Snowdrops without a car

They herald the end of winter, forming beautiful carpets in woods and gardens. Here are ten different places where seeing snowdrops doesn’t need to involve a car.

Waddesdon Manor

French Renaissance-style château, home to the Rothschild Collections of paintings, sculpture and decorative arts

Car-free offer: 2for1 entry with a train ticket and voucher*

Bodmin

The countryside around Cornwall’s historic heart is stuffed with beautiful destinations from the stately home at Lanhydrock to the Camel Valley vineyard.

Aylesbury

Waddesdon Manor, a Victorian chateau hung with 18th-century art, is just outside Aylesbury. The town has galleries celebrating Roald Dahl’s stories, a monument to David Bowie, and lots of woodland walks.

Nottingham

Nottinghamshire is a great place to explore car-free. Visit the castle on foot, the arboretum by tram, Newark by train or Melton Mowbray by bus.

Hertford and Ware

Two scenic market towns beside the pretty River Lea: stroll along the water or take a bus to the Henry Moore gardens at Perry Green.

Scampston Hall & Gardens

A stunning contemporary walled garden, nestled within the grounds of regency-style Scampston Hall

Car-free offer: Phone for details: 01944 759111

Coastal Fife

Medieval villages, royal palaces, woods, hills and harbours, seaside walks past ruined castles… there are so many treasures to discover in coastal Fife.

Enfield

London’s most northerly borough offers flowering gardens, riverside walks and rural adventures, from Jacobean Forty Hall to wild woods and fields.

Blenheim Palace

Historic house and gardens set in spectacular landscaped parkland on the edge of the Cotswolds.

Car-free offer: 30% off with train or bus ticket

Hatfield

Elizabeth I’s childhood home, intricate gardens, miles of parkland, shops and cafes – all two minutes from the railway station ... and more beyond.

Bluebells by bus and train

Exploring the UK in April and May means carpets of woodland bluebells - here are five car-free places for a springtime stroll.

Oxford

Avoid the traffic and stroll through Oxford’s streets on foot; find flowering meadows, stride out along the Thames or ride a bus to Blenheim Palace.

Stirling

Time-travel through historic Stirling and Falkirk, from a medieval castle to an 18th-century chateau, from a traditional whisky distillery to a 1960s university.

Car-free Welshpool

A steamy ride on the Welshpool & Llanfair light railway, a stroll up to medieval Powis Castle, or an epic journey to the coast.

Malton

Yorkshire’s self-styled "food capital", has some idyllic trips to offer: take a bus into the wooded wolds for a picnic or a boat round Castle Howard’s Great Lake from a vine-fringed tearoom veranda.