Furze Hill

The walk up Furze Hill near Marlborough takes about twenty minutes if you're moving at a decent pace, and the reward is a proper panoramic view across the Wiltshire downs. It's not a dramatic peak - more of a substantial lump of chalk - but on a clear day you can see for miles, which makes it worth the effort. The gorse gives it its name, and in late spring when it flowers yellow it's genuinely lovely.

Walkers will get the most out of this. It's an easy enough climb for families with older kids, though younger ones might find the steep bits tedious. The whole outing takes about an hour if you're not rushing. There's a car park area near the base, though facilities are minimal - bring water and check the weather before you head up, as exposure here is real when wind gets up.

What works well is combining this with the Ridgeway Campsite, which sits barely half a mile away. You could do the walk as a morning stint before settling in at camp. If you're based at Hillview Park or Little Owls Camping a few miles south, it's an easy detour while exploring the downs around Marlborough. The landscape here feels genuinely ancient - you're walking through country that people have crossed for thousands of years, and that sense of scale stays with you. It won't take all day, but it's the sort of place that makes a camping holiday feel properly active rather than just lazy.