Ladywell Pond

The water at Ladywell Pond sits still and quiet, ringed by reeds and the kind of trees that make you feel properly removed from Witney's market streets despite being just on the edge of town. It's a modest lake - nothing dramatic - but that's rather the point. This is somewhere locals know and tourists largely miss, which means you'll likely have the place mostly to yourself on a weekday afternoon.

The pond works best for a gentle wander or a spell of birdwatching. Bring binoculars and you might spot waterfowl; bring a notebook if you're the sort who sketches. A circuit around the water takes maybe twenty minutes at a leisurely pace, so it's not the kind of place to fill an entire day. What it is, though, is a proper breather - particularly welcome after a drive through the Cotswolds or a morning poking around Witney's wool mills and Georgian high street.

Families with very young children will get bored quickly, but older kids who can sit still for five minutes might enjoy the ducks and dragonflies. The ground's flat and accessible, which counts for something.

If you're based at Grove Farm Glamping Pods or Cotswold Edge Caravan and Camping - both within a couple of miles - Ladywell Pond makes a worthwhile morning detour. Pair it with a proper walk elsewhere in the area; it's not a destination unto itself, but a gentle punctuation mark in a Cotswolds weekend.