Chiltern Yurts

You might have already indulged in some wildlife watching in the countryside or on site, but one of the local hotspots for this sort of thing are the Tring reservoirs (five minutes' drive), where many bird species have taken up residence. While you’ll be left to your own devices there, there are more animals to peek at in the ZSL Whipsnade Zoo (20 minutes) or the Woburn Safari Park (30 minutes). Nostalgic are the museums around here too – there’s the Natural History Museum at Tring (10 minutes) or for those of you who are keen literary fans, The Roald Dahl Museum (25 minutes) is only a little further away. Some local historic places are still well intact… the National Trust’s Ashridge Estate (20 minutes) has footpaths among ancient trees and the Dunstable Downs (20 minutes) has a Saxon execution site (spooky, right?) Meanwhile, a walk up on Ivinghoe Beacon (10 minutes) will take you past prehistoric artwork, the tatters of an Iron Age hillfort and Bronze Age burial mounds. And over at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre (30 minutes), you might feel properly nostalgic on a steam train trip.