Feoffees Spinney

A proper woodland walk just outside Ely, Feoffees Spinney is the sort of place you stumble across rather than plan for - which is precisely why it works. The spinney is a small patch of mixed woodland, thick with oak and beech, that feels deliberately left alone. There are no visitor facilities, no interpretation boards, just trees and the occasional path threading through.If you're based at Heatherbield Lodge or Hatters Meadows for a caravan holiday in the area, this is a decent leg-stretcher. The walk itself takes maybe thirty to forty minutes if you meander, less if you're purposeful. It's quiet - genuinely quiet - and on a damp morning you'll hear nothing but birds and the rustle of whatever's loose in the undergrowth. Families with younger children might find it a bit limited after twenty minutes; there's no playground, no pond, no obvious focal point. But if your kids are old enough to enjoy a proper forest ramble without needing attractions every five minutes, they'll get something out of it. Dog walkers absolutely love it here. There's a sense of the landscape as it actually was, rather than as someone's decided it ought to look. Ely itself is just a short drive south, so you could easily combine this with the cathedral or a poke round the town centre. Worth the detour if you're in the area and want an hour in the woods without the crowds. Not worth driving forty minutes for, though.