Review of Roly Smith's book Enjoying the Peak District, by Julie Bunting
This review is by Julie Bunting, and was published originally in
The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper,
on 25th August 2003, and is reproduced with Julie's kind permission.
ENJOYING THE PEAK DISTRICT
by Roly Smith
This new title from Halsgrove can be enjoyed from an armchair but
it is Roly Smith's intention to get you out there into his beloved
Peak District. You could have no better guide. Roaming in and
beyond the Peak District National Park, Roly offers tempting
'tasters' without stinting on his own enthusiasm for the region's
past and present.
Some facts and figures may come as a surprise: more than 50
reservoirs now flood our valleys; the White Peak is thought to
contain over 500 tumuli or burial mounds; and modern dating
techniques put some of our limestone walls at an astonishing 2,000
years old. The author also points out that the high ground of
Kinder and Bleaklow is 'a cold and soggy sub-Arctic wilderness,
sharing the same latitude of Siberia or Labrador'.
Another impressive statistic emerges from 'the wildlife showplaces
of the Peak', where botanists have recorded up to 54 species of
herbs and wild flowers per square metre. Overall, this book has a
refreshing up-beat tone. We learn, for example, that improved land
management has given increasing security to birds including the
merlin, peregrine falcon and golden plover. A welcome improvement
on earlier depressing reading of the late 1960s. The author gives
encouragement to other ongoing ventures such as farmers' markets
and a public transport network which enables visitors to leave
their cars at home. Places to visit are brought together as Wonders
of the Age and Outdoor pursuits as The Great Escape - after all,
the book is all about Enjoying the Peak.
I particularly liked: A Peakland Timeline - a quick reference guide
from the 'Stone Ages' through to the Middle Ages, the Industrial
Revolution and beyond; information boxes with titles such as The
Walls Walk Slowly, or Rarer than the Tiger; and the quality of
around 40 fresh and recent colour photographs.
Enjoying the Peak District is published by
Halsgrove in association
with the Peak District National Park Authority. Widely available in
local shops and tourist information centres it costs £6.95.
(ISBN 1-84114-276 X)
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[Created 16 Aug 2003. Last updated 24 Oct 2008 - 11:02 by Rosemary Lockie]