Dowsborough

The walk up through Dowsborough's beech woodland near Holford is steep enough to leave you properly breathless, but the payoff is a genuine one. You're climbing through dense forest - the sort where light filters through in cathedral-like shafts - towards an Iron Age hill fort at the top. Most people don't realise that bit, which is fine because it means you won't be fighting crowds.

Once you crest the ridge, the Quantock Hills open out around you in a way that feels almost scandalous after the claustrophobia of the trees. On a clear day, Exmoor's across the way. The fort itself isn't dramatically visible - more a raised plateau with subtle earthworks - but that's rather lovely if you're into archaeology without the theme-park approach.

It's genuinely good for families with sturdy walkers; under-fives will struggle with the gradient. Allow an hour up and down if you're not dawdling, longer if you're the type to sit at the top with a flask. The forest is particularly worth visiting in autumn when the beech turns proper golden.

Stay at Moorhouse Campsite, barely two miles away, and you've got immediate access to some excellent walking terrain across the Quantocks. It's the kind of place where you don't need a car once you're pitched up - which, honestly, is the whole point of Somerset walking holidays.