Naphill Wood

The woodland track into Naphill Wood is the sort of place where you actually notice the smell of damp earth and pine. It's a proper forest walk just inland from Plymouth, the kind where the canopy gets thick enough that you lose the outside world within five minutes of leaving the car park.

What you're looking at is deciduous woodland with a decent network of paths - nothing too technical, but enough variation to keep a day's ramble interesting. The trails wind through stands of beech and oak, and there are the odd open sections where you'll get views back toward the surrounding countryside. It's not dramatic scenery, but it's genuinely peaceful, which counts for something.

Families with younger kids will find it manageable, though there's not much to actually do once you're in there - it's walking and looking, really. Older children and proper walkers will get more from it. The paths can get boggy after rain, so waterproof boots aren't a bad shout.

Allow a couple of hours for a decent circuit. Free to access, and there's no staffed entrance or facilities that I could find. Go midweek if you want solitude, weekend mornings if you prefer to see other people about.

If you're based at somewhere like Hidden Hill Devon - their luxury glamping with hot tubs a few miles away - Naphill Wood makes a solid morning or afternoon leg-stretch between longer days out around Plymouth. It's not the reason to visit Devon, but it's a proper reason to get outside.