THIS SITE IS A 'WORK IN PROGRESS'. WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We are always looking for new routes so if you feel there is a route you know of that should be added to the site, please contact us by filling in the form on the link below.

HAVE WE GOT IT RIGHT?

Information changes regularly, so if you notice anything that is incorrect, please let us know by clicking the link below.

ABOUT

The South Pennines area is a dramatic and distinctive landscape of high moorland and deep cut valleys, straddling the Yorkshire - Lancashire border and sitting between the major city regions of Leeds, Bradford and Manchester to the east and west, and the Yorkshire Dales and Peak District National Parks to the north and south...

With its millstone grit rock, heather moorlands, wooded valleys, traditional farmland and variety of birdlife, the South Pennines area is an important place for geology and wildlife. Because of its natural resources, the area played a crucial part in the Industrial Revolution. Today the landscape still illustrates the enormous physical impact of textile and other industries, including quarrying, mining, water supply and transportation.

The beauty of the South Pennines has long been recognised by novelists and poets - most famously the Bronte sisters of Haworth and Ted Hughes, who became poet laureate. The area continues to provide inspiration for artists and writers today.

With its distinctive landscape, rich in social and industrial heritage - and its peat bog and heather moorlands of international importance for wildlife such as the twite - the South Pennines Heritage Area is a special place. Yet the South Pennines is the only upland landscape in England not to have been recommended as a designated landscape such as a National Park or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with the added protection and resources that this brings.

Pennine Prospects is an organisation that acts as a champion for the South Pennines and seeks to raise its profile as a destination and area of strategic importance. Pennine Prospects set up and maintains this website as part of a coordinated programme of initiatives to promote the South Pennines. The aim of the site is to provide a functional tool for the 7 million people living within an hours' drive of the area, to explore and enjoy the breadth and depths of the South Pennines. Pennine Prospects used funding from the South Pennines LEADER programme, which supports community projects, to set up the site. The funding for LEADER is being made available through the Rural Development Programme for England, which is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union, and is administered by Pennine Prospects in the South Pennines. 

In addition Pennine Prospects manages the Watershed Landscape project and the Local Distinctiveness project which both aim to show what a special place the South Pennines is.

Pennine Prospects aims to build this site until it is a really comprehensive directory of walking, cycling and riding routes in the South Pennines. We need your help to do this as you are the one's out there walking, cycling and riding in our glorious Pennine landscape.

If you would like to help us build, strengthen and improve this website, then please use the feedback button on this page to get in touch.