The Great Wall of Garbutt

The Great Wall of Garbutt is a proper oddity - a crumbling stone fortification tucked into the North Yorkshire countryside near Shildon that looks like it's wandered straight out of a history book. Except it's not remotely as old as the name suggests. Built in the 1890s by a local landowner with, frankly, too much time and money on his hands, it's a half-mile stretch of defensive wall complete with bastions that nobody really needed to defend against anything.

Walking the ridge line gives decent views across the moors, and there's something satisfying about clambering over the stones and poking about in the bastions - they're solid structures, well-built for what amounts to a Victorian vanity project. You can cover the whole thing in 20 minutes if you're quick, or stretch it to an hour if you're the type to sit about contemplating the sheer absurdity of it all.

It's free to visit and accessible year-round, though the moorland gets muddy in winter. Families won't find it gripping for long - kids get bored after the initial scramble - but walkers doing a bigger loop across the Pennine Way foothills will appreciate the quirk factor. The nearest proper base is Hewn Yorkshire, a five-mile drive away, which makes this a decent half-hour detour if you're camping nearby. Worth the walk? Only if you've got a taste for Victorian eccentricity and don't mind slightly underwhelming historical significance.