Ailey Hill

The earthworks at Ailey Hill sit quietly on the landscape near Ripon, easy to miss if you're not actively looking for them. What you're actually looking at are the remains of an Iron Age fort - ditches and banks that have survived two thousand years of Yorkshire weather and farming. It's the sort of place that demands a bit of imagination to bring it to life, which makes it either brilliant or frustrating depending on your tolerance for archaeology without interpretation boards.

Walkers will find this worthwhile. The site itself won't take long to explore - thirty minutes maximum - but it's the kind of thing that works well as part of a longer ramble around the Ripon area. The earthworks are substantial enough to be genuinely interesting once you understand what you're looking at, and the views across the surrounding countryside justify the visit on their own. Families with older kids who have any interest in history will get something out of it; younger children might find it underwhelming without proper context.

There's no entrance fee and no set opening hours - it's open access land. The nearest proper base would be Riverside Meadows Caravan Park, less than a mile away, which puts you well positioned to combine this with exploring Ripon's abbey ruins and other Roman sites in the area. Woodhouse Farm Holiday Park, four and a half miles out, also works if you want a slightly quieter spot for your base. Spring and autumn are the best times - the grass is manageable and visibility is decent for picking out the fort's layout.