Local resident
I really like living here in this village, but I get very fed up with all the visitors who come here throughout the year. I know that they bring lots of money to the village and this helps the gift shop owners but there is only one little grocery shop here and it doesn’t sell all the things I want. I have to travel twenty miles to a big supermarket to get my weekly shopping. Because so many folk visit my village, parking is a terrible problem. The council has built a new car park, but tourists still park outside my house and when my friends come to visit me, they have to park a long way from my home. There is so much more litter, noise and air pollution in the village now that I am thinking of moving somewhere else. I don’t want to because I have lived her for such a long time, but the worry of it all is making me ill.
Shop keeper
I have one of the many gift shops in this small village and I depend on the visiting tourists for my livelihood. Many of the local people think that I should turn my shop into a butchers or a bread shop, but they don’t realise that I couldn’t survive. Most people these days use the big supermarket twenty miles away, and would only pop into a corner shop for the odd half a pound of mince.
I have to be open at weekends and bank holidays as those are some of the busiest times. I don’t see much of my family as I always seem to be working. I have to respond to the demands of the tourists if I want to keep my shop going.
Child/Teenager
I was born in this village and I started at the village school when I was four. It was a really friendly school and I went with my friends from playgroup so I knew everyone. When I was eleven, I moved to secondary school in the next village. I have to travel by bus each day and now I don’t know everyone because it is such a big school.
When I was little, I liked playing with my friends or going to the park with my mum and dad. But now that I am older, (nearly sixteen) there is nothing to do in the village. There is a youth club once a week, but that is all. The nearest cinema is twenty miles away and the last bus comes back really early. At weekends, there are lots of tourists in the village, so my friends and I go to one of the nearby cities and spend the day there. Transport costs a lot, so I have paper round every morning to earn some extra pocket money. I have to get up at six o’clock! I suppose I don’t really appreciate how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place.
Tourist
I love to visit the Peak District with my family, as there is so much to do and see, even though it gets very busy with other tourists like myself. Sometimes we visit places like Chatsworth, Peveril Castle or the caverns in Castleton. But mainly, we like to walk on the hills and once you get out of the busy villages, it is very quiet and peaceful and you only see a few people during the day. I think that most people like to stay in the villages near their cars so they don’t have to walk far. There are lots of places to stay, B&B, country pubs, farms etc, but it is a good idea to book in advance, as it gets quite busy at weekends and bank holidays. I think that it is very important to be considerate of the people who live in the busy villages by not leaving litter, parking sensibly and not making a lot of noise. They live there and I'm sure you wouldn’t like it if thousands of tourists suddenly descended on your village or town!