Yr10 Geography students spent a day in the Yorkshire Dales National Park on 22nd April carrying out fieldwork investigations into the impacts of tourism on the landscape.

Yr10 Geography students spent a day in the Yorkshire Dales National Park on 22nd April carrying out fieldwork investigations into the impacts of tourism on the landscape.

The Dales are world famous for their beautiful limestone scenery and the 100 metre high ancient waterfall called Malham Cove is probably the most striking aspect, with people coming from all over the country to see it.

The small village of Malham, under a kilometre away from the Cove, is therefore inundated with tourists every year. Students, accompanied by their Geography teachers, spent the day carrying out fieldwork to investigate whether tourism is having a damaging effect on the environment, how tourism is being managed and what visitors to the village think about the place.

Students were asked to conduct interviews using their own prepared questionnaires, map land use in the village, carry out environmental quality assessments,  pedestrian counts and also complete a car parks survey. Some of the students also had the opportunity to walk a stretch of the Pennine Way, up over the Cove and investigated whether there was any evidence of footpath erosion. The day was busy but enjoyable and students are looking forward to writing-up their finding in lessons. The work accounts for 25% of their GCSE course.