Crowhill Plantation

Crowhill Plantation sits just outside Clitheroe in Lancashire's rolling countryside, a woodland area that rewards a proper wander if you know what you're after. It's not a major attraction with visitor facilities or a car park announcement - more a genuine patch of mixed woodland where locals go to stretch their legs and clear their heads. The trees are substantial enough to feel like you've left the everyday behind, and the paths wind through in a way that feels genuinely unmanicured rather than corporate-managed.

Walkers will get the most from this. It's the kind of place where a family with older kids can spend an hour or so, but toddlers will get bored without a clear destination or playground at the end. The terrain is fairly straightforward if the paths are dry, though they can get boggy in wet spells. Come autumn and the colour is decent enough, though nothing that'll stop you dead in your tracks.

You'll want to allow 45 minutes to an hour depending on which route you take and how slowly you move. There's no entrance fee or visitor centre faffing about - it's just there. Getting there from Clitheroe takes ten minutes or so. If you're staying at Calder Farm, barely ten minutes away, it's a decent morning activity before heading on to somewhere with more going on. The Ribble Valley area has the proper attractions - Pendle Hill walks, the climbing spots - so treat Crowhill as a pleasant in-between rather than a day destination in itself.