Black Bar

The walk up Black Bar rewards you with views across the Galloway hills that justify the huffing and puffing. It's a proper fell in the Scottish Lowlands, the sort of place where you can see why folk around Newton Stewart treat it as their local training ground. The peak itself sits at a modest height, but don't let that fool you - the surrounding landscape rolls on for miles, and on a clear day you'll clock the distant ridges that make this corner of Dumfries and Galloway worth the detour.

Walkers will get the most from this one. It's the kind of hill that takes two to three hours round trip depending on your fitness and which route you fancy, and it demands proper boots rather than trainers. The terrain is rough in places, but that's part of the appeal - you're not fighting crowds here. Families with older kids who are comfortable on moorland will manage fine, though younger ones might struggle with the exposed sections.

It's free, naturally, and there's no visitor centre or cafe to worry about - just the hill itself. The nearest proper settlement is Newton Stewart, a few miles south, which gives you a sense of how remote this feels despite being relatively accessible.

If you're based at one of the nearby parks - Three Lochs Holiday Park is closest at four miles, or The Galloway Steading and Barnharrow for something a touch more secluded - Black Bar makes an excellent half-day outing. Pair it with a wander round the Galloway Forest Park trails and you've got a solid weekend of hill walking sorted.