Forest bathing at Castle Howard Arboretum

The Castle Howard Arboretum, long known as the Yorkshire Arboretum, covers 120 acres of the Castle Howard estate near Malton. It was started in the 1970s and now holds more than 7,000 trees from around the world, set among lakes and ponds, woodland glades and wildflower meadows. It is run by a charitable trust and ticketed separately from the house and gardens, which keeps it calmer than the rest of the estate.

You start from the Visitor Centre, where there is free parking and a café. Gravel paths circle the lake, and away from it the routes are mostly grass, some uneven or sloping, so you can easily step off into a quiet glade. The arboretum is open from early March to the end of November. Autumn is the obvious time to come for colour, but spring blossom along the lakes is worth the trip. Free all-terrain trampers can be booked ahead.