Allt Pant-y-ffynnon

You're after a proper forest walk without the tourist crowds? Head to Allt Pant-y-ffynnon, a woodland stretch near Carmarthen that delivers the goods if you know what you're after. It's a genuine working forest with decent paths threading through mature trees, streams running through the lower sections, and that particular smell of old leaves and damp earth that makes you feel like you've actually escaped somewhere.

The walk itself is straightforward - nothing that'll have you scrambling over rocks or consulting maps every thirty seconds. You get woodland, you get the sound of water, and on a clear day the light filters through the canopy in that soft, golden way that makes phone photos look better than they should. It's the sort of place where you can wander for an hour or two without seeing another soul, which is becoming rarer by the week.

Families with walkers aged eight and up will find it engaging enough. Younger kids might get restless without a specific destination - there's no viewpoint cafe or sculpture garden to aim for. It's genuinely wild, which is either exactly what you want or not what you want at all.

If you're based at Woodland Rise Camping just down the road, or one of the yurt setups at Embrace the Space, this makes for a cracking morning out before breakfast. Free to access, no facilities to speak of, so bring water. Best visited after rain clears - the paths can get boggy otherwise.