Water Terraces

The Water Terraces sit just outside Oxford, a formal garden where water does most of the talking. You'll find a series of descending pools and channels - the kind of thing that looks deceptively simple until you're standing there realising how cleverly it's all been put together. The water moves between levels with purpose, catching light as it goes, and the whole affair has that slightly theatrical quality that 18th-century garden design was mad about.

This isn't somewhere you'd spend all day, but it's worth an hour if you're the type who enjoys spotting the bones of a garden's design. Families with young kids might find it a bit sedate unless you're really into the mechanics of how water features work. For anyone staying at Greenhill Leisure Park or one of the other caravan sites nearby, it makes a proper morning outing combined with a walk around Oxford itself - you're only a few miles from town.

Go when the light's decent, preferably not in heavy rain when you can't really see the water levels properly. The garden rewards attention to detail rather than spectacle, so bring your head rather than your hiking boots. If you're after something grander, the major estates around the Cotswolds will give you more showiness for your effort, but if you appreciate understated design and how water moves through a landscape, this is genuinely worth the detour.