Rifle Butts Quarry Nature Reserve - Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

The old rifle range near Brough has become something rather special. What was once a military shooting ground is now a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve, and the transformation is genuinely worth a detour if you're camping nearby.

You're walking through a former quarry landscape - chalky slopes and grassland that's been left largely to its own devices. This matters because the reserve has become a magnet for butterflies and moths. Bring binoculars if you're into that sort of thing; there's real variety here, especially in summer. The grassland itself is what makes it tick - it's been managed to encourage wildflowers, and in the right season, the place erupts with colour.

Historically minded visitors will find the bones of the old rifle butts interesting enough, though there's not much interpretation on the ground. You're mostly reading the landscape itself - the scarred earth, the way nature's reclaimed it. Families with young kids might find it a bit underwhelming for more than an hour; it's not playgrounds and facilities. But walkers after a decent circular route will get what they came for, and anyone interested in habitat restoration and wildlife will find it genuinely absorbing.

Free to visit, and you can access it year-round. If you're staying at William's Den just down the road, this makes an easy morning walk before heading elsewhere. It's the kind of place that reveals itself slowly - not flashy, but proper satisfying if you know what you're looking at.