Danebury Hill

The walk up Danebury Hill from Stockbridge is steep but quick - twenty minutes at most - and the payoff is a proper Iron Age hill fort with ramparts you can actually walk along. The views across the Test Valley are genuine and wide, though on a grey day it's just rolling Hampshire farmland stretching to the horizon. What makes it worth the climb is the earthwork itself. The concentric rings of ancient defences are still remarkably clear, and you can trace where people lived here two thousand years ago without much imagination at all.

It's best for walkers who don't mind a bit of legwork and history types who want to see something real rather than read about it in a museum. Kids will enjoy the scramble up and the feeling of conquest, but there's not much to do once you're there beyond walk the ramparts and eat a sandwich. Allow an hour total if you're taking photographs or sitting about; half that if you're just going to the top and back.

Free to visit, obviously - it's a hill. Spring and autumn are cracking times, when the chalk grassland flowers and you won't overheat on the climb. Summer brings crowds of families from the holiday parks nearby, particularly those staying at Stockbridge View or The Meadow Glamping just down the road. If you're based at Salisbury Hillside a few miles away, it's an easy morning trip that pairs well with wandering around Stockbridge's high street afterwards.