The Lake District National Park has many special qualities unique to the area. There are over fourteen lakes and tarns although officially Bassenthwaite Lake is the only titled ‘lake’ - the rest are ‘meres’ or ‘waters’.
The rocks forming the Lake District provide a dramatic record of nearly 500 million years. Colliding continents, deep oceans, tropical seas, and kilometre-thick ice sheets helped shape the landscape we see today.
There have been people in the Lake District since the end of the last ice age. There are traces of prehistoric and medieval field systems, archaeological monuments such as stone circles, Roman roads and forts and the remains of the mining, gunpowder and wood-processing industries.
The red squirrel is still found here, and there are woodlands rich in Atlantic mosses, ferns and lichen. Lakes, tarns and rivers are nationally important for their range of habitats and species such as vendace, charr, crayfish and schelly. On the fells ravens and birds of prey are a relatively common sight.
The Lake District National Park Authority Education Service offers a complete range of services to educational groups and teachers including the residential field studies centre at Blencathra.
