The beautiful little UK village ruined by 'too many tourists' dumping bags of human poo

Residents of a beautiful Peak District village are at the end of their tether as selfish tourists ruin the tranquility by parking irresponsibly, blocking vital roads and even leaving human waste behind. People living in Castleton, located next to Mam Tor, a hill in Derbyshire, say TikTok has led to a post-pandemic boom in tourists, who leave litter behind, ignore paths and are eroding an iconic countryside spot.

Public transport needs to be improved, locals say, and they want those enjoying the region to be better educated. A councillor has suggested rolling out a "ULEZ", similar to the system overseen by Sir Sadiq Khan in London, which would charge people travelling to the village in their car.

Rick Ellison, 40, who owns the local hotel, as well as other venues in the region, said: "I think my opinion is it's always been the case that if you move to a beautiful area and it's been a tourist trap for hundreds of years, you have to get used to that.

"The thing people seem to get offended by is the influx of motorhomes. It doesn't bother me too much, but we had to stop doing motorhome stopovers because it was unfair on team members removing human s***. You just shouldn't have to do that."

He added: "You get some wonderful people, but it's the few that ruin it. It won't take you long before you're walking around and there's human cr*p all over the place. That's what people whinge and tell me about." Mr Ellison also mentioned that a dog had attacked a farmer's lamb recently.

John Search, 61, who works at The Peak Hotel, has lived in the area for 15 years. The Liverpudlian has "lived all over", but believes "this is the best part of England". But he added: "These villages weren't build for 21st century cars. One big SUV blocks two lanes of traffic. It's the numbers and selfishness of the drivers." Mr Search made sure to point out, however, that the majority of tourists are "decent people", but a significant few leave litter, dog poo and "bags of human s***". "It ruins it," he added.

"But then, if you get rid of these tourists, bang goes all the jobs. We obviously welcome people. It's the area, it's the industry. But I see first hand the 'as long as I'm alright, sod everyone else' mentality. People do it in the cities, they do it everywhere. TikTok over the last two years has made it mad."

Local transport needs "linking up better", Mr Search suggested, to cut the number of visitors using their cars to get to Castleton. "Trains get here 10 minutes after buses depart," he said. "Then you have to wait 50 minutes." He suggested that another car park could improve things, but "there's a lot of red tape and bureaucracy".

David Greene, 60, was relaxing in the sun next to his campervan on a road overlooking the village. Orginally from Sheffield, and now a "southern softie", he has been coming to Castleton for four years on and off, and moves around the country. Mr Greene bemoaned people who leave their litter behind, including "dirty b*******" who hang dog poo bags in trees. "It's not just here; it's everywhere, and its not just van people, it's cars. They have their McDonald's and just chuck it out the window.

"Van people will go somewhere and pick it up. They don't want to sit there looking at rubbish, do they?" The former engineering factory worker has a registered address but spends all his time out and about elsewhere, including 10 years in India, after retiring at 40. He said: "If you get away from the beaten track, nobody bothers you. But, if you're on the beach, you can't park anymore. It's all metered up. If you go one street back, nobody bothers you.

"But it's grim in the winter. The solar panels don't do a lot. You're sat in the dark, sat in the cold. Normally I go abroad in the winter. You can't stay in one place too long; you get noticed. You don't leave no trace. I started before YouTubers did it. It became a fashion - that's not real life. In this life, you're hiding. I don't want nobody to notice me. If you get a complaint, you don't feel right, you move on."

Val Grant, 55, works at the village's Old Apothecary Shop. She said: "People are parking where they shouldn't be parking and blocking right of way. They don't realise, well, I hope they don't realise, they're blocking vehicles. It went a bit mad on TikTok, and you get all these groups of people descending on the area because they want a selfie, but not considering the impact they're having on everyone else.

"But most people are really nice. It's lovely, you can't blame people for wanting to come out and see a bit of countryside. But the litter that's left, that's really bad, and dog poo bags. Elderly people go around picking the litter up, but they can't actually manage [to keep up] at the moment because of the amount being left."

