Rosebery Park

The woodland paths at Rosebery Park wind through proper Surrey countryside, just outside Chessington. It's a nature reserve where you can actually see what the region looked like before the commuter belt took hold - ancient trees, open glades, the occasional deer if you're lucky enough.

You're walking through managed woodland here, not a manicured park. The trails are straightforward enough for families with decent shoes, though nothing too demanding. Birdwatchers tend to love it; the variety of species changes with the seasons. Spring brings migrants, winter sees the resident populations shift about. In summer it's cooler than you'd expect, shaded properly by the canopy.

It's free to access and there's no strict opening hours business - you come and go as you please, which is refreshing. Allow anything from an hour to half a day depending on how far you wander. The paths link up nicely, so you can do a short loop or a longer ramble.

If you're based at one of the nearby parks - Norbury Park is less than five miles away, or Surrey Hills Park slightly further - this works as a cracking half-day addition to a holiday. You're staying in commuter-land but this reminds you why people moved out here in the first place. The Surrey Hills National Landscape is within easy reach too, so you could string together a proper week of countryside walking without going far from home.