Snowdonia National Park in North Wales was one of Britain’s first, established in 1951. It is a place of mountains, covering 840 square miles (2176 square kilometres). Snowdonia is known as Eryri in Welsh, a name that can be translated as “the place of the eagles”. There are actually nine mountain ranges, caves, lakes, rivers and forests. Like other National Parks in Britain, this is serious walking and climbing country and needs to be treated with respect.
The area is stacked with historic sites as well as world-famous places like the gardens at Bodnant and Sir Clough Williams-Ellis’ fantasy village, Portmeirion. Snowdonia National Park also boasts no fewer than seven narrow-gauge railways: the Ffestiniog, Welsh Highland, Llyn Padarn, Talyllyn, Bala Lake, Fairbourne and, finally, the Snowdon Mountain Railway which will take you almost to the summit of Britain’s second highest mountain, Snowdon, at 3560 feet (1085 metres).
The principal settlements in Snowdonia National Park are Aberdyfi, Dolgellau, Trawsfynydd and Beddgelert.
The picture is of Castell-y-Gwynt (Castle of the Winds) a rock formation near the summit of Glyder Fach.
The South Downs National Park was designated as recently as 2010 and covers an area of 627 square miles (1624 square kilometres) parallel with the busy South Coast of England, from St Catherine's Hill near Winchester in Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne in East Sussex. Just outside the Park boundaries are the bustling towns and cities of Winchester, Portsmouth, Bognor Regis, Eastbourne and Brighton. London is about an hour to the north.
It is mainly an area of rolling chalk downland, which includes the white cliffs of Sussex (not to be confused with the ones at Dover). This is no wild, remote, national park. It is a rich area of mixed farming, woodland, country estates, gardens, vineyards, pleasant middle-England market towns, pretty villages and good pubs. It may be walking without altitude, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t good walking to be done; and the slopes will still test the muscles. You'll also find significant prehistoric landmarks.
The highest point is Blackdown, where the poet Tennyson once had a home, close to the border with Surrey, at 918 feet (280 metres).
Principal settlements include Arundel, Steyning, Lewes, Midhurst and Petersfield.
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