ViewpointsOther sights

Two thousand hectares of forest in a Durham dales valley, laced with walking and mountain-bike trails.

Eggleston

Headland south of Seaham looking over the once-blackened, now-recovering sands of Blast Beach.

Sunderland

Graceful three-arch bridge over the Wear giving Durham's most-painted view of cathedral and wooded banks.

Durham

A pine-topped promontory on Derwentwater ranked by Ruskin among Europe's finest views, gazing into the Jaws of Borrowdale.

Keswick

An open fellside deer park above Aira Force and Ullswater, where Wordsworth's 'host of golden daffodils' still flowers.

Glenridding

England's steepest road, hairpinning out of Eskdale at 1 in 3 past a Roman fort with huge fell views.

Boot

A glacial chasm bitten clean out of the Pennine scarp, rimmed with columns of Whin Sill dolerite — the Pennine Way walks straight along its northern lip.

Dufton

A dramatic road pass of slate crags and hairpins linking Borrowdale with Buttermere, one of the steepest in the Lakes.

Seatoller

The highest road pass in the Lakes open to traffic, climbing from Ullswater past England's third-highest inn.

Rydal

A grassy shelf path above Grasmere with the classic postcard view down the lake to the village and the Vale of Grasmere.

Grasmere

A narrow fell road climbing from the Newlands valley to Buttermere, past the roadside Moss Force waterfall.

Buttermere

A stone beacon tower on the wooded hill above Penrith, once lit to warn of border raids, with wide Eden-valley views.

Penrith

A roadside crag above the Watendlath lane that opens suddenly over the length of Derwentwater to the northern fells.

Grange-in-Borrowdale

A narrow high pass linking the Duddon and Little Langdale valleys, meeting Hardknott at the Three Shire Stone.

Chapel Stile

Gritstone edge high above Bamford, giving one of the most celebrated views over Ladybower Reservoir and the Hope Valley.

Bamford

Gritstone edge sheltering the village below, with sweeping views over the Derwent Valley and a scatter of abandoned millstones.

Baslow

Wooded gritstone edge above Froggatt village, running north from Curbar with climbing crags and moorland views.

Grindleford

Wooded reservoir valley west of Buxton, with the ruins of Errwood Hall and moorland walks up to Shining Tor.

Chapel-en-le-Frith

The 517m 'Shivering Mountain' above Castleton, an Iron Age hillfort crowning the great Hope Valley ridge walk.

Edale

The classic view down Monsal Dale to the 1863 Headstone Viaduct — reviled by Ruskin, listed by the state, walked by everyone on the Monsal Trail.

Ashford-in-the-Water

A four-mile gritstone escarpment above Hathersage, the spiritual home of British rock climbing with vast views over the moors.

Hathersage

England's highest sea cliff, a 318-metre hog-backed headland above Combe Martin and the highest point of the coast path.

Combe Martin

The southernmost tip of Devon, a rocky headland of coastguard lookout and clifftop paths rich in migrant birds.

Salcombe

A dry U-shaped valley of jagged tors above the sea near Lynton, roamed by feral goats on the Exmoor coast.

Lynton

Forest-edge lookout above Newnham with a great sweep of the horseshoe bend in the Severn.

Newnham on Severn

Iron Age hillfort and golf-course common above Painswick, with wide views across the Severn Vale.

Painswick

A limestone bluff 120 metres above the Wye's great loop, with peregrines nesting in the cliffs below the viewpoint most springs since 1982.

Monmouth

Chalk amphitheatre where Eisenhower addressed D-Day troops.

Winchester

Edward Thomas's memorial hill above the hangers.

Buriton

Ridge of Richard Adams's novel, on the Wayfarer's Walk.

Kingsclere

A hilltop village green with one of the finest views in Kent, looking out over the Weald from the greensand ridge.

Chiddingstone

A steep National Trust hillside east of Sevenoaks with a bench and a broad view south over the Weald.

Ightham

A wood on the Downs above Selling with a raised timber lookout, 'the Pulpit', giving a view to the Thames estuary.

Chilham

A grand clifftop promenade above Folkestone, its lawns and bandstand looking out across the Channel.

Hythe

A wooded greensand ridge of National Trust paths near Westerham, with views south over the Weald.

