First pick
Le Château d'Aubry
Park or garden · 0 m outside the commune
4.5 ha0.2 km of path
1.1 km westfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Havang(nl) · CC01.4%of the land protected
Outdoors in Petite-Forêt · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Petite-Forêt is within 800 m of a park or wood
1.8% of Petite-Forêt is mapped woodland. 6 km of footpaths cross Petite-Forêt (1.3 km per km²). 1.4% of Petite-Forêt’s land lies in protected areas. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
1.4%
of the commune’s land
Compared town: 0.1%
Woodland
1.8%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
5.9 km
1.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
2
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Le Château d'Aubry
Throughout this page, the Nord median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
Against French towns
How Petite-Forêt compares with French towns
Each figure against the 3,798 compared French towns (communes with an overall grade): the marked bar is the town’s, the line the median. Described, not graded.
Protected areas1.4%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
57out of 100
Woodland1.8%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
9out of 100
Footpaths1.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
41out of 100
Hiking routes0 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
12out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Petite-Forêt has the 20th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (5,008 to 5,102 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Giberville (5.1 km per km²) to Laventie (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giberville Calvados | 5.1 | 3.2% | 0% | 11 km |
| 2 | Pulnoy Meurthe-et-Moselle | 4.7 | 25% | 0% | 368 km |
| 3 | Villefranche-sur-Mer Alpes-Maritimes | 4.2 | 19% | 26% | On it |
| 4 | Billy-Berclau Pas-de-Calais | 4 | 15% | 0% | 67 km |
| 5 | Bezannes Marne | 3.4 | 1.8% | 0.1% | 198 km |
| 6 | Ornex Ain | 3.2 | 22% | 0% | 299 km |
| 7 | Saint-Étienne-au-Mont Pas-de-Calais | 2.8 | 35% | 100% | On it |
| 8 | Sommières Gard | 2.8 | 21% | 1.3% | 25 km |
| 9 | Luzarches Val-d'Oise | 2.6 | 47% | 100% | 130 km |
| 10 | Châteaulin Finistère | 2.5 | 21% | 100% | On it |
| 11 | Gruissan Aude | 2.5 | 13% | 100% | On it |
| 12 | Haillicourt Pas-de-Calais | 2.5 | 0.2% | 0% | 63 km |
| 13 | Saint-Georges-de-Didonne Charente-Maritime | 2.3 | 19% | 37% | On it |
| 14 | Decazeville Aveyron | 2.2 | 40% | 0% | 168 km |
| 15 | La Mézière Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.1 | 7.5% | 0% | 36 km |
| 16 | Bonnières-sur-Seine Yvelines | 2.1 | 45% | 20% | 99 km |
| 17 | Hauts de Bienne Jura | 1.9 | 77% | 100% | 326 km |
| 18 | Champagne-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 1.8 | 33% | 54% | 119 km |
| 19 | Baden Morbihan | 1.8 | 15% | 100% | On it |
| 20 | Yffiniac Côtes-d'Armor | 1.5 | 4.4% | 0.1% | 1.8 km |
| 21 | La Ferté Macé Orne | 1.4 | 27% | 100% | 73 km |
| 22 | Petite-Forêt Nord | 1.3 | 1.8% | 1.4% | 102 km |
| 23 | Genlis Côte-d'Or | 1.3 | 0.4% | 0% | 418 km |
| 24 | Villefranche-de-Lauragais Haute-Garonne | 1.2 | 0.5% | 0% | 117 km |
| 25 | Plouigneau Finistère | 1.1 | 19% | 12% | 9 km |
| 26 | Cilaos Réunion | 1.1 | 43% | 100% | 18 km |
| 27 | Muzillac Morbihan | 1 | 4.9% | 7.8% | On it |
| 28 | Maen Roch Ille-et-Vilaine | 1 | 3.9% | 0% | 25 km |
| 29 | Luynes Indre-et-Loire | 0.8 | 39% | 3.5% | 176 km |
| 30 | Blaye Gironde | 0.7 | 2.7% | 58% | On it |
| 31 | Habsheim Haut-Rhin | 0.7 | 49% | 50% | 438 km |
| 32 | Saint-Sever Landes | 0.6 | 17% | 4.2% | 67 km |
| 33 | Pacy-sur-Eure Eure | 0.6 | 45% | 3.1% | 88 km |
| 34 | Lestrem Pas-de-Calais | 0.5 | 1% | 0% | 52 km |
| 35 | Val-de-Moder Bas-Rhin | 0.5 | 5.9% | 0.1% | 424 km |
| 36 | Morcenx-la-Nouvelle Landes | 0.4 | 64% | 12% | 34 km |
| 37 | Beaurepaire Isère | 0.3 | 4.5% | 0% | 210 km |
| 38 | Saint-Pantaléon-de-Larche Corrèze | 0.2 | 25% | 0.3% | 161 km |
| 39 | Rambervillers Vosges | 0.2 | 38% | 0% | 414 km |
| 40 | Saint-James Manche | 0.2 | 6.3% | 0% | 12 km |
| 41 | Laventie Pas-de-Calais | 0.1 | 0.7% | 0% | 54 km |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park or wood. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Green: parks, gardens and woods mapped on OpenStreetMap, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · INPN / PatriNat · IGN
Places to walk
Parks and woods to walk in, in and around Petite-Forêt
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Le Château d'Aubry leads, at 4.5 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Parc Nelson Mandela
Park or garden
2.6 ha0.8 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.8 km of path
Centralin the middle of Petite-Forêt
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
1.4% of Petite-Forêt lies in protected areas
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Regional nature park
Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park
1.4% of the commune0.6 km from the center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area1.4%
Regional nature park1.4%
Designations overlap (a regional park can hold a Natura 2000 site), so the rows don’t add up; the first counts each piece of land once.
