Common Wood

You'll find yourself walking beneath a proper canopy of oak and beech just a few miles inland from Plymouth, where Common Wood spreads across enough acres to lose a decent couple of hours without trying. It's the kind of forest that feels genuinely wild - mud underfoot, dappled light filtering through, the occasional surprise of bluebells in spring if you time it right.

The woodland is free to explore and that's its main appeal. There are no marked trails that I could pin down, no visitor centre, no tea shop - just forest and the paths that locals have worn into it over years. You navigate by instinct and whim, which either sounds brilliant or terrifying depending on your mood. For families with kids who've had enough of manicured attractions, this is refreshing. Walkers get proper woodland without the crowds you'd find on some of the busier Dartmoor edges. Historians won't find much labelling, but the forest itself is worth your time for the sheer ordinariness of it - this is what the landscape looked like for centuries.

Allow two to three hours if you want to feel like you've actually explored rather than just nipped in. Come in autumn when the light turns everything golden, or avoid August when the insect clouds get fierce. It pairs well with staying at Dartmoor Domes just down the road - give yourself a morning here, then head to one of the proper Dartmoor attractions in the afternoon. Plymouth's close enough if you want a city fix, but honestly, you're coming here to get away from that.