Want to be able to go for off road walks without driving to reach them

[Snog]

For my next move due to health consideration s I'd like to be able to go for nice circular walks away from traffic without needing to drive to get to them.
Ideally more than one different walk and ideally there would be a mud free walk option for wet days. I'm happy to walk for anything between 30 mins up to 2 hours max.
I'm not sure how unreasonable I am being in making this a non negotiable criteria for my next location. Do you know anywhere that would fit the bill? I'm open to anywhere in the UK.

I'm in a reasonably big yorkshire town, my house is about 1.5 miles from the town centre and there are 100s of walks like that literally on our doorstep

Easy enough from my front door in a small village in North Wales. I do walk on roads to reach the fields, woods, footpaths etc but I see very few cars. I walk the dog twice a day. I can go in 3 different directions from my front door and these branch further. It’s pretty hilly. At the moment the paths are muddy and lots of the fields have sheep but the walks are lovely. I could walk all day if I had time to get up to the mountain (takes me an hour to walk up via the disused quarry). The paths up the mountain go all ways and we’ve walked for a full day before now.

Downsides are long way from supermarket, employment opportunities are few (I wfh for a London company). I pretty much love it though!

Choose somewhere where you can get there by train or bus?

@Boom45

I'm in Sheffield and I can do that. I can also be in the city centre on public transport in 10 minutes. Perfectly possible in lots of places.

I'm in Nottingham. Same here too. Really good public transport and loads of country parks.

I agree your criteria aren't that difficult, lots of towns and smaller cities have places that would fit. I'm in Oxford and could argue that we meet your criteria; we can also get anywhere in the centre of town within 10 minutes or less by bike.

Mind you this morning's walk with friend + dog was rather muddy and wet at times. I think at one point were were probably wading through the river, technically speaking ... But there are paved off road walk options as well near here that are good when you don't want to wear wellies!

I'm on the Cumbrian coast and can do it from my doorstep. There are loads of options from beach, to fells, to fields, to rugged farm tracks, woods and more. It's fantastic.

However, wee are very rural and there's very little in terms of general amenities and public transport. I love it though and wouldn't swap it for the world.

Mud free?

I had the same criteria as you, but without the mud clause . Can do walks from my front door, 4 different loops between 1-2 hours each

But yeah, there is mud. I invested in quality wellies that feel like walking boots (Aigle neopreen )

Somewhere on a river or canal with a paved footpath alongside it. Anywhere with paved footpaths, really. If you don't want to get too muddy you'd probably need an urban environment with lots of green spaces. But you'd have more options if you were willing to embrace the mud!

Big thank you for all the replies here.
I am delighted that there seem to be a lot of places that would fit the bill.

Lots of villages near me including my mums village don't have good walks available off road and lots of the country roads have no pavements.

I'm very grateful for all the ideas and tips. Budget wise I currently live in a very pricey area so apart from central London I think everywhere else should be within budget. I'd like to be within 1 mile of a train station to make it easier for people to visit but that's less important than the good walks availability!

Milton Keynes. Seriously. Miles of pedestrian/bike redways, linear parks, lakes, woodland. I live less than a mile from the mainline station into London and have seen kingfishers, herons and once even an otter on my circular walks.

www.theparkstrust.com/

I'm in one of the biggest Cities. I can do that, from my door (well, I do have to get to the end of the road)

A city or town with canals, but depends how traffic free you need the entire route. I dare say mud free is the big challenge.

MsRinky beat me too it with Mk. My sister lives there and I love it!
She has also sees kingfishers regularly on her walk... and an otter!

Er - are you my sis?

Mud free is a tick, as the Parks Trust that MsRinky linked to maintain really good pathways. It's also really accessible for people with mobility issues.

@TheSpottedZebra relax, I am not your sister :)

Plenty of that in Durham. You can walk from the city centre to a massive housing estate and say hello to the sheep, on the way.

Ribble Valley. That’s my life. Can access lots of walks easily from my house.

You'll achieve what you want if you find somewhere rural to live. Trouble is, then you'd have to drive for other things you take for granted, such as local shops, schools, jobs, as rural places usually have pretty poor public transport and few local amenities within walking distance of your house.

I'm in the East Midlands in the area designated as The National Forest. Around here there are loads of opportunities to do what you describe - woodland, parkland and open country walks, canal towpaths etc. Many these areas have hard surfaced paths for wet days.

From my home I walk past 12 houses and a pub and I'm in open country where I can walk for hours without meeting anyone or crossing a road. (Its been a godsend for us and our dog during lockdown!!).

I'm on the outskirts of Brighton and our garden backs onto the South Downs. Lots of country walks and yet I can be in the city centre within 15mins on the bus.

You'll achieve what you want if you find somewhere rural to live.

Not the mud free point she won't. Not for 2 hours. Need cities in the East to avoid mud.

I've got all that in rural Scotland, sorry not to be more specific. It's a small town with plenty of amenities and commuting distance to cities with jobs. In Scotland we have the right to roam so public footpaths aren't shown on the OS in the same way but basically anywhere there are people with dogs to walk, there are locally established routes. The mud free option here is a cycle path converted from an old railway line, so maybe a map of long distance cycle routes is a good place to start?

babbadbunny Depends. I’m rural one side but on other within 5 minutes walk is an A road and a retail park/services with Starbucks, McDonald’s etc. Yet 10 mins other way I’m on open common land with sheep horses and cows and no one else. My small village has a primary school. The none mud but is harder but there’s a decent tarmaced none traffic road running parallel to the A road (the old road) that cyclists and dog walkers use.