Ketford Banks Nature Reserve

The banks along this stretch near Newent are properly special if you're into your butterflies and wildflowers. Ketford Banks Nature Reserve is one of those places where you'll actually spot things - common blues, marbled whites, grasshoppers - rather than just walking past empty grassland. The slopes here are steep enough to make you work for it, but that's rather the point: the gradient means the ground never gets trampled flat, so the flora stays vibrant.

It's not a huge reserve and honestly you'll spend an hour here at most, maybe ninety minutes if you're the type to sit on a bank with binoculars. Walkers doing circuits around Newent often swing through, and it's ideal if you've got kids old enough to spot insects without needing constant entertainment. The real draw is summer - late June through August when the butterflies are at their peak. Spring's decent too. Winter's a bit bleak, to be honest.

Free to access as far as I can tell, no visitor centre or facilities, just a nature reserve in the proper sense. The terrain's uneven underfoot so bring decent boots. Pelerine Caravan Site is only two miles off, making this an easy morning out if you're based there, or you could stay at Haywood Farm and build it into a longer exploration of the Forest of Dean foothills. Most people skip places like this in favour of bigger attractions, which means you get it largely to yourself - exactly how nature reserves should be.