The Peak District alternative with no crowds and millions of trees

“It used to be a bit of a joke around here,” Stuart Dainton, head of land management at the National Forest, tells me. “People wondered where the trees were.”

As a teenager living in the Midlands, I remember thinking the same. That was three decades ago, when trees covered just six per cent of the scarred industrial area. But since then, the National Forest has quietly grown up, transforming the region.

When mining and clay extraction ceased, nature painted this landscape green. Now, the National Forest is a tapestry of wildflower meadows, arable land and urban areas, all stitched together with woodlands. And the varied landscape is the perfect place for a walk.

The National Forest Way is a walking trail that wiggles and winds 75 miles from Beacon Hill Country Park in Leicestershire t