Attracting visitors and students from around the world, the UK's first National Park, the Peak District, is right on the doorstep. With its dramatic gritstone edges, wild heather moorlands & gentle limestone dales, shaped by thousands of years of human influence, students can study this "living landscape" which supports a rich range of wildlife, culture & heritage.
Many high-grade coal seams lie close to the surface in this area, which is why mining had long been the sole focus of many villages in the locale, with the nearby British Mining Museum documenting the industry's history. Students can study the effects of the rise and decline in the industry over the last two centuries, the change in focus from primary & secondary industry, to tertiary and the plans for industrial regeneration in Barnsley.
With tourism being one of the main contemporary industries in the area, students have a great opportunity to monitor the provisions put in place in the Peak District National Park for tourism and their physical and biological effects on the area. This is "Last of The Summer Wine" country, with beautiful sleepy villages like Holmfirth, the setting for the popular TV show, where students can compare the effects of tourism with another less famous village, Honley.
As well as huge expanses of heathland, the area also has beautiful woodland, ranging from managed coniferous sites to natural deciduous zones, forming the basis to draw a comparison between the two, including species & population of flora, soil pH, nitrate and phosphate content.
Rising in the Pennines and flowing 112km eastwards, the River Don is the primary river flowing past the village of Penistone. Its wide, mature channel is a perfect location for river study, particularly focusing on a main tributary and its physical, chemical and biological factors from source to mouth. The Centre's local topography of rolling hills and deep valleys also provides a great opportunity to investigate renewable energy, with local wind farms just a stone's throw from the site. As "clean energy" sources become increasingly popular both politically and in the publics' perception, students can monitor for themselves the effects on the local landscape and air movement patterns.
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