1.4% of Petite-Forêt’s land is protected, more than in 57% of compared French towns; the median compared town in Nord has 0%. A regional nature park is a charter between communes to look after a landscape: farming, building and hunting go on inside it.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
6 km of footpaths cross Petite-Forêt
Paths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, and waymarked hiking routes, mapped on OpenStreetMap inside the commune; woods are mapped forest and woodland, private woods included.
Footpaths
5.9 km
1.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
0 km
waymarked: 0 km per km²
Woodland
1.8%
about 0.1 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Petite-ForêtNord medianFrance median
Footpaths1.3
Hiking routes0
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Petite-ForêtNord medianFrance median
Woodland1.8%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 59% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 91% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 97% of Petite-Forêt’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
GR (long-distance)Other named walk
GR 1210.9 km
Boucle 7 - Des gueules noires à la voie verte2.8 km
Circuit de la Mare à Goriaux0.9 km
GR 121 passes within 2 km of Petite-Forêt.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Petite-Forêt: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Valenciennes, 5 km away, and the daylight at the town’s latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 15 to 30 °C and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 8.5 | 10.0 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.4 | 16.4 | 16.0 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.9 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 16 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 54 | 47 | 51 | 42 | 58 | 63 | 66 | 68 | 52 | 60 | 64 | 69 |
April is the driest month (42 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 24 °C). 69 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 46 nights a year. The climate in Petite-Forêt →
Neighbors
Next to Petite-Forêt
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
AnzinLa SentinelleRaismesBeuvragesHérinValenciennesPetite-Forêt
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petite-Forêt | 1.4% | 1.8% | 1.3 |
| Anzin 13,183 · 2 km | 0.5% | 3.1% | 5.4 |
| La Sentinelle 3,103 · 2.4 km | 0.5% | 3.3% | 1.9 |
| Raismes 12,199 · 2.4 km | 100% | 71% | 3.2 |
| Beuvrages 6,796 · 2.5 km | 99% | 4.2% | 1.9 |
| Hérin 4,169 · 2.7 km | 99% | 1% | 0.9 |
| Valenciennes 43,468 · 3.1 km | 0.2% | 6.6% | 5.2 |
Raismes, Beuvrages and Hérin have at least twice as much protected land. Raismes is more wooded.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Protected areas. National-park cores, national parks’ outer areas, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites, from INPN. A national park’s core is strictly protected; its outer area and a regional park are charters between communes, not bans. Designations overlap, so the total counts each piece of land once.
- Woodland. Forest and woods as OpenStreetMap maps them, private woods included: woods nobody has mapped are missing, and a mapped wood isn’t necessarily open to walkers.
- Footpaths and hiking routes. Footpaths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, then waymarked hiking routes (GR and others) measured apart. A route often follows a path or lane already counted: the two overlap. Paths nobody has mapped are missing.
- Green space nearby. The share of residents (INSEE’s 200 m grid) within 800 m, as the crow flies, of a mapped park, garden or wood edge. It measures nearness, not a way in. Guadeloupe and French Guiana have no grid: their pages say whether the town center is within 800 m.
- The coast. The straight-line distance from the town center to OpenStreetMap’s coastline, which follows the tide line into estuaries. A commune is on the coast when the coastline crosses its boundary.
- No grade yet. U.S. and UK towns have an Outdoors Grade; French towns don’t yet. Each figure is set beside the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade) in the département and in France, each figure its own median.
Questions about the outdoors in Petite-Forêt
Is Petite-Forêt in a national or regional nature park?
Yes: Petite-Forêt lies in Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park (1.4% of the commune).
Are there good walks in Petite-Forêt?
OpenStreetMap maps 6 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 1.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Petite-Forêt is woodland?
1.8% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Petite-Forêt near the sea?
No: the coast is 102 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Petite-Forêt?
April to September: long days, mild highs and little rain, from Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at the nearest suitable station.
Why is there no Outdoors Grade for French towns?
TownRatings grades the outdoors in the U.S. and the UK; the French figures are new and not graded yet. This page sets each one beside the median compared French town instead.
Sources: INPN / PatriNat (protected areas 2026, Natura 2000 2024) · © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL (paths, hiking routes, woods, coast, gardens) · INSEE, Filosofi 2021 200 m grid (residents) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Météo-France normals 1991–2020 · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated November 9, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.