Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0The nearest provincial park, Big Island Provincial Park, is 1.8 km away. OpenStreetMap shows one walking route nearby, the Amisk Wacîw Mêskanaw. Within 10 km are 6 protected areas.
Each figure against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (not city hubs or reserves), with the town marked and the typical one’s line. Outdoors isn’t one of Canada’s graded subjects, so there’s no letter here: each figure is set against other Canadian towns instead.
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (7,589 to 7,877 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
Against towns its size, Ambleside is weakest for public protected areas: 30 of 39 have more.
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blackburn Hamlet ON | 15% | 0% | 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Beacon Hill South - Cardinal Heights ON | 13% | 0% | 37 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Kenora, Unorganized ON | 12% | 12% | 98 | 5 | 38 |
| 4 | Baie-Saint-Paul QC | 11% | 0.1% | 18 | 11 | 8 |
| 5 | Dryden ON | 11% | 0.7% | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Donnacona QC | 9.6% | 0.1% | 23 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Minden Hills ON | 8.1% | 5.9% | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| 8 | Cypress County AB | 7.9% | 5.9% | 46 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | Mountview ON | 7% | 0% | 21 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | La Broquerie MB | 6.6% | 5.1% | 73 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 | Landsdale ON | 4.7% | 0% | 23 | 1 | 3 |
| 12 | Coteau-du-Lac QC | 4.4% | 0.6% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Saint-Calixte QC | 3.6% | 0.4% | 11 | 0 | 5 |
| 14 | Shefford QC | 3.1% | 1.6% | 34 | 0 | 7 |
| 15 | Lakeview SK | 2.8% | 0.1% | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 16 | Windsor Park AB | 2.8% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| 17 | Electoral Area A, Nanaimo BC | 2.4% | 3.8% | 39 | 2 | 7 |
| 18 | Playter Estates-Danforth ON | 2.3% | 1.5% | 11 | 5 | 18 |
| 19 | University ON | 2.2% | 0% | 12 | 9 | 20 |
| 20 | Altadore AB | 2% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 | Valley Ridge AB | 2% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 | Stoneybrook ON | 1.8% | 21% | 11 | 1 | 0 |
| 23 | Pulberry MB | 1.5% | 7.7% | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Electoral Area B (Lazo North), Comox Valley BC | 1.3% | 3.1% | 64 | 0 | 3 |
| 25 | Bostwick ON | 1.3% | 0.1% | 23 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | Central St. Boniface MB | 1.3% | 2.9% | 22 | 4 | 0 |
| 27 | Kentville NS | 1.1% | 17% | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Brazeau County AB | 1% | 1.2% | 29 | 0 | 1 |
| 29 | Ambleside AB | 1% | 0% | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| 30 | Newell County AB | 0.9% | 1% | 11 | 0 | 14 |
| 31 | Fruitland ON | 0.9% | 4.9% | 25 | 5 | 9 |
| 32 | Augusta ON | 0.8% | 0% | 11 | 1 | 1 |
| 33 | Chatsworth ON | 0.6% | 0.7% | 45 | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | Callingwood South AB | 0.4% | 0% | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 35 | Chesley ON | 0.3% | 0.2% | 19 | 0 | 5 |
| 36 | Fort Frances ON | 0.3% | 0.3% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | River East MB | 0.2% | 5.2% | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Fairview ON | 0.1% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Port Credit ON | 0.1% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 40 | Saint-Félix-de-Valois QC | 0% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
The neighbourhood’s parks, woods, protected land and paths, with its named places numbered.
Largest first: Whitemud Creek Ravine leads with 386 ha. Numbers match the map.
Add Whitemud Creek Ravine to Haddow Park and you have 97% of it.
Source: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, commons and woods with a name, in the town or within 400 m, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Sizes are the mapped outline’s.
Residents of each 2021 dissemination area, at a point inside it, within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of a park or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap.
Against the typical Canadian town’s 83%, that is high.
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
Public bodies own 2 of the 6; land trusts and private owners hold the others. Big Island Provincial Park leads for size with 79 ha. 4 areas belong to private owners or land trusts and aren’t named here.
Source: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
National parks (Parks Canada) and provincial or territorial parks by direction and distance from the town’s edge: every one within 10 km, and the nearest of each within 100 km.
Closer to home, Big Island Provincial Park is 1.8 km away.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
OpenStreetMap footpaths, paths, bridleways and steps, and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it; woods as mapped (landuse=forest, natural=wood).
It is less wooded than 56% of Canadian towns. It has more footpath per km² than 84% of Canadian towns.
Source: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Mapping varies by place: a dense figure can mean keen local mappers as much as many paths.
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991–2020 normals from Edmonton (Airport) (12 km), and daylight at the town’s latitude. Good months: 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15–30 °C, little rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 8.0 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.9 | 17.0 | 16.5 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 |
| High (°C) | -7 | -4 | 1 | 10 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 10 | 0 | -5 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 22 | 12 | 17 | 30 | 47 | 75 | 87 | 53 | 35 | 22 | 20 | 15 |
Highs peak near 23 °C in July and fall to -7 °C in January. July is warm and wet, 87 mm; the driest month, February, has 12 mm. Snow totals about 127 cm a year. The climate in Ambleside →
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
Look up to Rabbit Hill: 713 m. Count 34 playgrounds, the biggest group.
Plus 32 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Gardens and arboretums within 15 km of the town’s edge, and the historic gardens, parks and estates in the town itself, nearest first.
Sources: OpenStreetMap (leisure=garden), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, and Wikidata (CC0), as gathered in TownRatings’ Canadian attractions set; historic places from Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, the Canadian Register of Historic Places and Québec’s Répertoire du patrimoine culturel.
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page.
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambleside | 1% | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| Glenridding Heights 1.0 km | 1.1% | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Windermere 1.2 km | 1% | 12 | 2 | 0 |
| Keswick 1.8 km | 1.5% | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| South Terwillegar 1.9 km | 0.8% | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Terwillegar Towne 2.7 km | 0.7% | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Haddow 2.8 km | 0.9% | 5 | 1 | 0 |
Ambleside holds its own on protected land: no neighbour has twice its share.
May, August and September, on the 1991–2020 normals and the daylight: long days, highs of 15 °C or more, light rain for the place.
Big Island Provincial Park, 1.8 km from the edge of town.
Elk Island National Park is closest, at 41 km.
OpenStreetMap maps the Amisk Wacîw Mêskanaw close by.
Within 10 km, 1% of the land lies in protected areas.
Big Island Provincial Park, a provincial park of 79 ha.
Protected areas: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2026: every area within 10 km and the nearest national and provincial parks, measured outline to outline.
Walking routes and beaches: OpenStreetMap, November 2026: named hiking, foot and walking route relations within 2 km and beaches within 5 km.
Towns: Statistics Canada 2021 Census boundaries and populations; the comparison is the Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, not city hubs or reserves.
When to go: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, from the nearest station that publishes them.
Gardens: OpenStreetMap (leisure=garden) and Wikidata gardens within 15 km, as gathered in TownRatings’ Canadian attractions set; historic gardens and parks from Canada’s heritage registers (Parks Canada DFHD, the Canadian Register of Historic Places, Québec’s Répertoire du patrimoine culturel).
Green space, paths, woods, things to do: OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik’s Canada extract), November 2026: parks, gardens, playing fields, woods, footpaths, the coastline and things to do in and around each town.
Residents: Statistics Canada 2021 Census dissemination areas (population, boundaries), each at a point inside it.
Walking routes and beaches © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Not on this page: trailheads and trail grades, and beach water quality. No open Canadian dataset gives these for every town yet.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).