Fownhope

Half an hour's drive from Hereford city centre brings you to a different world entirely. Rolling hills thick with ancient woodland stretch to the horizon, punctuated by medieval churches that still ring bells across valleys unchanged for centuries. Fownhope sits quietly in this landscape of deep forests and open pasture, where Roman camps once guarded river crossings and Norman lords built their strongholds.

The village itself keeps a low profile. All Saints' Church anchors the community with weathered stones that have seen eight centuries pass by. But the real draw here is what lies beyond the houses - mile after mile of walking country that most visitors never discover.

Haugh Wood spreads across the nearby hillsides like a green carpet, managed by Forestry England and laced with paths that lead through beech groves and clearings where deer browse at dawn. More adventurous types head for Caplar Camp Hill Fort, where Iron Age earthworks still mark the hilltop and views stretch across three counties on clear days.

Wander deeper into this corner of Herefordshire and you'll find Wessington Wood and Pasture Nature Reserve, where old coppice woodlands shelter rare butterflies and ancient hedgerows mark boundaries set down before the Domesday Book. The Grove and Glowson Wood offer quieter walks through mixed woodland, while Round Wood provides excellent bird watching.

Getting here takes patience - country lanes wind through farmland from the A49, and the nearest railway station sits in Hereford twelve miles away. That isolation works in your favour though. Stay at one of the nearby parks and you've got this whole area largely to yourself, with proper countryside walking right from your caravan door.