Chiddingstone

Great looping bend of the River Lune near Caton, a beauty spot painted by Turner and a riverside picnic stop.

Caton

Roadside viewpoint on Longridge Fell with a sweep across the Ribble Valley to Pendle and the Bowland fells.

Longridge

Atmospheric limestone headland with an old copper-smelting chimney, looking across Morecambe Bay from Silverdale.

Silverdale

Dramatic high pass winding through the empty heart of the Bowland fells, likened to a slice of the Alps.

Dunsop Bridge

A high moorland road between Wensleydale and Swaledale, named for the deep limestone potholes at its summit.

Thwaite

A clifftop of dramatic sea views above the old Peak Alum Works, looking north to Robin Hood's Bay.

Ravenscar

A steep escarpment edge above the Vale of York, its sweeping panorama once called the finest view in England.

Coxwold

A vast walk-in sculpture and viewing platform above a working quarry near Greenhow, with sweeping Nidderdale views.

Pateley Bridge

A broad, hill-cradled valley of river haughs and prehistoric hillforts running up from Ingram into the Cheviots.

Ingram

A remote, permit-access valley curling into the northern Cheviots from the hamlet of Hethpool, prized for its solitude.

Kirk Yetholm

A short, spectacular grassy coast walk from Craster harbour to the gaunt cliff-top ruin of Dunstanburgh Castle.

Craster

A green glacial valley climbing from Wooler into the heart of the Cheviots, threaded by the burbling Harthope Burn.

Wooler

A crown of heathery sandstone crags above Rothbury, a short steep climb rewarded with views across Coquetdale.

Rothbury

A high car park and ridge with sweeping views along the switchback crags of central Hadrian's Wall.

Bardon Mill

A dramatic surviving length of Hadrian's Wall riding the whinstone crags above Greenhead.

Haltwhistle

National Trust valley biting into the Long Mynd above Church Stretton, a busy gateway to the open hill.

Church Stretton

High point of the Long Mynd's heather plateau, a toposcope summit with views deep into Wales.

Church Stretton

Twelve-mile wooded limestone escarpment running from Much Wenlock to Craven Arms, sung by Housman and Vaughan Williams.

Cardington

A dramatic limestone headland striding out into the sea near Weston, topped by downland, a Victorian fort and huge Channel views.

Weston-super-Mare

A rocky limestone summit at the western tip of the Mendips, its bare crown giving sweeping views over the Levels to the sea.

Axbridge

A grassy Mendip shoulder above Ebbor, rated by locals the best view in Somerset, taking in Glastonbury Tor, the Quantocks and Wales.

Priddy

Open heather common on Exmoor above Winsford, grazed by wild ponies and studded with Bronze Age barrows.

Winsford

North Downs escarpment above Reigate with a domed Edwardian drinking fountain and a long view south from the chalk grassland.

Reigate

Deep natural amphitheatre of heath and hanging woods at Hindhead, its main road now buried in a tunnel to quiet the valley.

Haslemere

Second-highest point in Surrey above the Devil's Punch Bowl, its Sailor's Stone marking an 18th-century murder on the Portsmouth road.

Haslemere

Greensand summit crowned by an Iron Age hillfort, with a broad southward view over the Weald from a hilltop bench.

Peaslake

Popular chalk-down viewpoint on the North Downs east of Guildford, with grassland and beech hangers over the Tillingbourne valley.

Albury

High point of the Hurtwood greensand ridge above Ewhurst, looking south across the Weald from open heath.

Ewhurst

Trio of abrupt heather hills near Churt, the climbable Stony Jump giving a sudden view over the Frensham commons.

Thursley

Isolated outlier of the Cotswolds rising over the Vale, its summit crowned by the folly tower of Parsons Folly, a landmark for miles.

Elmley Castle

National Trust hills of woodland and heath near Birmingham, with a summit topograph and views to the Cotswolds and Wales.

Chaddesley Corbett

The steep northern peak of the Malvern ridge above Great Malvern, a favourite 360-degree viewpoint.

Great Malvern

Ridge-top viewpoint over the Trent levels and the Isle of Axholme, long a warning-beacon site above the village.

