A steep little valley of sessile oak and birch, with Burbage Brook falling through the middle over mossy boulders. In October the canopy turns copper and the light comes through in shafts. It looks like a set designer overdid it. Start at Grindleford station, which has trains from Sheffield and Manchester, and climb up through the gorge towards Longshaw. Loop back across the moor if you want the views. Allow two hours. After: the Grindleford Station Café, back where you began. Large mugs, no frills.

A small tarn above Coniston, ringed with larch and Scots pine, with the fells stacked up behind. The larches are the point. They are deciduous conifers, which sounds like a contradiction, and in late October they turn a flat, glowing orange. The path around the water is about a mile and a half, level and well surfaced. It is an easy walk with a disproportionate return. Extend it on foot from Coniston or Hawkshead if one and a half miles feels like cheating. After: Hawkshead, a few miles down the road, for a pub lunch and a look at the grammar school Wordsworth attended.

Perthshire calls itself Big Tree Country, and at the Hermitage it is hard to argue. The path follows the River Braan under towering Douglas firs, with beech and birch adding the colour, to Ossian's Hall. This is an 18th-century folly built as a viewing room over the Black Linn Falls. A mirrored chamber was once meant to multiply the water. The effect is now achieved by rain. The main loop is short, around an hour. October is also when salmon leap the falls, if you have patience and a good coat. Dunkeld is on the Highland Main Line from Edinburgh and Glasgow. After: the cathedral ruins and the small town of Dunkeld itself, which takes its tea seriously.

At the foot of the Mournes, near Newcastle, the Shimna River runs through mixed woodland studded with follies, grottos and old stone bridges. The planting is 18th-century and deliberate. Someone wanted this to look romantic, and in autumn it does. Waymarked trails run from under an hour to most of a day. The river trail, with its stepping stones, is the one to do. Wear boots. The stones do not care about your trainers. After: Newcastle's seafront, with the mountains coming down to the sea behind you.

In the southern part of the national park, near Ystradfellte, the rivers Mellte and Hepste drop through wooded ravines in a run of falls. The one people come for is Sgwd yr Eira, where a path takes you behind the water. Autumn rain makes everything louder. The oaks above turn rust and gold. The circuit takes around three hours and has steep, slippery steps down to the falls. This is not a walk for new white trainers. Park at Gwaun Hepste or Cwm Porth and go early at weekends. After: the Angel Inn at Pontneddfechan, a short drive south.

The National Arboretum, near Tetbury, holds thousands of trees from around the world, planted by Victorians who collected them the way other people collect stamps. The Japanese maples in the Old Arboretum are what fill the car park in October. Reds you would reject as too much in a paint chart. There are miles of paths and no wrong route. Walk the Old Arboretum for colour, then Silk Wood for something quieter. The treetop walkway gets you level with the canopy. Book ahead on autumn weekends. After: Tetbury, ten minutes away, for antiques shops you will look in and not buy from.

A landscape garden laid out in the 18th century by Henry Hoare, a banker with a Grand Tour habit. A lake, a Palladian bridge, a temple modelled on the Pantheon, and trees placed so each view arrives like a painting. In autumn the beeches and tulip trees do the reflecting for you. The lake circuit is about two miles and mostly flat. Go on a still morning, when the water holds the colour twice. It is National Trust, so check opening times and book in peak weeks. After: the Spread Eagle Inn, at the garden gate.

On the north Devon coast, the East Lyn River cuts a deep wooded gorge down to the sea at Lynmouth. Watersmeet is where Hoar Oak Water joins it. The valley sides are thick with oak, and in autumn the whole thing goes the colour of a good marmalade. Walk up from Lynmouth along the river, about two miles each way, with the water loud beside you the whole time. Fitter legs can climb out over the top for views back down the coast. After: the National Trust tea room at Watersmeet, in a 19th-century fishing lodge. Have the scone.

For Londoners without a free weekend. This ancient woodland near Farnham Common is looked after by the City of London, which bought it in the 1880s. The old pollarded beeches are hundreds of years old, gnarled and wide, and in autumn they turn the floor into a copper carpet. A network of easy, mostly flat paths means you can walk an hour or an afternoon. It is close enough to London to do on a Sunday and still be home for dinner. After: a pub in Farnham Common or Burnham, then the train back from Slough.