Arbury Wood

The woodland floor is properly boggy underfoot, even in summer - bring decent boots if you want to avoid squelching miserably for an hour. Arbury Wood sits just outside Stevenage and delivers exactly what you'd want from a Hertfordshire forest: dense cover, a network of paths that actually go somewhere, and enough quiet to hear yourself think.

It's a working woodland, which means you'll spot evidence of proper forestry management rather than the manicured nature reserve type. Ancient oak and hornbeam dominate, mixed with younger plantings, and there's real depth to explore here - not a quick 20-minute stroll kind of place. Walkers get the most from Arbury. The paths connect to surrounding land, so you can string together a proper three-mile walk if you've got the energy, though the terrain demands respect in wet weather.

Families with young kids might find the boggy bits frustrating, especially if they're in the pushchair stage. Older children who enjoy proper woodland exploring, though, won't get bored. There's no visitor infrastructure to speak of - no café, no facilities - so come self-sufficient.

If you're based at Church Farm in Ardeley, just four miles away, Arbury Wood makes a solid half-day outing. It's not glitzy, but that's precisely the point. This is genuine woodland, the kind that's been here for centuries, doing its thing regardless of whether tourists show up.