Higher land tends to be windier, wetter, colder, more remote; have poor, marshy and thin soils - in short, it is not very good for most land uses. The higher lands in the U.K. have very few people and are not used intensively for farming.



Steeper land also is more difficult to use. Soils creep down steep slopes, machines such as tractors can topple over and water runs quickly off the land. Slopes can be stabilised by planting trees and in other parts of the world steps or terraces are cut in hillsides so that crops can be grown.



The lowest land offers the most opportunities for a variety of uses. It is the warmest, calmest, driest and is the easiest to build houses, industry and communications on.



The aspect of the land is the way the slope faces. In the northern hemisphere land that slopes down to the south is the best for farming as it gets more direct rays from the sun and is therefore hotter. The sunny-side of valleys tends to have more settlements.