Leighton Stone

A weathered lump of stone sitting in a field near Huntingdon might not sound like much, but Leighton Stone is genuinely worth the detour if you're already in the area. It's a glacial erratic - a massive boulder left behind when ice sheets retreated after the last Ice Age, thousands of years ago. The stone sits solitary and rather defiant in the Cambridgeshire landscape, and there's something oddly moving about standing next to something so ancient and so utterly out of place.

The site itself is free and accessible, though you'll need to do a bit of walking through fields to reach it. Allow an hour or so from the nearest parking if you want to do it properly rather than rush through. It's the kind of place that appeals to geology enthusiasts and anyone interested in natural history - kids can grasp the concept easily enough, though they may tire of it after twenty minutes if they're not already fascinated by rocks.

Geographically it slots neatly into a broader Cambridgeshire itinerary. You're close enough to Huntingdon for provisions, and if you're basing yourself at Grafham Water Caravan and Motorhome Club Campsite just four miles away, you could easily include this as a quiet morning walk before heading off to the water itself. It's not going to be the highlight of your holiday, but it's the sort of unexpected find that makes travel worthwhile - a reminder that the landscape around us contains stories stretching back millennia.