Penny Loaf Hill Plantation

You won't find crowds at Penny Loaf Hill Plantation - it's a proper working forest in Cambridgeshire, just east of Baldock, where you can actually walk without tripping over other visitors. The woodland stretches across mixed plantations, the kind of place where the light filters through in shafts and you can hear yourself think. There are paths threading through, some well-trodden, others quieter if you venture further in.

Walkers get the most from this one. It's not a destination with benches and information boards - it's the real thing. You're looking at a couple of hours minimum to do it justice, longer if you're the type who stops to identify trees and listen for woodpeckers. Kids who like climbing over fallen logs and building dens will be entertained. Those after a five-minute stroll around a visitor centre will be disappointed.

Being so close to Baldock makes it a natural add-on to a forest holiday in the area. You could combine it with a night or two at Ashridge Farm Caravan and Motorhome Club Campsite, which is barely a mile away - proper convenient. Radwell Lake campsite, a few miles further out, offers another decent base if you're planning several woodland walks across the region.

Go early morning if you want the place to yourself. Bring decent boots - the ground can be boggy after rain. There's something restorative about an unglamorous forest walk like this, the sort you actually remember rather than photograph.