The Peak District National Park is to England as Yellowstone is to the United States — that is, each is the first national park in its respective country, the first landscape deemed beautiful enough for official protection. In the case of the Peak District, national park status was granted in 1951, and it’s been attracting millions of visitors a year ever since to its rocky outcrops, rolling hillsides, and ancient stone villages.

Fly into Birmingham Airport — your gateway to England’s Heartland, with direct flights from the US — and you’re practically there (the park’s southern boundary is about an hour’s drive north of the city). Not yet convinced to book the trip? Scroll down and you will be.