Quantock Hills National Landscape

Rolling hills, ancient woodlands, and ridgelines that stretch for miles across Somerset - that's the Quantock Hills in a nutshell. This National Landscape sits just inland from the coast near Holford, offering proper walking country without needing a four-hour drive to the Lake District. The scenery is genuinely lovely: beech and oak woods give way to open moorland at the top, with views across the Bristol Channel on clear days. It's not dramatic in a showy way, but it's the kind of place that makes you understand why people walk for hours and never get bored.

Walkers will get the most from this. Trails range from gentle woodland strolls to more demanding ridgeline hikes, and the whole area is crisscrossed with footpaths. Families with younger kids should stick to the lower routes through the woods - muddy and atmospheric in winter, cool and dappled in summer. The views from Wills Neck are worth the slog up, though it's bit steep for what amounts to a moorland plateau.

There's no entrance fee or formal visitor centre, which is refreshing. You can park at various points around Holford and head off. Allow two to four hours depending on which route you pick. The nearby campsites - Moorhouse Campsite is closest at 3.7 miles, with Mill Farm and Haven Doniford Bay also within striking distance - make this a genuinely practical base for a walking holiday. It's unpretentious countryside, the kind Brits have been tramping through for centuries. Well worth building into a Somerset coastal trip.