Forest bathing at Wimpole Estate

The National Trust's Wimpole Estate lies south-west of Cambridge and covers about 2,500 acres, with more than 500 acres of parkland around the hall. Its spine is the South Avenue, four kilometres of trees running to the Serpentine lakes and the Gothic Tower, a folly designed to look like a medieval ruin and built under Capability Brown in 1768 to 1772. Across the park, oak, lime, beech, London plane and sycamore are being planted to replace the veteran trees as they go.

Park at the free visitor car park and walk out into the parkland: 12 km of paths are looked after, from accessible surfaces to dirt, field and woodland tracks. The 5.5-mile multi-use trail is waymarked from the car park and has an all-weather surface. The woodland belts are a Special Area of Conservation with a maternity roost of rare barbastelle bats, so access to them is reduced and some paths have been rerouted; follow the signs. Livestock graze the park, so keep dogs on leads.