Sand Hole Wood

A quiet woodland walk just outside Grange-over-Sands, Sand Hole Wood offers the kind of forest bathing you don't need to fly to Japan for. Paths wind through mixed woodland - mostly ancient beech and oak - with moss-covered stone walls threading between the trees. It's not dramatic, but it doesn't pretend to be. You're looking at a proper local walk, the sort locals actually use rather than somewhere that's been packaged up for tourists.

The woodland sits on the edge of the Lancashire limestone landscape, so you get interesting geology alongside the greenery. Bring wellies in winter - it gets boggy in places. Summer's the better bet, when the canopy closes in and the undergrowth is thick enough to muffle traffic noise from nearby roads. Most people allow 45 minutes to an hour depending on which paths you take. There's no formal car park or visitor facilities, so rock up early and don't expect a cafe.

This works best if you're already staying in the area - Old Park Wood Caravan Holiday Park sits just a few miles away and makes a natural base. Combine it with a walk down to Grange-over-Sands seafront or a longer ramble towards the wider network of Cumbrian woodland trails. It's not a destination in itself, but as part of a wider walking holiday it does the job well. Families with older kids (seven or eight plus) won't get bored, but it lacks the dramatic falls or wildlife spectacle that younger children crave.