Coed Ty-mawr

The woodland around Coed Ty-mawr feels properly wild once you're a few hundred metres in from the main track. It's a serious forest - tall conifers mixed with broadleaves, the sort of place where the light comes through filtered and green. You're looking at dense tree cover across Powys, inland from Machynlleth, and it's the kind of walk that rewards you with actual silence if you time it right.

What you actually do here is walk. There are marked trails threading through, though nothing particularly dramatic in terms of views or clearings - this isn't a showpiece forest, it's the real thing. Allow a couple of hours minimum if you want to feel like you've properly explored it rather than just wandered round the car park loop. Autumn is stunning if you can swing it, when the larch turns gold against the dark conifers.

Walkers will find this far more satisfying than families with young kids, if we're honest. There's mud, there are root traps, and there's not much in the way of facilities or easy turnarounds. Teenagers who actually like being outside will get it though. Free to access, though parking might involve a small honesty box - bring cash just in case.

If you're based at Cringoed Caravan Park, this sits nicely within striking distance for a proper morning out. It breaks up a week of manicured park life with something genuinely wild. Worth the drive from Machynlleth.