Celebrating 70 years of the Lakes

This serene sunset comes to us from the Lake District, England’s largest national park, designated 70 years ago on 9 May 1951. Appreciation of the beauty of the Lakes, once thought of as a wild and desolate place, had been growing steadily since the late 18th Century, later boosted by the writings of the Lake Poets, Wordsworth, Southey and Coleridge. Day trips out of cities were made easier by new railways and later roads and visitor numbers swelled. Tourism remains hugely important to the economy of the area to this day.
© Stewart Smith/Alamy