Hull

Most visitors speed past this corner of the East Riding on their way to somewhere else. Big mistake. The countryside around Hull's eastern fringes rolls out in proper Yorkshire fashion - vast skies, ancient hedgerows, and villages that time seems to have forgotten.

Burton Constable Hall dominates the landscape here, a magnificent Elizabethan mansion that's been home to the same family for over 400 years. The hall itself is a stunner, but it's the surrounding Burton Constable Country Park that really impresses. Miles of parkland stretch towards the Humber, complete with its own airstrip for the properly posh. The contrast between grand estate and working farmland feels very East Yorkshire.

This is church country too. Sproatley, Swine, Old Ellerby - villages with names that sound like they've tumbled from a Hardy novel. The Priory Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Swine dates back centuries and sits in countryside so flat you can see tomorrow's weather coming. It's the kind of place where Sunday morning feels properly peaceful.

Access couldn't be easier. Hull's just down the road, with the M62 providing swift connections to Leeds and Manchester. But once you're out here among the fields, the city feels a world away.

Staying at one of the local parks makes perfect sense for exploring this forgotten corner of Yorkshire. Burton Constable Holiday Park sits right beside the hall's grounds, while Sea View Country Park offers glimpses of the Humber estuary. You're perfectly placed for country walks, estate exploring, and discovering why locals guard this slice of the East Riding so jealously.