Higher Moor

The walk up Higher Moor from Macclesfield rewards you with proper views across Cheshire once you've done the graft. It's not particularly high or dramatic - we're talking around 500 metres - but the moorland summit feels genuinely remote even though the town is practically at your feet below.

On a clear day, the views stretch well beyond the immediate farmland. The moorland itself is open country, wind-blown and honest, the kind of place where you notice the weather rather than just pass through it. The path takes a good hour from town, depending on which way you attack it, and it's straightforward enough for families with older kids, though it can be boggy underfoot after rain.

This works nicely as a half-day walk if you're based at Eastwood End Caravan Park down the way. The moorland has that quiet, undramatic quality that makes it worth doing - not Instagram-famous, not packed at weekends. Go on an afternoon when the light's turning golden and you'll understand why locals have been tramping up here for years. It's the sort of walk that earns a proper cup of tea afterwards, not the sort you'll spend five minutes taking photos and leaving. Summer is best, though the wind can be sharp even then. Free to walk, obviously. Allow three hours round trip if you're taking it leisurely.