Ilkley South Bank

The River Wharfe runs brown and purposeful through Ilkley, and the South Bank is where you actually want to be - not on the tarmac but down where the water does its thing. It's a proper nature reserve, the sort of place that feels like locals' business rather than tourist infrastructure, and that's rather the point.

You get riverside walks that meander properly, with trees closing in and the water close enough that you hear it constantly. The bird life here is decent - kingfishers if you're lucky and patient, which most visitors aren't. Botanical types will spend hours spotting riverside plants; families with young children can manage an hour, maybe ninety minutes before someone asks if there's an ice cream van.

It's free to access and open whenever daylight allows. Spring and early summer are best - the banks green up and everything feels alive. Autumn's pleasant too, though it gets muddy fast after rain. Allow a couple of hours if you're not rushing, but even twenty minutes of riverside wandering clears the head properly.

If you're staying at Breaks Fold Farm Glamping just outside Ilkley, this is a five-minute drive and worth fitting in between longer walks elsewhere in Yorkshire. It won't be your main event - more like the warm-up before tackling the moors proper - but that's fine. Sometimes the best bits of a holiday are the unscheduled detours.