Walks you can reach from Martins Heron by train

Parkland, lake shores, ornamental gardens, light woodland, deer park, tree-lined avenue and historic town streets.

Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.

Windsor Great Park

Windsor Castle

Windsor

Time: 3h30–7h30

1 lunch spot: Savill Garden Visitor Centre Cafe (1h30–3h30 in)

4 end-of-walk rewards: the Prince Harry, the Carpenters Arms, the Royal Windsor, or the Boatman

Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 1.

Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.

River meadows, gravel-pit lakes, nature reserves, country lanes, mixed and pine woodland, heathland, golf course, soft fruit farms and historic market town.

Time: 6h

Warnings: Flood risk in places.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Loop from Egham through Windsor Great Park and the Long Walk to the Magna Carta memorials at Runnymede.

The Windsor Great Park: A vast royal deer park south of Windsor Castle, crossed by the Long Walk.

Runnymede: The Thames-side meadow where King John sealed the Magna Carta in 1215.

Time: 3h30–7h

Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).

Flat urban riverside paths, small river corridors, local parks, Thames towpath, luxury riverside houses and Palladian parkland.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

River Thames path, open parkland, woodland, deer park, grassy slopes and hilltop views.

Richmond Park: A vast royal park home to herds of red and fallow deer.

Time: 3h

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Longer heath-and-forest crossing on the Three Castles Path, past Englemere Pond, Swinley Park forest tracks and Bagshot Heath. Some of east Berkshire's finest open country.

Englemere Pond: A nature reserve centred on a heathland pond near Ascot, rich in dragonflies and wetland plants.

Lunch: Café at The Lookout, and the Coral Reef waterpark, both roughly midway.

Warnings: Crossing the A322 bridge on a busy, narrow road is the most challenging part.

Walk details: Blackwater Valley Nature Walks (tips, photos, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Meadows, plantation woodland and heath, through buttercup meadows and Gorrick Plantation to the Heath Lake viewing platform. Rich in birds and wildflowers.

Heath Lake: A Site of Special Scientific Interest lake with a viewing platform, surrounded by woodland.

Warnings: Paths can be muddy after rain.

Walk details: Blackwater Valley Nature Walks (tips, photos, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Heathland, Horsell Common and a Peace Garden; Chobham Common, Rhododendron Walkway, Basingstoke Canal into Woking.

Woodland: half under tree cover.

Chobham Common: The largest National Nature Reserve in the South East, a fine example of lowland heath.

Horsell Common: Sandy common made famous as the Martian landing site in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.

Time: 3h30–7h

Warnings: Longcross has no facilities and trains roughly twice an hour; buy single tickets as the stations are on different lines.

Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).

Flat urban start, parkland, deer park, historic royal landscape, ornamental gardens and lake.

Time: 4h

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Recommended: A wildly joyful route; so lovely; superb in summer. A wildly enjoyable, mostly flat and largely traffic-free route following the riverside at Richmond and Kingston and crossing leafy Ham via quiet residential streets and green common land and including Petersham meadows. Generally smooth surfaces with a couple of gates and a few narrow paths; the Richmond riverside path can flood at high tide (a road detour exists). You may pass the herd of cows grazing at Petersham meadows. Toilets just inside Petersham Gate at Richmond Park; a short detour reaches Ham House (National Trust).

Ham House: A grand 17th-century house and gardens beside the Thames at Ham.

Time: 2h–4h

Lunch: Refreshments at Petersham and along the river at both Richmond and Kingston.

1 end-of-walk reward: Canbury Secret Cafe

Warnings: The riverside footpath at Richmond can flood at high tide — detour via the A307 Petersham Road, with several escape points up to the road. The diversion behind St Peter's church is narrow, poorly lit and can be muddy.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A rural route on a mixture of footpaths, byways, bridleways and quiet country lanes, with gates but no steps. It skirts Bracknell via parks and an underpass, runs through woodland and across fields and finishes through Braywick Park Nature Reserve. Footpaths through woods can be narrow and lined with thorny bushes. Passes Frost Folly wildlife park and Braywick Park Nature Reserve. The route lacks a pub at its mid-point, but there are pubs in Warfield and Holyport.

Time: 4h–8h30

Lunch: Two pubs off the attractive Holyport village green.

Warnings: A short stretch of fast-traffic road (Drift Road) with uneven grass verges, though the route turns off it quickly. Narrow woodland paths with thorny bushes — a jacket helps. Few benches outside the towns.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A direct route mainly on pleasant, wide, traffic-free wooded tracks and heathland through Swinley Forest and the MOD training area and with pavements in the urban sections at each end. The forest tracks are gravel and can be muddy with areas of waterlogging; no stairs. Passes close to the Bronze Age barrow at Bill Hill and the Lookout Discovery Centre and South Hill Park Arts Centre (both with cafés and toilets). Small detours possible to Caesar's Camp Iron Age hill fort and Surrey Heath Museum.

Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.

Time: 2h30–5h30

Lunch: Cafés and toilets at the Lookout Discovery Centre and South Hill Park Arts Centre near the route; town-centre shops and cafés at both ends.

Warnings: The central forest section can be muddy with areas of waterlogging.

Walk details: Slow Ways.