Dunvant park

You won't find coach parties at Dunvant Park. This local nature reserve on Swansea's doorstep is the sort of place where regular dog walkers know all the seasonal shifts - when the bluebells come through, where the newts are spawning, which scrubby bits the songbirds favour. It's accessible parkland mixed with genuine wild corners, nothing manicured or roped off. The reserve sits inland from the coast, so it attracts a different crowd to the clifftop walks around Three Cliffs Bay.

What you get is modest but genuine. Woodland paths, open grassland, ponds that actually support wildlife rather than just looking decorative. Birdwatchers should bring binoculars - the variety surprises most visitors. It's also the sort of place where kids can actually run about without someone instantly asking them to get back on the path. Worth an hour or two, longer if you're into identifying plants or you've got restless children who need proper space.

The reserve works perfectly as a morning stop between Swansea town centre and the beach parks further out. If you're based at Three Cliffs Bay Holiday Park or Nicholaston Farm Caravan & Camp Site, Dunvant gives you a different kind of walking without heading all the way out to the Gower. No facilities to speak of, so bring a packed lunch if you're planning to stay a while. Free to wander, no admission charge that I can find. Best visited when it's not been absolutely hammered with rain - the paths get properly boggy.