Bramhall Park

The lake at Bramhall Park is the first thing that stops you in your tracks. It's genuinely lovely - proper mirror-still on a calm day, with willows drooping into the water and plenty of birds picking about the margins. The park itself spreads across woodland and open grassland just outside Macclesfield, making it an easy spot to reach without feeling like you've driven for hours.

You can walk the perimeter reasonably briskly or amble about for a couple of hours if you're the type to pause and actually look at things. The woodland paths are well-trodden and straightforward. There's something appealing about how unpretentious it all is - no visitor centre, no shop selling overpriced sandwiches, just actual nature doing its thing. Birdwatchers will find it worthwhile, particularly around the water. Families with young kids get a decent amount of space to run about, though don't expect playground equipment.

The real strength here is that it works brilliantly as part of a longer walking loop if you're staying at one of the caravan parks in the area - Eastwood End is only four and a half miles away and makes a solid base. You won't need more than an hour or two unless you're particularly keen on ornithology, so think of it as a morning break rather than a full day's outing. Go early if you can; it fills up on weekends with locals who clearly know a good thing when they see one.