Parish councillor Jane Simm highlighted that there are other places tourists could visit in the area. She said: "It's finding that balance. It's a pity that they don't realise that the national park is not just about Castleton." The resident of 33 years added that there "could be some joined up thinking about public transport", as "car is still king".

Councillor Angela Darlington, who has lived in the village for 45 years, said: "We really need the visitors to spread out [and] go to other places. We don't have the capacity at times. There are plenty of lovely places in the Peak District. In the summer it's just chaos - there isn't enough parking." She added that TikTok is "uncontrollable".

"Mam Tor is constantly being eroded by the thousands going up there. The National Trust is working overtime to keep people on the path, but they won't stay on the path, no matter how wide you make it. There's litter left all the way out of the village, and there are pile ups of poo bags at gates very often."

District councillor Charlotte Farrell said the ecosystem "can't take it in some areas", and the national park has not got enough staff. The British Museum, she said, has 5.8million visitors per year, an income of £120million and employs 1,000 people. Whereas, the Peak District attracts twice as many tourists but has an income of just £7million and fewer than 280 members of staff.

Part of the solution, Cllr Farrell suggested, could be a "ULEZ", similar to the system expanded by Sir Sadiq Khan in London, which would charge for tourists using their cars, with the income invested back into the park. "We have all these day visitors [including from Manchester in the north and the Midlands to the south], and a lot don't contribute towards the park. People don't have to spend anything."

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council said: "We are fortunate in Derbyshire to have continued to invest in bus services, and were awarded £47million from the Government to improve them. A significant amount of this money has been spent on rural bus services.

"Castleton is well served for bus services. The 62 goes from Buxton to Castleton via Edale seven days a week, three times a day. Visitors from Sheffield and Manchester can get the train to Buxton or Edale and get the bus to Castleton.

"The 173 goes from Bakewell to Castleton. Visitors from Derby can get the Transpeak to Bakewell and change. The 272 runs from Sheffield to Castleton seven days a week with up to 11 buses a day in each direction. There is a bus each Wednesday, the 87 Holmfirth to the village with one trip and the 87a Castleton - Mam Tor, four round trips. And the Peak Sightseer takes visitors in a loop from Chatsworth on an open top bus during peak summer times.

"Some of the bus services connect with trains in a shorter time period than others, but we do all we can to make it as easy as possible for people to move from trains to buses. Train timetables can change twice a year, so this is a difficult thing to achieve all the time."

Godfrey Claff, Executive Councillor for Community Safety and Planning at High Peak Borough Council, said, "The High Peak is beautiful and we welcome people who want to come and enjoy our fantastic landscapes, countryside and town and villages - but we do need people to behave responsibly whilst they are here. That means being considerate when parking, not leaving litter and being mindful of the impact their visits can have on the people and places they visit.

"We are aware of the pressures felt by communities like Castleton and we are working with partners, including the police, the county council and the Peak Park, to help raise awareness of these issues and encourage people to plan before they come so they are familiar with the parking, provision of public toilets and other amenities in the places they are visiting. We carry out year-round campaigns to educate people and encourage responsible visits and we've recently adopted a Public Spaces Protection Order banning the lighting of barbecues, fireworks, sky lanterns and the like on land at high-risk of wildfires and will continue to support our local villages and tourist hot-spots with these issues."

A spokesperson for the Peak District National Park said: "We are aware of increasing concerns from residents, businesses, landowners and visitors regarding disruptive or illegal parking in some of the Peak District's most popular locations."

It adds on its website: "Car parking capacity has been discussed at high level meetings between the national park, highways authorities including Derbyshire County Council, the police and other local landowners."

Ministers say that the Bus Services Bill currently making its way through Parliament will introduce additional protections for how bus services are managed in rural areas, delivering on the Government's promise to improve living standards across the country.

The East Midlands was recently allocated more than £2billion in funding to support buses, trams and local train infrastructure up until 2031/32. It is for the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCA) to determine how it allocates this across the region.

The EMCA was also allocated £40.5million through the Local Authority Bus Grant for the 2025/26 financial year.