Forest bathing at Dalby Forest

Dalby is a big working forest of around 8,000 acres inside the North York Moors National Park, reached up the A169 north of Pickering. Forestry England looks after it, and it is laid out along a forest drive with more than a dozen car parks, so it is easy to find a stretch of track or a stand of larch with nobody else in it. The scale is the point here: you can walk for a long time without retracing your steps.

Most people start at the Visitor Centre at Low Dalby, which is also where the cafés, Go Ape and the cycle hub are, so it is the busiest corner on a weekend. For slower time, drive on to one of the quieter car parks and pick a short waymarked loop. Forestry England lists three easier access trails: Ellerburn, Housedale Rigg and Crosscliff. Paths are mostly forest tracks and earth, and there is no direct public transport; the nearest bus stop is about a mile away on the A169.