How many National Parks are there in the UK?
I wanted to create a poster featuring every single UK National Park but that leads to the question - how many National Parks are there exactly? Surely this is an easy question? Isn't it....?
There are 15 UK National Parks (or maybe 14)
There are arguably 15 or 14 National Parks within the UK. It depends on whether you count the Norfork Broads. The Broads has not been designated as a National Park but does, confusingly, have 'equivalent status' (gaining that status under its own 1988 Act of Parliament rather than the 'National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949').
Or are there are zero UK National Parks
Alternatively, the UK has zero national parks. They do not meet the internationally accepted standard of the IUCN (the International Union for Conservation of Nature). According to the IUCN, they are simply areas of outstanding landscape where habitation and commercial activities are restricted. How rude.
Well, I say let's stick with 15. I am not as pedantic as the IUCN... and you couldn't leave out the Broads could you?I featured all 15 UK Parks on my tin can poster and listed in establishment order (and, yes, I included the Broads).