Whichford Wood

Whichford Wood is proper woodland - the kind where you can actually lose yourself for an afternoon without bumping into hordes of other visitors. Tucked just outside Shipston-on-Stour, it's a decent-sized forest of mixed trees that gives you the sense of being properly in nature rather than on a managed walk around a car park.

It's primarily a walking spot. There are paths threading through, though they're not signposted to death, which means you need to pay attention or you'll end up doubling back. The woodland floor is thick with leaf litter and moss - lovely in autumn when the canopy turns, less inspiring in February when it's just brown and damp. Most people spend between one and two hours here, depending on how deep you want to venture. It's not vast, so you won't disappear for a full day.

Walkers and families with older kids will get the most from it. The paths aren't pushchair-friendly, and younger children will likely get bored unless they're the type who enjoy turning over logs looking for creatures. There's something calming about the place - it feels like a proper local secret, the kind of spot Shipston residents probably use regularly but tourists skip entirely.

If you're camping at Cotswold Hills Country Park or Aylesmore Farm, Whichford Wood makes a good half-day jaunt to break up park time. It costs nothing and takes the edge off cabin fever, which is really all you can ask of a woodland walk in this part of Gloucestershire.