places like Gunnerside Gill and Old Gang Beck in Swaledale, there are still many evocative remains of "t'owd man".
Recommended walks: Described by Wainwright as "of its kind, surely the most delightful walk in the country" and suitable for all the family is the four-mile Waterfalls Walk, which passes a series of beautiful waterfalls in the valleys of the Twiss and Doe above Ingleton. A glimpse of the limestone wonders of the park is provided by the five-mile excursion from Malham up the side of the Cove via the Pennine Way to Water Sinks and back via the dry valley of Watlowes.
Other activities: After walking and climbing, caving (known here as potholing) is one of the most popular activities, and there are many serious routes centred on places like Clapham and Ingleborough. The rock climbing is mostly on limestone, and there are many classic routes at places like Malham Cove, Gordale Scar and Kilnsey Crag. Cyclists can enjoy the 130-mile circular Yorkshire Dales Cycle Way starting and finishing in Skipton, and there is a network of bridleways to accommodate horse riders.
Favourite place: Gunnerside in Swaledale.
Recommended pub/B&B: The Wensleydale Heifer, West Witton (01969 622322).
Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure Maps Nos 2 and 30; Yorkshire Dales: Southern & Western areas; Northern & Central areas.
Further information from: Yorkshire Dales National Park (01969 650456).
•Roly Smith, former head of information services to the Peak District National Park and chairman of the Outdoor Writers' Guild, is the editor of a new series of official guides to the National Parks. Published by David & Charles at £8.99, the first four guides cover the Peak District, the Lake District, Dartmoor and Snowdonia.
