Calrossie Woods

The woodland walk at Calrossie Woods, just outside Dornoch, feels properly remote for somewhere so accessible. You're into mature forest almost immediately - tall Scots pine mixed with birch and larch, the kind of place where light filters down in pale green shafts and the ground is thick with needle-drop. It's quiet. Really quiet.

The trails aren't signposted to death, which keeps things feeling a bit wild. You can amble for anything from thirty minutes to two hours depending on which path takes your fancy. The terrain is straightforward underfoot, muddy in winter but manageable most of the time. Kids won't get bored here if they're the type to actually enjoy a proper walk - there's fallen trees to scramble over, burns to hunt for, and enough space to run without constantly worrying about traffic.

This works best as part of a broader Highland tour from one of the nearby caravan parks. Dornoch Firth Caravan Park sits closest at under five miles, and if you're based there you can easily slot Calrossie into a day with Dornoch's beach and town centre nearby. It's not the sort of place to travel miles for in isolation, but combined with the coast and the wider options around Dornoch, it earns its place on a proper circuit.

Go early morning if you can. The woodland fills up with midges come late afternoon in summer, and frankly the peace is the whole point here.