In many ways this countryside has more in common with the upland regions of the north and west than with the neighbouring lowlands of the Midlands. However, unlike many other upland areas the Peak is accessible to large centres of population: 20 million people live within an hour's drive of the Peak District. The ease of access to the hills and valleys of the High Peak has many consequences for the estate and its management. This property is not an 'island', isolated from the surrounding villages, towns and cities: complex interrelationships and reciprocal linkages have long been important, and continue to evolve and change. The property can never be insulated from this and will always, to some extent, be the subject of external influence and change despite the best efforts and 'inertia' of the Trust. The role of the Trust could therefore be seen as a protector from that which is most extreme and damaging whilst managing other change so that we 'transfer the maximum number of those features we currently consider to be of significance - from the past to the future, in the most favourable condition possible'.
