Forest bathing at Ickworth

Ickworth is a National Trust estate just south-west of Bury St Edmunds, entered through Horringer village. Around the Rotunda house the parkland includes ancient woodland, rolling grassland and working farmland, with more than 26 miles of trails and woodland paths. The woods have names that go back centuries, such as Adkins Wood, Fontainebleau Grove and Lady Hervey's Wood, and the estate's lakes were dug for the Hervey family: the Canal Lake shortly before 1717, and Fairy Lake as a boating lake in the mid-1800s.

Park at the main car park and pick a woodland walk. The Albana Walk, under two miles, is a short circuit through some of the estate's woods. The Lady Hervey Walk, about four miles, goes further out through Adkins Wood and Fontainebleau Grove and round the back of Fairy Lake, now quiet and full of reeds. These paths get very muddy in winter, so wear boots. For firmer going, the multi-use trail is fully surfaced, though it has some slopes.