Levenhall Links Leisure Park

The stretch of dunes and grassland at Levenhall Links is the sort of place you stumble into by accident and end up staying for an afternoon. It's proper coastal wild - that's your appeal here. You're looking at a working nature reserve just outside Musselburgh where the Esk estuary meets the Firth of Forth, so the light's always interesting and the birdwatching is genuinely decent, especially during migration seasons.

The paths wind through the dunes without being manicured to death, which means you feel like you're exploring rather than walking a circuit. Families with older kids will get on fine here - there's room to roam, mud to find, and enough open ground that they won't feel boxed in. Younger ones might need watching near the water. Photographers tend to linger longer than most because the estuary views shift throughout the day.

It's free, which is worth knowing. You can spend anything from forty minutes to a couple of hours depending on how much you want to potter about. Spring and autumn are best if you're into birds - winter's moody but can be bleak. Summer brings the casual walkers.

If you're based at Haven Seton Sands just down the road, this works perfectly as a break from the park itself - half an hour's walk from the holiday village, and you've got a completely different feel. It's not dramatic, but it's real.