Heath and Heaven is a Living Art project that looks at all the UK’s National Parks from an aerial perspective - a poetical insight into their captivating detail.

Part i - The Peak District

Heath & Heaven: an aerial photographic work

Printed to canvas (8m x 2.1m), a portrait of the Peak District National Park by Si Homfray and John Beatty.

The work sets out to convey calm and reflection, how healing and restorative, how exciting and fulfilling it can be to immerse ourselves in such a working, rural environment.

Beautifully crafted photographs by John Beatty convey the forces of nature at work within the Park.

Through abstract and literal shots, we are taken on a journey, one day in the late Summer of 2005 from the northern most aspect of the Peak District, Black Hill and Laddow Rocks across moorland, village, valley, hilltop, landmark and over a seemingly endless mosaic of pattern and texture across the soft greens of southern limestone down to the Roaches and Staffordshire.

Keen to capture the spirit of the Park, Heath & Heaven shows the detail, the warmth, the essence of why we love our Park, why we use our Park and why we should celebrate our Park and continue to fight to preserve it as it is.

Heath & Heaven aims to convey a message that this country's first National Park is a minature working example of how life really can work in balance and harmony with nature, perhaps rather impudently citing it as an example for greater powers to take note.

Heath & Heaven was undertaken after many years of discussion and deliberation, by Si Homfray as a thank you and a celebration of just how altogether remarkable this landscape is and through changing times always has been, to live and work within.

Open to the Public at our Hathersage Gallery in the Peak District, Monday to Friday 9.00am to 6.00pm and

NOW on show at The Heights of Abraham in Matlock Bath throughout the summer 2008.

Heath & Heaven is supported by the New Environmental Economy Programme, a grant scheme funded by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by the Peak District National Park Authority.

View the Heath & Heaven panels by browsing the products below. Posters are available of all of the images.

Part ii - The Lake District : Rugged Reflections

Rugged Reflections - The second instalment of Heath & Heaven, which captures the wonders of the Lake District National Park from the air launched on February 8th 2008.

Part ii - Rugged Reflections: The Lake District

An aerial perspective revealing hidden treasures that cannot be seen from the ground, Rugged Reflections captures the sheer magnificence of the Lake District National Park from the air. Living Art founder Si Homfray spent one day hanging precariously out of a helicopter taking a series of photographs that makes up Rugged Reflections. 

"Even with the shattering noise of rotor blades and 80 miles an hour winds, it was possible to develop a closeness and intimacy with the landscape. It was a very privileged insight into just what makes this iconic place so revered," said Si.

The first flight set out from Newby Bridge and headed north via Windermere, Borrowdale and Keswick to Caldbeck, returning along the eastern fringe of the lakes, taking in Blencathra, Haweswater, High Street and Helvellyn. A second ascent produced dramatic shots of western gems, including Buttermere, Ennerdale and Pillar down to the Langdales, Hardknott Pass and Coniston.

Open to the Public at The Lake District National Park Authority's BROCKHOLE VISITOR CENTRE, Lake Windermere Monday to Sunday 9.00am to 6.00pm