When William Wordsworth described the Lake District in 1835 as "sort of national property in which every man has a right to perceive and a heart to enjoy" he demonstrated that as well as being a great poet he was a great man of the people and conservationist.
It took a further 116 years before the first of the UK's 15 national parks was designated by statute as an area to be protected for the greater good of both mankind and nature. But what a boon they've been.
In the years running up to the Lake District, Peak District and Dartmoor being made national parks in 1951, the idea received opposition both in Parliament and from the public. Such measures would adversely affect businesses, they argued; these huge expanses of protected landscape would simply descend into Rousseau-like wildernesses when times were hard.
Six decades later, it would be difficult to find anyone with a bad word for the sort of protection afforded to Exmoor, Brecon Beacons, Loch Lomond or The Trossachs. Not only do these areas of immense beauty offer free and unlimited access to ordinary people, but provide sustainable incomes for many residents, while at the same time protecting them for anyone with Wordsworth's "heart to enjoy".
The Government this week revealed 27 aquatic "national parks" designed to protect precious sea-life. Fifteen of these – from Poole round to Lundy – will be off the South West, a peninsula containing some of the richest marine environments in the country.
As with the early proposals for our national parks back in the 1950s, not everyone is happy with the Government's announcement. Conservationists say 27 is not enough, while shipping agents and some fishermen fear it will damage their business activities.
But this is to miss the bigger picture. Aware of the likely criticism, Environment Minister and Cornish MP George Eustice wisely sought to pacify both camps. He told wildlife campaigners the plans were "very much the beginning of the process, not the end". And to those who use the sea to earn a living and create prosperity, he said: "Done creatively and with thought, we can protect these marine features, while reassuring other users that we are not destroying their livelihoods."
It may take time, but within a few years these "aquatic national parks" will surely be as much a part of our psyche as the Cairngorms or Snowdonia.
