The shadowy corrie of Cwm Idwal, pierced by the black slit of Twll Du, the Devil's Kitchen, hangs over the dark, wind-rippled lake of Llyn Idwal as if suspended on an invisible thread. Rare and delicate arctic-alpine plants have been living here since the glaciers retreated - beautiful white starry saxifrage, the vivid, tiny flowers of purple saxifrage, and cushion-like clumps of moss campion. With the rocky Snowdonia landscape at your back, this is a glimpse into a Welsh mountain heaven.

OLD SULEHAY FOREST, Northamptonshire

Maps: OS Explorer 227, Landranger 142 - (OS ref 068988)
Location: Off A47, south of Wansford

This ancient woodland above the Nene Valley is a mosaic of habitats. In its oak, ash and field maple coppice, nuthatches push hazelnuts into cracks in the trees to hold them steady while they split them open. Under the trees the ground is a carpet of oak and hazel leaves, scattered in autumn with enough crab apples to make a lifetime's WI jelly.

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MOSELEY BOG, Birmingham

Maps: OS Explorer 220, Landranger 139; Birmingham A-Z P91, 5E
Location: Next to Sarehole Mill car park (OS ref 099818) on Cole Bank Road (B4146), between A34 Stratford Road and Wake Green Road

J.R.R. Tolkien lived near by as a child. The adventures he had there, and the fantasies he spun around the willow groves and winding streams, bore fruit later in the Old Forest of The Lord of the Rings. It is remarkable that this woodland, carpeted with bluebells in spring, has survived in the heart of the city.

BLEAKLOW, Derbyshire

Maps: OS Explorer OL1, Landranger 110 - (OS ref 092959)
Location: On Pennine Way National Trail

“Nature in the raw,” says Alfred Wainwright in his Pennine Way Companion. “An inhospitable wilderness of peat bogs. All who are on it are glad to get off.” Walking the Pennine Way to Bleaklow Head in powder snow on a clear winter's day is the best way to appreciate this wild moor.

PENDLE HILL, Lancashire

Map: OS Explorer OL41, Landranger 103 - (OS ref 804414)
Location: East of Clitheroe

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