WHERE LIFE GOES ON

PEAK DISTRICT, DERBYSHIRE

arkhouse Hill is sometimes described as the only true peak in the Peak District. Where the surrounding hills have forgiving contours and very polite gradients, Parkhouse Hill swoops like a mini-Matterhorn over the Upper Dove Valley. It owes its shape to its limestone geology: millions of years ago, the Peak District was a tropical sea, and Parkhouse itself was an atoll – a sort of Maldives of the Midlands, if you will. Through spring, balmy (if not exactly tropical) airs grace the banks of the River Dove. Bluebells flood the copses. Ash woods come into leaf. Lambs leap in the fields. Wild garlic perfumes the