We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.
10 of the best gentle walks in the UK
These countryside strolls can be enjoyed by all, regardless of age or mobility
Our beautiful British landscapes should be accessible to everyone – these countryside strolls can be enjoyed by all, regardless of age or mobility.
Giant’s Causeway, Country Antrim
This UNESCO-protected site of 40,000 hexagonal basalt pillars on Northern Ireland’s north-west coast might not appear particularly accessible. However, take the two-mile clifftop Green Trail, which starts at the Causeway Hotel, and you’ll have a great view, plus crowd-free tranquillity, even in high summer. Below, the Atlantic bites into this natural mosaic with its rhythmic swell, and on a clear day you can spot the Scottish coastline. It’s worth continuing on the path to Portcoon Cave – access may not be possible, but the bay before it is a wonderful spot from which to see dolphins and porpoises cutting through the waves.
The Camel Trail, Cornwall
Winding through romantic Poldark country, the 17-mile Camel Trail is built on a disused rail track from Padstow to Bodmin – a line once described by Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman as “the most beautiful train journey I know”. This well-maintained path meanders through the salty marshes of the Camel Estuary to the market town of Wadebridge and inland to the foot of Bodmin Moor. Keep your eyes peeled – the route also runs through a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation, and is home to a host of British flora and fauna, from otters and dormice to kingfishers and marsh orchids.
Lake Vyrnwy, Powys
Admire the Victorian Gothic Straining Tower (above) and majestic engineering of the dam at Lake Vyrnwy, which is now an RSPB nature reserve. Tucked into the folds of purple heather moorland, the reserve has several straightforward walks – as well as hides from which to spot peregrine falcons, pied flycatchers and redstarts. Try the mile-long Grwn-oer trail from Llanwddyn, which begins on a minor road before joining a forest track to a lookout point. Wheelchair users might need assistance with the walk’s one moderately steep hill, but, once at the top, works by chainsaw sculptor Andy Hancock and panoramic lake and dam views make up for the climb.
MORE: Should we stop trying to hit 10,000 steps a day? New study reveals it's actually all about pace
Flanders Moss, Stirlingshire
One of Britain’s largest intact lowland raised bogs, the 8,000-year-old Flanders Moss nature reserve lies in the Carse of Stirling, a fertile flood plain of the River Forth. Rise above it, with the circular bog path that starts from the car park and turns into a half-mile boardwalk at the bog itself. From here, you can take in the smells and sights of this unique wildlife habitat, a landscape home to all things damp and wonderful, with domes of peat rising up out of squelchy mats of colourful sphagnum moss, adders and lizards sunbathing and the haunting sounds of snipe and stonechat calls rending the air.
Heddon Valley, Devon
With its dramatic coves and cliffs, Heddon Valley in Exmoor National Park was a favourite spot for Romantic poets such as Coleridge and Shelley. Follow their lead with two simple routes through the splendour: a two-mile circular path to Heddon’s Mouth and a five-mile linear track to Woody Bay, via Highveer Point (where you can see Wales on a clear day). Both trails start at the dog-friendly Hunters Inn, with all-terrain mobility scooters and pushchairs to hire from the National Trust if needed. The routes then take you through the rugged swathes of scree and bracken along the west Exmoor coastline as deer and buzzards watch curiously from afar.
Haughmond Hill, Shropshire
Explore this pre-Cambrian hill and Iron Age monument on the linear Geo Trail, a 20-minute stroll from the car park up a slight gradient through ancient oaks. The summit looks out over a panorama of Shrewsbury and the hills beyond (a handy toposcope helps you get your bearings). The final 100 metres to the viewpoint aren’t surfaced (pushchairs won’t have problems in dry conditions, but wheelchairs might) – but the views are spectacular even without the extra stage. Another great option is the Corbett Trail, a circular route of the same length, through the woodland of the former Sundorne Estate – with frequent benches on which to rest and contemplate the beauty that surrounds you.
Carsington Water, Derbyshire
Not just a popular place for watersports, Carsington Water near the Peak District is also a tranquil oasis with picturesque walks around mirror-smooth water. It’s an eight-mile hike to lap the whole reservoir – some of it by a rugged footpath – but if you prefer a gentler stroll, the flat, circular one-mile trail around the Stones Island peninsula from the visitors’ centre is a good alternative. The pinnacle is an intriguing group of stone monoliths by architect Lewis Knight, with bored holes framing views of the widescreen scenery. Look out for buzzards, kingfishers, sandpipers and woodpeckers, while concealed in bird hides at the nearby wildlife centre.
The Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire
Take in some of England’s finest Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments with a stroll to this stone circle, four miles from Chipping Norton. Made up of the ‘King’s Men’, overlooked by the King Stone and five megalithic ‘Whispering Knights’, the stones mark a 5,000-year-old dolmen, or burial chamber. Two easy grass routes accessed through a mobility gate take you there – the longest of which is just a mile-long round trip. Legend has it that local witch Mother Shipton turned the protagonists into stone here and that they turn back briefly at midnight every night – something you’ll have to take on trust, as the site closes at dusk.
Sennen Cove, Cornwall
Tickle the tip of the country with a three-mile walk from Sennen Cove to Land’s End. The trail can be uneven in some sections, with one short hill, so you may need assistance on this part of the route. However, wheelchair users can bypass much of it by using the smooth National Cycle Route 3 instead, from Sennen Cove harbour, where there is accessible parking, too. Take a meander along granite clifftops on the path, tucked between fields and the boundaries of a Bronze Age fort, before reaching the Land’s End Visitors’ Centre – and enjoy that edge-of-the-world feeling with grand vistas of the churning blue-black Atlantic beyond.
Dalby Forest, Yorkshire
Wander gentle paths beneath Scots pines, gnarly oaks and elders on the southern slopes of the North York Moor National Park. The shortest is the flat, half-mile Lakeside trail, circling Staindale Lake along well-surfaced paths. For a longer stroll, head out on the 2.5-mile loop of the Ellerburn Red Trail alongside Ellerburn Beck, which winds past a hibernaculum – an artificial cave where bats can spend the winter. If you just want to enjoy beautiful vistas, the Crosscliff View Trail leads you, in just under a mile, to a viewpoint where landscape sculpted by glacial ice rolls out before you – apart from Blakey Topping, a hill that, according to legend, was created by a giant.
Writer Ellie Forrester has had cerebral palsy since childhood. Today, she works to promote everyday equality for disabled people and is determined to show that nature is there for everyone to enjoy and explore. She is a supporter of the disability charity Scope.
Emma-Louise Pritchard is the Membership Director for Country Living UK & House Beautiful UK, previously Executive Digital Editor for Country Living UK. Emma-Louise is a digital expert specialising in content strategy, social media and newsletters. Her topics include sustainability, homes and interiors, gardening, health and wellbeing, pets, travel and countryside news. She has previously written for Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan and has won several awards, from AOP Digital Editor of the Year 2019 to PPA 30 Under 30. Emma-Louise studied at Cardiff University where she completed an MA in Magazine Journalism.
Where and when to see a rare solar eclipse this August
When will it rain in the UK?
16 beautiful sunflower fields in the UK
Help garden birds cope with July heat by leaving these 2 fruits out