Nottinghamshire

Riverside water-meadows below Stamford's spires, the classic view of the honey-stone town across the Welland.

Lincolnshire

A Capability Brown parkland on the Greensand Ridge with wide views, ancient oaks and Katherine's Cross marking a lost Tudor palace.

Bedfordshire

An ice-age hillock on the coast path east of Sheringham, a fine perch over the sea and cliffs.

Norfolk

A crumbling clay headland at Walton with fossil-stuffed cliffs, sweeping views over the backwaters and a landmark tower behind.

Essex

Wooded National Trust hill above Caldy with a sandstone beacon, looking out over the Dee estuary to the Welsh mountains.

Merseyside

Wooded sandstone hilltop above Frodsham looking out over the Mersey estuary, Liverpool and the Cheshire plain.

Cheshire

Old sea-wall promenade at Parkgate overlooking a huge tract of Dee salt marsh, famous for birds of prey and winter high-tide spectacles.

Cheshire

South Downs viewpoint above Bignor, where the Roman Stane Street survives as a clear raised agger crossing open chalk grassland.

West Sussex

Scarp-top South Downs Way viewpoint above Alciston, looking out towards the Seaford coast.

East Sussex

Hilltop pine clump and Milne's 'Enchanted Place', with wide views across the Ashdown Forest heath.

East Sussex

A sunken tree-tunnel holloway on old Stane Street climbs to Halnaker windmill on the hilltop, a well-known viewpoint over the plain.

West Sussex

Bare chalk hilltop at the north-east end of the Ridgeway, an Iron Age hillfort with sweeping views over three counties.

Buckinghamshire

Twin beech-crowned chalk hills above the Thames, Round Hill and the Iron Age hillfort of Castle Hill, with wide views.

Oxfordshire

Small headland near St Just crowned by an old mine chimney, the only 'cape' in England, where two tides meet.

Cornwall

The westernmost point of mainland England, its granite cliffs looking out to the Longships Lighthouse and the open Atlantic.

Cornwall

One of Wiltshire's highest downs near Pewsey, crowned by an ancient enclosure with sweeping views over the Vale of Pewsey.

Wiltshire

National Trust chalk down south-east of Salisbury topped by the Pepperbox, a hexagonal 1606 folly tower, with wide views over the Avon valley.

Wiltshire

Dragon's-back reef limestone ridge in the upper Dove valley, a sharp-crested fossil-reef hill with dramatic sunrise views.

Staffordshire

The highest ground in Warwickshire, a Cotswold-edge ridge above Ilmington with long views across the Vale of Evesham.

Warwickshire

Winding limestone valley where the River Manifold vanishes underground in summer, followed by a traffic-free trail on the old light railway.

Staffordshire

Grassy hills and woodland above Stratford crowned by the Welcombe Obelisk, with wide views over the Avon valley.

Warwickshire

Chalk cliffs rising 300ft from the sea, England's biggest seabird city with gannets and puffins in season.

East Riding of Yorkshire

Heather moor of the famous song, scattered with the Twelve Apostles stone circle and prehistoric rock carvings.

West Yorkshire

Two and a half miles of clifftop grassland and limestone stacks along the coast from South Shields to Souter.

Tyne and Wear

Third-largest whirlpool in the world, roaring in the tidal gulf between Jura and Scarba.

Argyll and Bute

Colosseum-like Victorian folly crowning the hill above Oban, with sweeping views over the bay to Mull.

Oban

Rugged headland at Kintyre's southern tip, its lighthouse looking across to Ireland, made famous in song.

Southend

Community-owned croft and forest above Loch Ness with waymarked trails, lochans and long views over the Great Glen.

Abriachan

Community pinewoods on the edge of Grantown-on-Spey, with waymarked walks, red squirrels and capercaillie habitat.

Grantown-on-Spey

Britain's greatest road climb, a hairpinned single-track pass rising over 600m with views to Skye and the Outer Hebrides.

Applecross

Hill above Golspie topped by a controversial giant statue of the 1st Duke of Sutherland, with panoramic firth views.

Golspie

Crescent bay and viewpoint on Loch Sunart with a standing stone, old chapel and dramatic Ardnamurchan coast.

