On your bike! 10 great two-wheeled adventures

What better way to arrive at some of our fascinating houses or gardens, and fantastic coast or countryside, than by pedal power, just in time for a tea-room treat or picnic lunch?

From butterflies fluttering in hedgerows, to birds chirping in the trees, you’ll be amazed by the variety of wildlife you’ll discover on a bike, and while the youngsters pedal away their excess energy, you’ll have the chance to get active and stay healthy, while enjoying some of our most beautiful historic landscapes.

We’ve selected ten of our favourite, gentle cycle experiences, to stimulate your family’s imagination and heartbeat:

	Ashridge Estate, Buckinghamshire

Ashridge is a great swathe of beautiful woodlands and hilly grassland, in the heart of the Chilterns. Wildlife that has been spotted here include wildflowers and butterflies, fungi and fallow deer. For culture vultures, there is the fascinating history of the estate - a very tall monument near the visitor centre, a prehistoric hill fort at Ivinghoe Beacon and an old windmill at Pitstone.

Our Cycle Guide recommends five family-friendly routes around the estate before returning you to the Ashridge Discovery Centre for a chance to test your family’s nature knowledge through interactive games and a well deserved snack at the café.

Download the cycle guide (PDF)

	Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire

The lake, walled garden and colourful landscape park reveal Clumber’s history as family home of the wealthy Dukes of Newcastle, but it’s equally famous for its ancient woodlands and amazing array of wildlife. When you’ve finished riding around, spotting birds and beetles, stop off at the stables for a tasty meal made from locally-grown produce.

Pick up our Cycle Guide when you arrive for lots of interesting, easy bike routes, and pedal around this green oasis in the heart of Nottinghamshire.

	Barrington Court and Montacute, South Somerset

Try out a gentle 20 mile circular bike ride through the South Somerset countryside. With stunning views of the Quantock Hills, the Blackdowns and the Somerset Levels, it’s an area famed for its orchards, which make great homes for birds, butterflies and cider-makers!

Following national cycle routes along an old railway line for part of the route and quiet rural lanes for the rest, you’ll have the chance to visit the tranquil Jekyll-inspired gardens of Barrington Court and the magnificent Elizabethan Montacute House. Both are great spots to treat yourself to lunch or an afternoon tea, and treat the kids to a run around, if they still have the energy!

Download the cycle guide (PDF)

	Blickling, Norfolk

Take one for the network of cycle paths and look out for a mile long lake, a pyramid-shaped mausoleum and a tower-shaped grandstand, built to watch horse racing 250 years ago! Along the way you’ll see and hear a brilliant variety of birds and flowers depending on the time of the year and day: bluebells in bloom in spring and skylark singing in mid-summer whenever the sun is out.

Between April and end of October, on weekends and during Norfolk school holidays, you can hire a range of bicycles, tandems, child seats and trailer bikes from us too.

	Gibside, Newcastle and Gateshead

Look out for red kite whirling up above, as you cycle through the heart of a conservation scheme. Gibside is a perfect destination, with lots of great picnic spots and a tea-room to enjoy. Explore this family-friendly landscape park, with a wildlife hide and stables discovery room on foot before free-wheeling back downstream to Newcastle on your bike!

Gibside is just a short distance away from the ‘Derwent Walk’. This popular cycle path offers a family-friendly, 8 mile cycle ride from the centre of the city, on a smooth, gently rising, traffic-free trail. Enjoy the bustle of the Tyne quayside before heading west upstream and out into the woodlands and waterways of Derwent Haugh Country Park.

	Plymbridge Woods, Devon

Have fun on this easy 10 mile cycle ride along the route of an old Great Western Railway track from the outskirts of Plymouth to the edge of Dartmoor. This trail follows the first ever Sustrans cycle path created over 40 years ago and takes you from Plymbridge Woods up the valley, over rivers, across breath-taking viaducts and through a tunnel to Dewerstone Woods, then back again.

This is a lovely bike ride all year round, but in early summer offers the added bonus of close-up views of peregrines and their chicks nesting on a cliff in the Cann Quarry.

Download the cycle guide (PDF)

	Portstewart to the Giant's Causeway, North Antrim Coast

This 12 mile circular cycle route offers the chance to explore one of the most famous and beautiful stretches of the North Antrim Coast by bike. Starting at Portstewart, you travel east along the coast road, through Portrush and Bushmills, before joining a trail running besides the tourist railway to the Giant’s Causeway. Follow the cycle path a little further inland on the return leg, for more wonderful views out to sea, on the lightly-trafficked high road back towards Portstewart.

Children will love the legends surrounding Finn McCool and the story of the Giant’s Causeways’ unusual rock formations. It’s also a great area for budding wildlife-detectives, with seabirds and porpoises to spot, and lots of cliff top and heathland flora too.

	Erddig, Wrexham

Erddig is a super place to come cycling, with a vast country park to explore. The best way to see the estate’s parkland, woodland and rolling farmland is to hire some of our bicycles and set out with our cycle map along one of three promoted cycle trails. We offer a range of bikes for all the family, plus tandems and trailer bikes to try out. We also provide high visibility vests and helmets for all.

With trails of varying lengths and gradients, choose a route that best suits your family. Children will love the chance to let off steam and uncover the park’s wilder residents - from farm animals to fungi, ancient trees to bumble bees. Finish up with a little refreshment in the restaurant.

	Box Hill, Surrey

Box Hill’s woodlands and chalk downs are a popular destination for a family bike ride. If you're feeling energetic, follow the winding road up to the summit, or stick to the bridleway along the side of the hill, which is less steep. See who can reach the top first or break up the journey with lots of little rest stops - a great chance to get your breath back and enjoy the views as you go.

At the crest of the hill you’ll be rewarded wa spectacular view, and, perhaps even be able to spot the sea on a clear day. In the past, children used to come here from London for donkey rides… Today you can stop for a bite to eat at the National Trust café and information centre - renowned for the best flapjacks in Surrey!

Return the way you came, with the added bonus of being able to fly down the hill this time! At about six miles, this cycle route will take roughly an hour and a half.

	Coniston, Cumbria

With a range of gentle lakeshore and woodland bike rides, pedal-power is one of the best ways to experience this stunning corner of the Lake District. Combine it with a boat trip on our Steam Yacht Gondola, or a bus journey on the Coniston Rambler, for a family adventure!

Coniston Water is famous for Donald Campbell travelling at over 300mph in the Bluebird on the lake. You might not reach quite such a pace when you cycle here, but that will be all the better for enjoying the views and spying the wildlife en route. From birds and butterflies, to Beatrix Potter’s favourite Herdwick sheep.

Collect a leaflet at the Coniston tourist information centre for some suggested routes starting in the heart of the village, and local camping and caravanning sites.