Birk Gill Wood

You'll find yourself in proper dense woodland the moment you step into Birk Gill Wood, just outside Leyburn in North Yorkshire. It's the sort of place where the canopy gets so thick you lose track of time - which is exactly the point. The wood runs along a gill, so you've got water features threading through, fallen logs to clamber over, and enough dappled light coming through the trees to make it feel genuinely peaceful rather than gloomy.

This is excellent territory for families with kids old enough to handle uneven ground and a bit of scrambling. Younger children might find the lack of obvious paths a touch tricky, but that's also what makes it feel like proper exploration rather than a managed walk. Walkers and naturalists will appreciate the mix of broadleaf trees and the general sense of woodiness - you're in actual forest here, not a manicured trail.

There's no admission fee and no formal opening hours that we can pin down, which means you can rock up whenever suits you. Allow a solid hour to really wander without rushing. The terrain's uneven enough that trainers with decent grip matter. Go when the wood's dry; after rain it can get a bit boggy and slippery.

If you're staying at Eastfield Glamping Farm or Yorkshire Dales Holiday Park - both within five or so miles - Birk Gill Wood slots in brilliantly as a morning's woodland ramble before heading to bigger attractions in the Dales. It's the sort of place that rounds out a park holiday nicely, especially if you want to actually feel like you've been in nature rather than just walked past it.