Valley Wood

The woodland near Woodbridge isn't one of Suffolk's famous showstoppers, but that's rather the point. Valley Wood is proper forest - the sort of place where you actually hear birdsong instead of tour groups. It's manageable on foot, the kind of walk you can knock out in an afternoon without needing fell boots or a packed lunch.

What you get is straightforward: dense tree cover, leaf-thick paths that change with the seasons, and the genuine quiet that East Anglia sometimes offers if you know where to look. Spring brings bluebells. Autumn turns it orange and brown. Winter's bare branches let you actually see through to the edges of the wood rather than feeling boxed in.

Walkers will find their time well spent here. Children won't get bored for an hour or so, though it's not a destination in itself - more something to tack onto a Woodbridge visit where you're already exploring the town. The river's worth seeing too. Family groups stopping over at Woodbridge Glamping or any of the caravan parks within five miles could do worse than spending a morning wandering these paths.

No crowds, no visitor centre, no café. That's either brilliant or disappointing depending on what you want. The real value is in how accessible it is if you're staying locally - close enough to pop in between other things, far enough into actual woodland to feel like you've actually gone somewhere.