Hartley Wood

The woodland around Hartley, just outside Sevenoaks, is proper walking country. Hartley Wood itself isn't a grand estate or famous nature reserve - it's straightforward forest, the kind where you can actually stretch your legs without bumping into a visitor centre gift shop. There are tracks through beech and oak, enough shade to make a summer afternoon bearable, and if you time it right, the light comes through the canopy in that way that makes you remember why you came out at all.

Walkers will find the most value here. It's not a destination by itself - you're not going to spend half a day standing about - but it works brilliantly as part of a morning or early afternoon loop if you're based at one of the nearby parks. Thriftwood Country Park and Badgells Wood Camping are both within five miles, so you could combine a woodland walk with your accommodation easily enough. Families with young children might find it bit thin on activities - there's no playground, no obvious viewpoint, just trees and paths. Older kids who actually enjoy walking will be fine.

The Sevenoaks area has enough going on that you wouldn't make this your only stop. It's the kind of woodland you slot in between somewhere proper rather than drive across Kent specifically to see. Free access, as far as one can tell, and no real restrictions on when you go. Best on a weekday morning when the paths are quieter. Allow an hour to ninety minutes if you're being leisurely.