Ruined buildings shrouded in trees, masonry crumblinginto the undergrowth. It sounds like the backdrop for an Indiana Jones movie, the sort of thing people trek across Central America or the wilds of Cambodia to find. But Britain has its own share of enigmatic relics. Three very different such historical ruins lie shrouded in Derbyshire's woodland.

Possibly the most romantic of these ‘hidden' ruins is Horeston Castle, set in woodland overlooking Coxbench. Despite a perch on a prominent natural rocky outcrop, it is easy to walk past the remnants of this stronghold, totally unaware of its existence. Most of the masonry has disappeared, no doubt much of it recycled in nearby field walls. The castle mound was extensively quarried out in 1760 to provide building material for Kedleston Hall. Quarrying continued into the nineteenth century. When work stopped, nature began reclaiming the site. Half a dozen courses of stonework remain, marking the foundations of the north face of the former keep, looming behind a veil of ivy above a steeply cut defensive ditch now flooded with brambles and rhododendrons.