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uk A snowy day on Harting Down (Photo: John Miller/National Trust) Harting Down, West Sussex At Yaverland Bay, winter waves take chunks out of the soft Cretaceous coastline to regularly reveal dinosaur fossils. Sandown Bay, bookended by brooding, guillotined headlands, is thrilling at this time of year. The Isle of Wight isn’t just a summer, bucket-and-spade destination. The route juxtaposes wells drilled for a local explosives factory with shipwrecks and a disused 12th-century church. Overwintering birds, including bar-tailed godwit and red-breasted merganser, are the showstoppers.

Ī circular wander through this nature reserve navigates a collage of freshwater dykes, salt marshes and sea wall. Scratchwood, better known for its motorway service station, is a wonderful oak woodland survivor from the Ice Age Monken Hadley Common was once part of a royal hunting forest. This leg takes in landscapes more readily associated with the New Forest. The 240km London Loop is the walker’s equivalent of the M25. In late afternoon, you may even spot starlings roosting around the Slimbridge nature reserve. Swans treat the canal as a runway and you’ll pass the extraordinary spectacle of Purton Hulks, Britain’s largest ship graveyard. uk Deer on the Ashton Court Estate (Photo: Visit Bristol) Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, GloucestershireĪ lengthy, but easy, hike. Its routes explore groves of beech trees, skirt through a deer park and offer panoramic views of Bristol and the undulating Cotswold skyline. visi .uk Ashton Court Estate, Bristolįingers crossed for a crisp, clear day to enjoy this walk through the 340 hectare estate that sprawls behind the west bank of Clifton Suspension Bridge. The trail follows the steep-sided River Barle through moorland, with views of medieval bridges and the Iron Age hill fort of Cow Castle. Exmoor in winter sounds forbidding, but a new all-access section of the Two Moors Way between Simonsbath and the old Wheal Eliza iron ore mine makes a hike less intrepid.