Bigams Hill

The climb up Bigams Hill takes about forty minutes from Barnoldswick, and it's a proper straightforward walk that rewards you with the kind of views that make the Pennines feel genuinely worth exploring. You're looking south across Lancashire and beyond - on a clear day the visibility is surprising for a peak that only nudges 1,100 feet. The path itself is well-trodden but nothing fancy, and you'll find the moorland landscape typical of this part of the North West: heather, wind-scoured grass, and the sort of space that makes you remember why people bother with walking holidays at all.

It's ideal for anyone staying at Thornton Hall Country Park just down the road - they've got the campsite infrastructure sorted, and Bigams gives you a proper hill walk without needing to drive off. Works well with a longer ramble across the moorland if you've got the time and legs for it. Families with kids aged ten upwards will get on with it; younger ones might find the exposed ridge a bit tedious coming back down.

Free access, obviously - it's moorland. Go when the weather's cooperating because the exposed top gets genuinely windy and bleak in poor conditions, which sounds atmospheric until you're actually standing in horizontal rain. Spring through to early autumn gives you the best chance of decent visibility.