Saxon Cross

A weathered stone cross standing in the middle of nowhere - that's the Saxon Cross, and it's genuinely old enough to make you pause. Somewhere between the 8th and 10th centuries, someone decided this spot mattered enough to mark it with stone, and here it still stands, about three miles outside Nottingham. The cross itself isn't towering or ornate. It's humble, worn smooth by more than a thousand years of English weather, which is precisely what makes it worth the trip.

You don't "do" much here, and that's the whole point. You turn up, you look at it, you think about who walked past it in 871 or whenever. History enthusiasts will find it genuinely compelling - it's the kind of thing you photograph and then stand there for another ten minutes just taking it in. Kids might get bored after five minutes unless they're already interested in Anglo-Saxon England, fair warning.

There's no visitor centre, no cafe, no facilities that I'm aware of. It's free, obviously. Allow twenty minutes if you're local, longer if you've driven from further afield. Spring or autumn makes sense - you want decent light for photographs and not to be roasted standing in a field.

If you're based at Meadow View Glamping just down the road, this is barely a detour worth mentioning. Even from Blenheim Farm Campsite, it's only five miles. Pair it with a proper walk around Nottingham's castle and you've got a decent half-day.