National parks of the United Kingdom: all 15 in the data

TL;DR

Three official datasets list 15 national parks: 10 in England, counting The Broads, 3 in Wales and 2 in Scotland. None of the datasets we used covers Northern Ireland. The year means designation in England and Wales and establishment in Scotland, and one Welsh park has two years in its own dataset.¹²³

Which national parks do the official datasets list?

Natural England's dataset lists 10 national parks in England, Natural Resources Wales's lists 3 in Wales, and the Scottish Government publishes a separate dataset for each of the 2 in Scotland.¹²³

National parks in England, Wales and Scotland in the official datasets
National park (as the data names it)	Nation	Year	What the year records
New Forest	England	2006¹	Designation date in the data
Exmoor	England	1954¹	Designation date in the data
Dartmoor	England	1951¹	Designation date in the data
Peak District	England	1951¹	Designation date in the data
North York Moors	England	1952¹	Designation date in the data
Lake District	England	1951¹	Designation date in the data
The Broads	England	1989¹	Designation date in the data
South Downs	England	2010¹	Designation date in the data
Northumberland	England	1957¹	Designation date in the data
Yorkshire Dales	England	1954¹	Designation date in the data
Arfordir Penfro / Pembrokeshire Coast	Wales	1951 or 1952²	The data gives 1951 as the designation date; the same dataset's description says 1952. We show both.
Bannau Brycheiniog / Brecon Beacons	Wales	1955²	Designation date in the data
Eryri / Snowdonia	Wales	1951²	Designation date in the data
Cairngorms National Park	Scotland	2003³	Established in March 2003, as the dataset's description says
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park	Scotland	2002³	Established in July 2002, as the dataset's description says

Natural England's data writes the English names in capitals; we wrote them in title case. The Welsh names are bilingual, as the data gives them.

What does the data say about The Broads?

The Broads is listed in Natural England's National Parks (England) dataset with the status Designated and a designation date of 1 April 1989; its link in the data goes to the Broads Authority.¹

What does the year mean in each nation?

For England the year comes from the designation date in Natural England's data.¹ For Wales it is the designation year in Natural Resources Wales's data; for Pembrokeshire Coast the data gives 1951 while the description of the same dataset says Pembrokeshire Coast 1952, so we show both and do not choose.² For Scotland the year comes from each dataset's description, which says the park was established in March 2003 (Cairngorms) or July 2002 (Loch Lomond and The Trossachs).³

Can this list be reused?

All three datasets are under the Open Government Licence, which lets anyone exploit the information commercially and non-commercially if they acknowledge the source with any attribution statement the provider specifies and, where possible, link to the licence.¹²³⁴

What this page cannot tell you

Three datasets, not one list. No UK-wide list was in the sources we used; the total of 15 is the sum of the three datasets.
Northern Ireland. None of the datasets we used lists a national park there.

Key takeaways

The official datasets list 10 national parks in England, 3 in Wales and 2 in Scotland.
The Broads is listed in Natural England's dataset; its link in the data goes to the Broads Authority.
Pembrokeshire Coast has two years in its own dataset, 1951 and 1952, so we show both.
What we would skip: reading the list as a ranking or a travel guide. It records an official designation; it says nothing about opening, access or conditions, so check each park's own information before you go.

Sources

The lists come from the national park datasets of Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and the Scottish Government, read on 1 October 2026. See how we research.

Natural England, National Parks (England). Read the dataset record. Accessed 1 October 2026.
Natural Resources Wales, National Parks (DataMapWales). Read the dataset record on DataMapWales. Accessed 1 October 2026.
Scottish Government, Cairngorms National Park Designated Boundary; Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Designated Boundary. Read the Cairngorms record on SpatialData.gov.scot; read the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs record. Accessed 1 October 2026.
The National Archives, Open Government Licence v3.0. Read the licence. Accessed 1 October 2026.

Credit and licence. © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved. Contains Ordnance Survey Data. Ordnance Survey Licence number AC0000849444. Crown Copyright and Database Right. Copyright Scottish Government, contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Changes made. We combined the three datasets into one table, wrote the English names in title case and added the year notes. We use no logos or images from these sources. Gallivanting Gadabout is not connected with, or endorsed by, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales or the Scottish Government.