The Wash

The Wash stretches across the Norfolk-Suffolk border like a giant's bathtub, and honestly, it's properly dramatic when you first clap eyes on it. This isn't a pretty ornamental lake - it's a vast, windswept estuary where the sky dominates everything and the light changes hourly. You come here to watch rather than swim, to stand on the muddy banks near Brandon and take in the sheer scale of it all.

Birdwatchers will lose their minds. The shallow waters and salt marshes pull in waders, wildfowl and the occasional rarer visitor that sets the twitcher community ablaze. The RSPB knows what they're on about with their reserves dotted around the edges. It's the sort of place where you might spend two hours with binoculars and barely see another soul.

Walkers get more from The Wash than most visitors realise. The footpaths wind through reed beds and across embankments, and there's something genuinely meditative about the flat landscape and the cry of curlews overhead. It's not cheerful scenery - it's moody and windswept, often grey, occasionally golden when the sun breaks through.

Families with young kids might find it a bit bleak for an afternoon out unless they're genuinely into nature spotting. But teenagers who are into wildlife photography or anyone after peace and solitude will think it's ace. Free to visit, naturally. Allow at least two hours if you're doing a proper walk, though you could dash over from Willow Grove Farm Glamping and be back for lunch if time's tight.