The Wainstones

The walk up to The Wainstones rewards you properly - it's a short but steep scramble that takes maybe twenty minutes from the car park, and suddenly you're standing on a proper rocky outcrop with views that stretch across the North Yorkshire moors in every direction. The stones themselves are these weathered gritstone formations, nothing too dramatic, but they catch the light beautifully and give you something solid to clamber around once you've caught your breath.

It's the view that does the work here, not the rocks. On a clear day you can see for miles - rolling moorland, distant hills, and if you're lucky the light catching the valleys in that particular way that makes you understand why people hike in this part of the world. The ground around the stones is rough and boggy in places, so proper boots matter.

Families with older kids will get on fine - the scramble is short enough that younger legs won't suffer, though toddlers might find the rocky top a bit much. Walkers treating this as part of a longer route across the moors will barely notice the detour. It takes perhaps an hour all in, parking to parking, so don't expect a full afternoon's entertainment.

Northallerton sits nearby if you need supplies or a decent pub afterwards. Whorlton Pods holiday park is under five miles away - a nice base for a few nights of proper moorland walking. Go when the weather's decent; mist rolls in quick up here and ruins the whole point of coming.