Best Easy Access places to walk in the woods
The school holidays give you more time to get out and explore with the family and walking in the woods or through one of our national forests means exploring and letting your imagination run wild.
Leaf identifying, spotting squirrels (Red ones we hope), spying animal tracks, listening to birds, and gathering treasure to store in your welly treasure chest are all things the whole family can enjoy.
Think about where you like to explore this season & remember...
... the magic of the forest comes from your imagination
Did you know that our ‘National Forest’ covers over 1500 forests across the country? If you want to find a great walking trail or route through a forest near you, there are websites that are very useful. A few links that come to mind are:
Forestry England – they have a great system that lets you pop in your postcode to find interesting trails and hikes and paths: https://www.forestryengland.uk/activities/walking-trails-and-routes … and if you have pushchairs or prams have a look at their easy access trails:https://www.forestryengland.uk/activities/easy-access-trails
National Trust – you don’t have to be a member to find a scenic pathway to explore. Their website lists top family walks, wildlife walks for autumn, and we think this is really useful -a link to walks that really show off the autumn colour highlights near you: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lists/best-walks-for-autumn-highlights
Countryfile magazine is also a good link for walks – we like this one which gives distance, difficulty and duration for walks along rivers: https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/walks/britains-most-beautiful-river-walks/
The Outdoor Guide was co-founded by walking icon Julia Bradbury – it has pitstops where to stay and lots of great ideas: https://theoutdoorguide.co.uk/ Julia has walked coat to coast and the Wainwrights (we met her when she was in Keswick), so knows a thing or two about walking – worth a look at this site for some great outdoor tips.
Britain’s favourite walks
In 2018 the National Trust also linked up with ITV to discover Britain’s favourite walks – you can find out more here, but we are proud to say number one is in our fair county of Cumbria – with 50% of the best walks in Cumbria - it’s a great place to visit:
- Helvellyn - Cumbria
- Snowdon -Wales
- Malham Tarn Estate - Yorkshire Dales
- Catbells – Cumbria again
- Scafell Pike – Cumbria again
- Tryfan -Gwynedd
- Buttermere – Cumbria, love the Lake District
- Coniston – Cumbria – still love the Lakes
- Dunstanburgh – Northumberland
- Mam Tor, Peak District.
Here is a link to: More of Britain's favourite walks.
