The Circle

You'll spot it long before you reach it - a vast earthwork circle rising from the moorland just outside Rossendale, impossible to miss from certain angles. The Circle is a prehistoric monument that commands the landscape in a way most modern attractions simply can't manage. Walking around the full circumference takes a good hour if you're taking it slowly, longer if you want to absorb the scale of it properly.

Historically minded visitors will find it genuinely absorbing. The fact that someone - and we're talking thousands of years back - decided this hilltop needed marking on such a monumental scale raises proper questions. Why here? Why this size? The views across the Rossendale Valley are excellent, mind you, though that might be coincidental to the original builders' intentions.

Families with older kids who can manage a moorland walk will get something out of it, but younger children might find it underwhelming - it's an earthwork, not a structure, so there's not much to do once you've walked around it. Photography types, landscape walkers, and archaeology enthusiasts will find their time well spent.

There's no visitor infrastructure that I'm aware of, so bring water and wear proper footwear. The moors can turn boggy without warning. It's free to visit and accessible year-round, though winter conditions can make the approach trickier. If you're based at Rossendale Holiday Cottages & Glamping or Dearden Wood, this is genuinely worth the short drive for an afternoon wander.