Mercyfield Wood

Walking into Mercyfield Wood near Preston feels like stepping out of the surrounding Lancashire farmland and into something altogether quieter. It's a proper woodland - the kind where you can actually hear yourself think, which is rare enough these days. The forest floor is thick with leaf matter, the canopy closes in overhead, and if you time it right in autumn the colours are genuinely worth the trip alone.

This is walkers' territory. The woodland paths aren't manicured or signposted to death, which some will love and others might find frustrating. There are no facilities to speak of, no café, no visitor centre - just trees and soil and the occasional bird call. For families with younger kids it might feel a bit one-note after an hour or so, unless they're the sort who'll entertain themselves turning over logs and hunting for beetles. But if you're after a genuine woodland walk without the crowds you'd find at somewhere like Beacon Fell Country Park nearby, this does the job.

If you're staying at Dale Hey Farm Touring Caravan Site just up the road - it's barely a mile away - Mercyfield is an ideal morning walk to shake off the legs. Allow an hour minimum, longer if you're the dawdling type. Free to access, as you'd expect from a Lancashire woodland. Go when it's dry if you can; it gets boggy otherwise.