Forebank Loch

The water at Forebank Loch sits dark and still, ringed by low hills and enough quiet to make you actually notice it. This is a proper working landscape - not a tourist destination done up with visitor centres and signage - just a loch in Aberdeenshire where locals come to fish and walk without fuss.

It's the kind of place that rewards an early morning visit or a late afternoon wander. The walk around the shore takes a couple of hours depending on your pace, and the paths are reasonable underfoot most of the year. Birdwatchers will find it worthwhile - you get divers and grebes if you're patient - but families after amusement park thrills will be disappointed. Teenagers might complain about the lack of phone signal. Walkers and fishing types, though, will appreciate the lack of crowds.

Being so close to Banff means you're well-positioned to explore the wider Aberdeenshire coast. The caravan sites nearby - Gamrie Bay is barely a mile away - make sensible bases for a few days rather than a single-visit spot. If the weather turns, there are enough quiet corners to sit it out. On a clear day you can see across to the Grampians, which is enough reason to come back.

No facilities that we can find, so bring water and don't plan a long stay if weather's dodgy. The loch doesn't do spectacle, but it does do solitude, and right now that's rather valuable.