Farmer
My family has owned this farm for generations and five years ago, I took over the running of it from my father who retired through ill health. I've known nothing but farming all my life, and ever since I was a small child, I helped my parents with all sorts of jobs. I can now see many of the problems my father faced. I have to work very closely to the Government and EC regulations. “Mad cow disease” has meant that the sale of my beef has fallen. I am only allowed to keep a certain number of sheep, and when I sell them, I get very little money for them. I think my greatest problems come from the visitors to the Peak District who think that they can just do anything they want to on my land. They are often very inconsiderate and leave gates open, let their dogs run free and chase my sheep and climb over walls instead of using the stiles which I have provided. They don’t keep to the footpaths and they leave litter all over the place.
If all this continues, I may be forced to sell up and find a different occupation - it will be a difficult decision to make!
Quarry Manager
I have worked at this quarry since I left school and I have now become Quarry Manager. When people see the quarry chimney in the middle of this beautiful landscape they wonder why it is allowed in the Peak District National Park. This quarry was built before the National Park was designated and the company who own it has worked very hard to make sure that the quarry’s impact on the environment is very small. At our quarry, we make cement and I don’t think everyone realises how important the cement industry is. Without cement, your house would probably fall down and you wouldn’t have roads and bridges to drive on. Lots of local people are employed here and as there is quite high unemployment around, they are really glad of a good job.
Reservoir and Forestry worker
My job is to look after the area around the reservoir and the surrounding forest. The water company which I work for supplies drinking water for thousands of people and some of the reservoirs are used for water sports and fishing. I have to make sure that people are not polluting the water and generally maintain the area. The woods are used by walkers and special pathways have been made for people to follow so that they don’t wander off into the areas where we have planted new trees. We cut down some of the trees when they are mature and send them off to the sawmills to be used for furniture making etc. We have picnic sites and these also have to be maintained.
Visitors
Me and my friends like to come to this part of the countryside because there is so much to do. There are some really good rock climbing crags and they are quite close to the road. Parking is sometimes difficult and people often have their cars broken into and things stolen. Occasionally, we like to go for a walk but sometimes the farmer shouts at us for leaving gates open. It’s great for my dog because she can have a really good run around the fields and up on the high moors. She doesn’t get much exercise as we live in a tall block of flats in Sheffield. My dog likes to play games of chase with the sheep! We quite fancy hang gliding, as it looks a good sport. Probably the farmer won’t like us landing in his fields though.