Foxglove Covert

You'll spot Foxglove Covert from the moorland walks around Leyburn well before you reach it - a dark green smudge against the pale Yorkshire hills that draws you in. It's a small woodland plantation, nothing grand or manicured, just proper native trees doing their thing on a north-facing slope. The appeal is straightforward: a twenty-minute walk through quiet forest where the light filters green and the air smells of earth and pine needles.

This is walker territory, not a destination for sitting about. Families with older kids will find it worthwhile as part of a longer ramble across the Dales landscape, though younger ones might tire of it as a standalone stop. The woodland itself offers decent shelter if the weather turns, which it often does up here. In spring the wildflowers justify the detour; in autumn the light through the changing canopy is worth the muddy boots.

It's free, obviously, and you can spend as little or as long as you fancy among the trees. The real value comes in pairing it with the broader walking network around Leyburn - this is the kind of place that breaks up a longer hike rather than anchors one. If you're staying at Yorkshire Dales Holiday Park or Eastfield Glamping Farm nearby, the covert makes a logical morning or afternoon addition to your plans. Don't expect facilities or signage; bring decent footwear and accept that you're navigating by instinct and the occasional trail marker.