South Solway Mosses National Nature Reserve

The peat bogs here are genuinely vast - mile after mile of open moorland where the ground squelches beneath your boots and the horizon stretches flat and lonely. South Solway Mosses is proper wild, the sort of place where you actually understand what England looked like before humans got busy with the chainsaw and plough.

It's a working nature reserve, so you're not wandering manicured trails but genuine habitat. The mosses support rare plants - sundews, sphagnum mosses, bog rosemary - and if you're lucky with timing you'll spot hen harriers or curlew. Even in off seasons it's otherworldly. The sky dominates everything here.

Wigton sits just five miles south, a useful jumping-off point if you're basing yourself at Solway Holiday Park or the better-rated Stanwix Park Holiday Centre over towards Carlisle way. Most people allow two to three hours for a proper walk, though you can pop in for an hour's ramble and feel like you've had a genuine adventure.

It's not for everyone - no facilities, no cafe, no views of anything but bog and birdsong. Kids will either find it brilliant or monumentally boring depending on whether they're the type to get excited about finding rare plants. Serious walkers and birdwatchers absolutely should make the trip. Bring waterproof trousers and expect your boots to take a battering. Free to access and worth every muddy step.