Selborne Hill

The walk up Selborne Hill rewards you with Hampshire views that stretch for miles on a clear day. It's not a dramatic climb - nothing like the South Downs - but the woodland path is proper pleasant, and locals clearly know it well given the worn track underfoot.

Once you've crested the top, you're standing on chalk downland with the Hangers Wood dropping away below. Gilbert White, the 18th-century naturalist, spent half his life studying this very hill and the village below, and you can see why. There's a sense of being somewhere people have been paying attention to for centuries.

Allow yourself an hour for the walk and another 30 minutes to sit about and actually look at things. It's not a challenge hike - families with older kids manage it fine, though the track gets muddy when wet. Walkers and anyone interested in natural history will get the most from it; casual strollers might feel it's a bit steep for what amounts to a couple of miles.

If you're staying at one of the nearby parks - Feather Down Manor Farm is genuinely excellent, Wigwam Holidays less than four miles away - Selborne Hill slots in nicely as a morning walk before heading to Alton for lunch. The village itself has a good pub and small museum if you want to dig deeper into White's work, but the hill is the thing.

Free to walk, naturally. Go early on weekends if you want any peace.