Old Wythes Wood

The woodland around Old Wythes, just outside Penrith, is proper Cumbrian forest - dense, green, and the sort of place you actually need to know exists to find yourself walking through it. It's not a visitor attraction with a car park and a gift shop. This is genuine native woodland, and that's rather the point.

The trees here are old. Genuinely old. You'll walk beneath oak and birch that have been doing their thing for centuries, with a forest floor that feels alive - moss, ferns, the occasional stream. It's the kind of walk that clears your head in about twenty minutes flat. Walkers get the most from it, particularly those staying at the nearby parks around Penrith - Beckses Caravan Park and Riverside Tourer Park are within easy reach.

Allow a couple of hours if you're doing a proper circuit, though you can bang through a shorter route in forty-five minutes. There's no visitor centre, no facilities that I'm aware of, and no admission charge because it's just woodland. That said, it's not maintained in any formal sense, so the paths can be muddy and overgrown depending on the season. Winter's a bit grim; spring and summer are when it actually sings.

It won't thrill young children hunting for attractions, but if you've got teenagers who don't complain about walks, or adults wanting genuine forest rather than theme-park versions of nature, it's worth the trip from Penrith.