Slew Wood

The woodland around Slew Wood, just outside Okehampton, is proper Devon - dense tree cover, damp forest floor, and the sort of quiet you don't get near towns. There's no visitor centre or facilities to speak of, which is either brilliant or annoying depending on your mood. You're essentially walking through working forest, with good paths if you know where to look, though it's not signposted like a country park would be.

Walkers will find this genuinely rewarding. The trees are mature, the air is cool even on warm days, and you can easily spend two to three hours exploring without seeing another soul. It's the kind of place where kids stop complaining about phone signal and actually engage with their surroundings - fallen logs to climb, streams to find, that sort of thing. Not a destination on its own, but an excellent add-on to a holiday in the area.

Wolf Wood Treehouses is only 3.7 miles away, which makes sense - you'd stay there partly for the novelty of sleeping in the trees, then use Slew Wood for proper walking. Lydford Caravan & Camping Park sits at 6.3 miles if you want a more conventional base. Either way, combine this with Okehampton's edge-of-Dartmoor location and you've got a solid week. Allow a couple of hours minimum, bring decent boots because it gets muddy, and don't expect facilities - bring your own water.