Magog Down

The chalk figure cut into Magog Down, just outside Cambridge, is a curious piece of local oddity that catches plenty of visitors by surprise. It's a sprawling white horse - though honestly, it looks more like a gangly stick insect from certain angles - carved into the hillside and visible from the road if you know where to look.

The figure itself dates back to 1939, which makes it one of England's younger chalk carvings. There's something rather appealing about that - it's not ancient mystery, just a communal bit of art that's stood the test of nearly a century. You can walk right up to it, clamber about the slopes, and get a proper sense of the Cambridgeshire landscape that most tourists miss entirely while they're clogging up King's College.

It's absolutely free, takes maybe half an hour if you're thorough, though you could stretch it to an hour if you're keen on the views across the plain. Bring decent shoes because the chalk can be slippery when damp, and it's a fair old climb for little ones, though teenagers will find it a doddle.

Basically worth the detour if you're camping at one of the sites around Cambridge - Cherry Hinton, Camping and Caravanning Club, or Bounds - and you want something genuinely low-key away from the college crowds. On a clear day, the sight lines across Cambridgeshire justify the walk alone.