Glenborrodale

Low spit reaching into the Moray Firth narrows off Fortrose, one of Britain's best land-based bottlenose dolphin spots.

Rosemarkie

The Caledonian Canal's northern sea lock at Clachnaharry, where the canal meets the Beauly Firth with wide water views.

North Kessock

Roadside viewpoint on the Assynt coast road overlooking Loch Dhrombaig and Eddrachillis Bay to Handa Island.

Drumbeg

Cluster of lochans near Badachro holding the wreckage of a WWII bomber, a moving short walk and memorial.

Badachro

Classic viewpoint over one of Scotland's most beautiful glens, its lochs fringed by ancient Caledonian pinewood.

Cannich

Roadside viewpoint on the A832 looking down the length of Glen Docherty to Loch Maree.

Kinlochewe

The single-track road that turns off Glen Coe and runs twelve dead-end miles to the head of a sea loch — Skyfall borrowed it; the deer never left.

Glencoe

The iconic direction signpost marking the traditional end of the Land's End to John o' Groats journey.

John o' Groats

Graceful curving concrete bridge of 1984 spanning Loch a' Chairn Bhain, a landmark NC500 photo stop.

Kylesku

Skye's westernmost headland, a Stevenson lighthouse of 1909 at the end of a steep concrete path, with whales and basking sharks passing below the cliffs.

Glendale

Wooded river islands in central Inverness linked by Victorian suspension footbridges, a favourite riverside stroll.

Inverness

Sixty-metre red-sandstone sea stack off the Stoer peninsula, reached by a cliff-top walk from the lighthouse.

Clashnessie

Viewpoint over the shoreline 'roads' left by an ice-age lake terracing the slopes of Glen Roy.

Roy Bridge

Sheltered woodland glen west of Inverness with a riverside trail and some of Britain's tallest conifers.

Kiltarlity

Towering pointed sea stacks rising off the cliffs a short walk south of Duncansby Head.

John o' Groats

Roadside viewpoint in Glen Coe facing the three great buttresses of Bidean nam Bian.

Kinlochleven

A flight of around 330 flagstone steps zig-zagging down cliffs to a tiny natural harbour once used by herring boats.

Lybster

Wooded hill above Perth topped by a cliff-edge folly tower with wide views over the Tay.

Fowlis Wester

Dramatic wooded river gorge with an NTS centre and the Soldier's Leap of 1689.

Pitlochry

Celebrated viewpoint over Loch Tummel towards Schiehallion, with a Forestry visitor centre.

Blair Atholl

A hill in central Edinburgh crowned by the National Monument and Nelson Monument, giving classic panoramas of the city.

Edinburgh

Wooded ravine with waterfalls in the Campsie Fells above Lennoxtown, a popular short walk.

East Dunbartonshire

Small bay and shingle shore on Loch Lomond near Balloch, a popular open viewpoint over the loch.

West Dunbartonshire

Small knoll above Gartocharn, 'The Dumpling', giving an easy but celebrated panorama over Loch Lomond and its islands.

West Dunbartonshire

A tower on Byres Hill near Haddington whose 132 steps reward climbers with 360-degree views over East Lothian.

East Lothian

Hilltop above Greenock with panoramic Firth of Clyde views and the Free French cross memorial.

Inverclyde

Forestry visitor centre and viewpoint on Duke's Pass above Aberfoyle, with wildlife cameras and treetop walks.

Stirling

Concrete bridge on a never-completed coastal road at North Tolsta, start of a scenic clifftop walk.

Na h-Eileanan Siar

A low hill immediately above Stromness giving wide views over the town, Hoy and Scapa Flow.

Orkney Islands

Headland site of a great Pictish fort, with an early rock-cut well and sweeping Moray Firth views.

Moray

Towering Atlantic sea stacks and cliffs on the far west coast of Lewis near Mangersta.

Na h-Eileanan Siar

Dramatic wooded gorge where the River Findhorn narrows to a rocky leap, on the Moray-Highland border near Forres.

Moray

The high hill above Unst's north coast, a former RAF radar site with sweeping views to Muckle Flugga.

Shetland Islands

Steeply arched medieval bridge over the Don at Old Aberdeen, one of Scotland's oldest surviving bridges.

