The Camp Long Barrow

Walking out to Camp Long Barrow feels like stepping back five thousand years, which is rather the point. This Neolithic burial mound sits on open Gloucestershire common just outside Stroud, a proper walk from the car but nothing too taxing - maybe twenty minutes across fields if you know where you're headed.

What you find when you get there is a grass-covered earthwork, basically a long mound about 60 metres end to end. It's not dramatic in the way Stonehenge is dramatic, but that's precisely why it works. No crowds, no car parks, no café selling overpriced sandwiches. Just you, some very old bones that lived here, and fields rolling toward the Cotswolds.

Walkers will love this. History types genuinely interested in how our ancestors disposed of their dead will find it absorbing. Kids? Depends on the child - older ones who like facts and fresh air will get it; younger ones might find it a muddy mound and wonder why they're not at a playground instead.

You won't need more than an hour here unless you're really lingering. Go on a weekday if you can - weekends pull families from Stroud who treat the whole common as their garden. Spring or early autumn is best; winter can get waterlogged and gloomy.

If you're based at Cherry Tree or Painswick Glamping, this slots perfectly into a Cotswolds walking break. Combine it with a proper walk around Symonds Yat or the canal towpaths near Stroud itself and you've got a proper day sorted.