1951: Lake District National Park created Friends of the Lake District played a leading role in campaigning for the creation of national parks. Our campaigning helped lead to the creation of the Lake District National Park, one of the first national parks in the country. The first national park was the Peak District, established on 17 April 1951, followed by The Lake District, Snowdonia and Dartmoor National Parks later that year. The Yorkshire Dales National Park was created in 1954 - parts of the park around Sedbergh are in Cumbria. For many years we continued to campaign to see more of the land between the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks recognised and protected with national park status and in 2016 the two parks were finally extended.