Six-year-old girl helps clean up Derbyshire’s famous Dovedale beauty spot

Moli Flanagan collected the rubbish at Dovedale with her dad, Will. The pair filled two plastic carrier bags - also found near 'the stepping stones' at the Peak District beauty-spot - with litter dropped by visitors into the Derbyshire river on the hottest day of the year so far.

Will said: “We could have filled another ten bags. It was disgusting to see how many people were dropping their litter in the river. One other couple were also picking up litter and had filled a bag.

“One man with a picnic basket came up to us and tried to put his litter in Moli’s bag. I said ‘we’re not a rubbish collection service - why don’t you take it home with you?’

‘We found a couple of shoes, crisp packets, Coca Cola, Fruit shoot and water bottles. All the bins in the area were over-flowing too. I’m proud of where we live but it was disgusting to see so many people just dropping their litter in the river.

‘We came down here for a paddle in the river after school. Moli was very upset by what she saw so I said ‘why don’t you do something about it?’ and she immediately started picking up the rubbish. She’s asked to come back after school tomorrow afternoon too to carry on collecting more rubbish, “ added Will.

The Dovedale valley is owned by the National Trust and annually attracts a million visitors.