Photo: Lynne Kirton / CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsAttenborough Nature Reserve
Flooded gravel pits with a striking visitor centre, opened by its namesake — kingfishers by the hide windows.
Nature reserves & walks — days out in the outdoors
Some days the right answer is just to be outside. Ancient woodland, a reedbed full of birds, a mountain path, a waterfall at the end of a valley — the outdoors is the least complicated day out there is, and there's more of it near you than you'd guess.
Here you'll find nature reserves and wild places from Highland glens to lowland fens, gentle riverside strolls to serious hill walks. Set your distance and mode of travel, and we'll surface the ones within range.
Find nature & walks days out near you →
Popular nature reserves & walks
Photo: Lynne Kirton / CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Connor Mollison on UnsplashAviemore & the Cairngorms
Britain's biggest national park: Loch Morlich's beach, ancient Caledonian pine, and the funicular up Cairn Gorm.
Photo: Stanley Howe / CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsBass Rock & Scottish Seabird Centre
The world's largest northern gannet colony — 150,000 birds turning the rock white. Boats and live cameras from the centre.
Photo: Les Chatfield / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsBluebell Railway
Britain's first preserved standard-gauge line — Victorian carriages through eleven miles of Sussex woods.
Cliveden
Astor's Thames-side terraces, a parterre, and the Profumo swimming pool — the house is a hotel, the gardens NT.
Photo: Lewis Clarke / CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsDawlish Warren
A sandy spit across the Exe mouth doing double duty: bucket-and-spade beach one side, wader roost the other.
Photo: Digital Reach on UnsplashDeep Sea World
Sharks beneath the Forth Bridge — the moving walkway tunnel remains a Scottish rite of passage.
Photo: Parrot of Doom / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia CommonsDunham Massey
Georgian house, winter garden and fallow deer sanctuary — Manchester's favourite NT escape.
Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author / Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsFfestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways
The world's oldest narrow-gauge railway — 40 steam miles from harbour to slate mountain and round Snowdon's flank.
Photo: Rept0n1x / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia CommonsFormby
Red squirrels in the pinewoods, prehistoric footprints in the mud, and dunes running down to a vast beach.
Fota Wildlife Park
Cheetahs and giraffes with barely a fence in sight, and the train from Cork stops at the gate.
Photo: Jack Anstey on UnsplashGlenfinnan Viaduct
Time it for the steam train crossing the arches. Yes, that one.
That’s 12 of 303 nature & walks days out in our guide. See them all matched to your location →