Gemini Camp

For gentle hikes while in this part of south east Essex, head to the National Trust-protected Hatfield Forest (15 minutes' drive) to wander lakeside or beneath the boughs of 1,200-year-old trees in a medieval-era hunting woodland; alternatively, take a 20-minute trip to Rushy Mead nature reserve for ambles along the bank of the River Stort. You can stretch the legs around the 17th-century grounds surrounding the manor of Audley End House and Gardens (20 minutes) or go further on to see the Jacobean-style Anglesey Abbey and its working watermill (45 minutes). Slightly south east of here (and 50 minutes from the park by car) is Cambridge: visit this university city to punt on the River Cam or explore handsome colleges like King’s, with its huge Gothic chapel, Henry VIII-founded Trinity and St John’s with its 16th-century Great Gate.