Catch the fall in old England

Chiltern Hills

Journey an hour north-west of London and you are in a world of farms, flint villages, paddocks and rolling hills. The highest point of the Chilterns is a mile from Chequers at Coombe Hill, near Wendover, with stunning views over the Vale of Aylesbury. But the best view of autumnal splendour is from Whiteleaf Cross, an ancient hillside chalk carving set among magnificent beech woodlands above Princes Risborough, from where you can see 20 miles to Oxford on a clear day.

Place to stay and eat: The Peacock, Henton, near Chinnor, Oxfordshire (01844 353519, www.peacock.uk.com).

Doubles from Pounds 74 per night.

Superb English food is available in The Peacock restaurant and glorious views of the Chilterns from this secluded 16th-century hotel with its log fires to warm you after walks.

The New Forest

Ninety minutes down the M3, Britain's newest National Park is more than 900 years old and the former hunting forest of William the Conqueror. At 145 square miles, it is also the largest unenclosed area in southern England.

It is a scene of medieval England, with ancient woodland, heathland, beautiful heathers and ponds. Burley is the perfect base from which to see its autumn beauty and, at this time of year, as well as the usual roaming ponies, donkeys and cattle, pigs are let loose to clear up the forest floors.

The best views and walks are around Whitefield Moor, near Brockenhurst.

Place to stay and eat: Burley Manor Hotel, Burley, near Ringwood, Hants (01425 403522, www.forestdale.com /burley-manor-hotel.htm). Doubles from Pounds 115 per night. Watch the grazing deer among autumn-touched trees from Burley Manor rooms, including the new dining-room conservatory.

Surrey Hills

Box Hill, near Dorking, is part of the extensive and picturesque Surrey Hills woodland-and-chalk downland, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty offering spectacular views towards the South Downs. On the summit there is an information centre, a shop with plant sales and a 19th-century fort. Down below are attractive market towns and villages.

If your visual senses yearn for even more of nature's stunning yellow, orange and crimson displays, a few miles away is Winkworth Arboretum, a National Trust-owned wooded valley overlooking two lakes that feature more than 1,000 different shrubs and trees, many of them rare.

Winkworth Arboretum, Hascombe Road, Godalming, Surrey (01483 208477, www.nationaltrustorg.uk/places/winkwortharboretum).

Adults Pounds 4, children Pounds 2.

Place to stay and eat: Burford Bridge Hotel, Dorking, Surrey (0870 400 8283, www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk). Doubles from Pounds 120. At the foot of Box Hill, the 16th-century hotel and its excellent restaurant are set amid landscaped gardens running down to the River Mole.

Epping Forest

The ancient woodland of Epping Forest is the largest public open space (6,000 acres) in the vicinity of London. In fact, no other capital city in the world can claim to have such an extensive area of undeveloped land near its centre.

It has areas of grassland, heath, rivers, bogs and ponds, and technicolour autumn foliage, misty mornings and golden leaves. And it's all five minutes' walk from Theydon Bois Tube station on the Central line. At High Beech, there's a popular walkers' cafe or The King's Oak nearby has substantial pub food.

Place to stay and eat: Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel, Old Shire Lane, Waltham Abbey (01992 717170, www.marriott.co.uk). Doubles from Pounds 109 per night. Pack

your wellies because you are just steps away from the forest. The Kings Oak, Nursery Road, High Beech, Loughton, Essex (020 8508 5000).

Royal Parks

Of the Royal Parks, Bushy and Richmond are the best for kicking through the leaves and seeing that autumn does visit London on a grand scale, too. Both have a variety of trees, particularly oaks, limes and chestnuts, as well as hundreds of deer - rutting at this time of year - and other wildlife.

Richmond Park has hills and views over London, too, and Pembroke Lodge for teas. In Bushy Park, the finest place to see the season's cloak of colours is through the Woodland Walks of secluded glades and gentle streams crossed by fairytale bridges.

Place to stay and eat: Chase Lodge Hotel, 10 Park Road, Hampton Wick, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey (020 8943 1862, www.chaselodgehotel.com).

Doubles from Pounds 85 per night.

Built in 1870, Chase Lodge is a small (12 rooms), quality, family- run hotel one minute's walk from Bushy Park.

It also has the fine Wickers Restaurant for non-residents, too.

Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, Richmond, Surrey (020 8940 8207, www.pembroke-lodge.co.uk).

Caffe La Fiamma, Old Park House, Hampton Court Road, East Molesey, Surrey (020 8943 2050). This popular Italian has views of golden Bushy Park while you eat.

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