Peace in our time... the places you can track down true Yorkshire tranquillity

One man who lives underneath a normally busy flight path swore that while sitting out in his back garden he heard the unmistakable buzzing of a bee; another was surprised by the noise of the wind blowing through trees and across the country people took a moment or two to enjoy the silence.

They knew it wouldn't last and they were right. Queues are once again forming at airport check-in desks and the day the skies fell quiet is fast becoming a distant memory.

"The ash cloud left many families stranded and businesses badly affected, but it also revealed to many what they have been missing all these years," says Graeme Willis, who as senior rural policy campaigner at the Campaign to Protect Rural England spends much of his time try to protect the country's remaining havens of peace and quiet. "Overnight, the skies were stripped of the sight and sound of aeroplanes and without the usual rumble and drone, people heard the simple sounds of the countryside once more.

"Air traffic in the UK has trebled over the past 20 years. All the forecasts show it will continue to grow at four to five per cent each year in the future, but for a few days the volume of our modern lives was turned down. Some areas around Heathrow became as tranquil as the Norfolk Broads and the back gardens of homes close to Leeds/Bradford airport were as quiet as the Peak District.

"We have long been talking about the importance of preserving oases of calm and the events of recent weeks hopefully showed why we think it's so important."

While everyone from the medical profession to environmentalists have warned against the erosion of tranquillity, the pace of modern living and the desire for bigger, better housing developments and office space has meant large parts of England's green and pleasant land have been unceremoniously concreted over.

"For decades, tranquillity has been eroded by urban growth, new roads and the expansion of city infrastructure," says Graeme.

"New housing consumes more countryside than any other kind of development. In a country which is already among the world's most heavily built-up, government figures show a greenfield area nearly the size of Leicester vanishes under bricks, mortar, concrete and asphalt each year.

"The noise from a busy road can extend over miles of countryside, yet the Government has allocated billions of pounds to widen motorways, dual carriageway and bypasses. Altogether it means that many people find it almost impossible to escape from the noise of traffic, the smell of pollution and the general sound of the rat race."

As part of his work at the CPRE, Graeme is spearheading the organisation's tranquillity mapping project. Using 44 factors, from an area's proximity to roads, its closeness to water and whether it offers views of open countryside, every part of the country has been given a rating.

The CPRE now hopes the maps, which identify the peaceful and the not-so-peaceful spots, will help future generations preserve the dwindling quiet space.

"Part of the reason something so valued was allowed to become so diminished is because we didn't know how to measure it," says Graeme. "Tranquillity isn't easy to define or pinpoint because it arises from a combination of physical features and human experience, but if you can't measure something, it's much harder to make the arguments for protecting it.

"The method we have devised, which reduces the recipe for tranquillity to its basic ingredients, means we can not only give the different

areas of England a tranquillity rating, but we can also create policies and take decisions to protect and in some cases to enhance it."

Using the CPRE's tranquillity formula, Northumberland emerges as England's most peaceful county, with a score of 28.6. North Yorkshire comes in third place with 17.1 and unsurprisingly the sprawling conurbations which make up South and West Yorkshire are towards the bottom of the list. Slough, that forever unloved area of the country, comes bottom of the tranquillity league with a score of -79.5.

"Tranquillity is important for everyone," says Graeme. "Exposure to nature has been shown to reduce blood pressure, sharpen mental performance and soothe anxiety and a recent review of more than 100 academic studies showed one of the primary reason for visiting the countryside was to escape from the stress of living in an urban area.

"People like solitude, but it's so hard to find. At night we used to be able to look up into dark, star-filled skies, but not any more.

"Our careless, fast-growing use of outdoor light has blotted out our view and the amount of truly dark sky has fallen to less than 11 per cent."

After the Icelandic volcano provided a reminder of what life used to be like, the CPRE is renewing its calls for a National Quiet Day and points out that it's not just about the nation's minds and bodies, a bit of tranquillity is also vital to the economy.

"Rural areas rely on tranquillity to attract visitors," says Graeme. "According to surveys, the peace and quiet is why almost half of us visit the countryside. Through rural tourism, tranquillity directly supports 186,200 jobs, 12,250 small businesses and contributed 6.76bn a year to the economy.

"The time is definitely right to consider a National Quiet Day. It would remind us all, for one day at least, of what we are all losing in our rush to be somewhere else.

"It would be a focus for all campaigns which want investment targeted towards greener and more resilient forms of travel, such as high speed rail, which would reduce the impact of flights above our most precious landscapes and preserve our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty for everyone.

"It is possible to achieve the benefits the cloud of volcanic ash brought, without the difficulties endured by so many people, but it won't happen through goodwill or warm words.

"We all want the countryside to be tranquil so we can enjoy peace and quiet, sweeping green views, the sounds of birdsong and the wind in the leaves, but if we don't take the right decisions now it will be lost forever."

IN SEARCH OF SERENITY... THE FIVE MOST PEACEFUL SPOTS IN YORKSHIRE

Great Whernside

The peak in the Yorkshire Dales stands at some 2,310ft and there's often not a soul around. Not to be confused with the more well-known Whernside, some 17 miles to the west, its summit above Kettlewell is the highest point of east Wharfedale.

Kexwith Moor

While the legacy of the lead mining industry is still visible, only a few sheep and the occasional rambler now

roam the moors above Arkengarthdale.

Spurn Head

The narrow sand spit which reaches into the North Sea stretches for more than three miles. It is home to an RNLI lifeboat station, a disused lighthouse and thousands of wading birds.

Langdale Forest

The mainly coniferous forest stretches for several thousand hectares and while it is home to large populations of foxes, roe deer and adders, few are ever seen by the visitors to area.

Walshaw Dean Reservoir

Lying between Hebden Bridge and Top Withens – the ruined farmhouse said to be the inspiration for Wuthering Heights – the waters are one of the few truly tranquil spots in West Yorkshire.

AND THE PLACES TO AVOID...

n Kirkstall Road, Leeds

n Penistone Road, Sheffield

n Cemetery Road, Bradford

n Gillygate, York

n Wakefield Road, Huddersfield