An evening with Tom Chesshyre

Join celebrated travel writer Tom Chesshyre, as he takes us on journey through Britain’s first National Park

On a spring day in 1932, 400 disgruntled ramblers embarked on a 'mass trespass' of Kinder Scout, a plateau in the Peak District in northern England. Their aim? To establish a right to roam across the rugged landscape, against the wishes of wealthy landowners.

The hikers were seeking respite from the smoky industrial centres of Manchester and Sheffield – and eventually they got what they wanted. In 1951, the Peak District was established as Britain’s first national park. Home to striking dragon-back ridges of rock, vast expanses of peat, farms and villages, cloughs and caverns, the Peak is much more than the 'howling wilderness' described by Daniel Defoe three centuries ago.

With the 75th anniversary of the park’s creation looming, how has this dramatic landscape fared since? Tom hits the trails on a 363-mile ramble to find out – and to celebrate this symbolic home of hiking.