Brookmeadow Covert

A thick belt of woodland just east of Kelsale, Brookmeadow Covert is one of those proper Suffolk forests that rewards a proper poke about. The trees press in close - mostly beech and oak - and it's the sort of place where you'll actually hear the quiet, which is rarer than it ought to be these days.

There's nothing fancy about it. No visitor centre, no café, no way to work out how much of the place you've seen. You just walk in and let the paths take you where they will. In spring the bluebells turn entire sections blue-purple, and the birds - nuthatches, pheasants, the occasional woodpecker if you're lucky - make it worth moving slowly. Autumn is when it properly sings, though, all ochre and copper.

If you're hiking seriously, this sits well within reach of a wider Suffolk walking circuit. If you're based at The Croft Campsite six miles away, it's an easy morning or afternoon excursion - the sort of thing you'd do without building the day around it. Families with younger kids might find it a touch claustrophobic if there's no obvious loop, but teenagers and proper walkers will appreciate how it just gets on with being a wood without any tourist gloss.

Allow a couple of hours if you're not in a rush. Go early if you want peace, or on a grey day when the light through the canopy does something rather special.