Bendalls Grove

You'll find Bendalls Grove tucked away near Wells, a proper woodland walk that rewards you with some decent tree cover and the kind of quiet that's hard to come by these days. It's the sort of place where you can actually hear yourself think - no crowds, no gift shop, just you and the forest floor doing its thing with moss and leaf litter.

Walkers will get the most out of this one. It's not a stroll-around-the car park situation; you need to be up for a decent hike through the trees to make it worth your while. The canopy's thick enough that even on a scorcher of a summer's day you'll stay relatively cool, and in autumn the colour change is genuinely atmospheric. Kids who are into nature spotting and bug hunting will keep themselves busy for a good hour or two, but toddlers might find it a bit samey.

There's no entrance fee that I can find, and it's the sort of free-to-access woodland that doesn't appear on every tourist board's radar. That's rather the point. If you're staying at Cathedral View Glamping or Wells Touring Park nearby - both well-regarded spots - this makes an excellent morning walk before heading into Wells proper for lunch. The proximity to these parks makes it a natural fit for a wider Somerset holiday exploring the various green spaces in the area.