Aberdeen

Vast glacial pothole cavern in the Muir of Dinnet reserve, reached by a short gorge walk.

Aberdeenshire

Elegant white suspension footbridge over the Dee between Ballater and Dinnet, restored after flood damage.

Aberdeenshire

Granite memorial above Loch Trool marking Robert the Bruce's 1307 victory, with a fine loch-and-hills panorama.

Dumfries and Galloway

Deep natural hollow among the hills north of Moffat, once a hiding place for reivers' rustled cattle.

Dumfries and Galloway

Famous gravity-hill optical illusion on the A719 near Croy where a car appears to roll uphill.

South Ayrshire

Clyde-coast seafront walk at Largs ending at the Pencil, a monument to the 1263 Battle of Largs, with Cumbrae views.

North Ayrshire

Celebrated viewpoint over a curve of the Tweed to the three Eildon peaks, a favourite of Sir Walter Scott.

Scottish Borders

Windswept mountain pass (Bwlch yr Oernant) carrying the A542 over Llantysilio Mountain, with a summit cafe and wide moorland views.

Llangollen

Northern outlier of the Clwydian Range above Dyserth, carrying a large Iron Age hillfort overlooking the coast.

Rhuddlan

Northern end of the Clwydian Range and start of the Offa's Dyke Path, with limestone heath and coastal views above Prestatyn.

Rhuddlan

Wooded vale at the head of the Eglwyseg Valley beneath towering limestone cliffs, reached by a narrow lane and a ford.

Llangollen

A wooded headland above Llanbedrog beach topped by the steel Tin Man sculpture, with coast views.

Llanbedrog

A wide tidal estuary of sand and saltmarsh between Dolgellau and Barmouth, followed by the Mawddach Trail.

Barmouth

A short hillside path above Barmouth giving views over the Mawddach Estuary and its railway bridge.

Barmouth

A near-level path around Foel Cynwch above Dolgellau with views over the Mawddach and Cadair Idris.

Dolgellau

Rocky outcrop on the England side of the wooded Wye gorge, giving the classic framed view down onto Tintern Abbey.

Tintern

Cliff-top lookout above the Wynd Cliff near St Arvans, the highest point on the Monmouthshire bank of the Wye, reached by a long flight of steps.

St Arvans

Broad moorland hill above Abergavenny and the Usk valley, easily reached from the Foxhunter car park for sweeping views.

Abergavenny

Glacial hollow on the eastern flank of the Blorenge holding a small lake ringed by old beech pollards; a Woodland Trust site.

Abergavenny

The highest road pass in Wales, threading between Hay Bluff and Twmpa above the Vale of Ewyas.

Capel-y-ffin

Steep scarp on the northern edge of the Black Mountains with wide views over the Wye valley.

Hay-on-Wye

Hilltop viewpoint and bronze figure on the Machynlleth-to-Llanidloes mountain road above Dylife, overlooking the Cambrian Mountains.

Machynlleth

Old red sandstone ridge across the middle of the Gower, called the backbone of Gower.

Reynoldston

North-west Gower hill crowned by the Bulwark Iron Age hillfort, with wide island views.

Llangennith

Limestone clifftop path above Three Cliffs Bay with wide coastal views.

Pennard

Ridge between Cardiff and Caerphilly with panoramic views and open common land.

Caerphilly

Coastal headland where Marconi made the first radio transmission over open sea in 1897.

Vale of Glamorgan

Prominent hillfort-topped summit above Cwmcarn with views to Cardiff Bay and the Bristol Channel.

Caerphilly

Flat-topped limestone hill (Din Sylwy) with an Iron Age hillfort above the eastern end of Red Wharf Bay.

Anglesey

Rocky Preseli summit above Newport crowned by an Iron Age hillfort, known as the Mount of Angels.

Pembrokeshire

Rocky tor above Whitesands Bay near St Davids, giving wide views over the peninsula and Ramsey Island.

Pembrokeshire

Headland above Aberystwyth reached by a Victorian cliff railway, with a camera obscura and views along the Cardigan Bay coast.

Ceredigion

Conical Clwydian summit crowned by a small but strongly banked Iron Age hillfort, with car parks on either side.

Flintshire