Wellow Puddle

The name does it no favours, but Wellow Puddle is genuinely worth seeking out if you're based around Newark or staying at one of the nearby parks like Center Parcs Sherwood Forest. It's a proper little lake - the kind of spot where you actually see kingfishers if you're patient, and the light catches the water in that soft way that makes phone cameras work harder than they should.

This is walkers' territory, plain and simple. The paths around the water are straightforward enough for families with young legs, though the undergrowth can get boggy after rain. Bring decent footwear. You're looking at anything from a gentle twenty-minute potter to a proper hour-long circuit depending on which way you go and how often you stop to actually look at things.

It's free to access and there's no entrance fee business - just park sensibly nearby and go. The birdwatching here is genuinely good; bring binoculars if you're into that sort of thing. The area has that quiet, undisturbed feel you don't always get near Newark, which makes it ideal when the bigger attractions are rammed.

If you're holiday-parked at Sherwood Castle just down the road, this beats another lap of the caravan site, and it ties in nicely with Clumber Park if you're doing a proper heritage-and-nature day. The lake itself isn't Instagram-dramatic, but that's rather the point. It's the kind of place that actually restores something.