Photo: Éduarel · CC BY-SA 3.0Almost every home in Essarts-en-Bocage is within 800 m of a park or wood
24 km of footpaths cross Essarts-en-Bocage (0.3 km per km²). Mapped woodland covers 4.1% of Essarts-en-Bocage. No protected area reaches Essarts-en-Bocage; the nearest, Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park, is 24 km from the town center. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Throughout this page, the Vendée median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
How Essarts-en-Bocage 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.
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Essarts-en-Bocage has the 6th fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (6,784 to 6,925 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Jacou (10.3 km per km²) to Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche (0.1 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacou Hérault | 10.3 | 16% | 0% | 13 km |
| 2 | Noyelles-sous-Lens Pas-de-Calais | 5 | 10% | 0% | 77 km |
| 3 | Saint-Thibault-des-Vignes Seine-et-Marne | 4.3 | 11% | 0% | 164 km |
| 4 | Lésigny Seine-et-Marne | 4.2 | 42% | 0% | 171 km |
| 5 | Domène Isère | 3.8 | 24% | 0% | 202 km |
| 6 | Lutterbach Haut-Rhin | 3.7 | 43% | 12% | 442 km |
| 7 | Castries Hérault | 3.6 | 9.3% | 0.1% | 14 km |
| 8 | Liancourt Oise | 3.4 | 26% | 0% | 110 km |
| 9 | Carnoux-en-Provence Bouches-du-Rhône | 3.4 | 31% | 0% | 5 km |
| 10 | Loos-en-Gohelle Pas-de-Calais | 3 | 3.6% | 0% | 71 km |
| 11 | Montfort-sur-Meu Ille-et-Vilaine | 2.5 | 30% | 0% | 40 km |
| 12 | Nyons Drôme | 2.5 | 44% | 100% | 103 km |
| 13 | Escalquens Haute-Garonne | 2.5 | 1.9% | 0% | 134 km |
| 14 | Beuvrages Nord | 1.9 | 4.2% | 99% | 102 km |
| 15 | Les Essarts-le-Roi Yvelines | 1.8 | 34% | 100% | 137 km |
| 16 | Auvers-sur-Oise Val-d'Oise | 1.7 | 19% | 100% | 122 km |
| 17 | Poussan Hérault | 1.5 | 2.1% | 38% | 8.5 km |
| 18 | Changé Sarthe | 1.5 | 33% | 0% | 142 km |
| 19 | Acigné Ille-et-Vilaine | 1.4 | 11% | 0% | 52 km |
| 20 | Le Coteau Loire | 1.4 | 0% | 0% | 274 km |
| 21 | Laudun-l'Ardoise Gard | 1.3 | 19% | 2.1% | 73 km |
| 22 | Douvaine Haute-Savoie | 1.3 | 22% | 0.9% | 296 km |
| 23 | Saint-Maurice-l'Exil Isère | 1.2 | 11% | 5.4% | 211 km |
| 24 | Trans-en-Provence Var | 1.1 | 26% | 0% | 23 km |
| 25 | Ploeren Morbihan | 1.1 | 13% | 96% | 3.1 km |
| 26 | Saint-Jean-d'Angély Charente-Maritime | 1 | 8% | 0% | 35 km |
| 27 | Quesnoy-sur-Deûle Nord | 1 | 0.8% | 0% | 52 km |
| 28 | Surgères Charente-Maritime | 0.9 | 5% | 0% | 24 km |
| 29 | Veigné Indre-et-Loire | 0.7 | 35% | 0% | 179 km |
| 30 | Les Abrets en Dauphiné Isère | 0.7 | 17% | 0% | 238 km |
| 31 | Sénas Bouches-du-Rhône | 0.6 | 2.8% | 100% | 36 km |
| 32 | Montluel Ain | 0.5 | 27% | 35% | 267 km |
| 33 | Lucciana Haute-Corse | 0.4 | 4.8% | 3% | On it |
| 34 | Chabeuil Drôme | 0.4 | 5.6% | 0% | 162 km |
| 35 | Loudun Vienne | 0.3 | 6.4% | 0% | 122 km |
| 36 | Essarts-en-Bocage Vendée | 0.3 | 4.1% | 0% | 46 km |
| 37 | Beaufort-en-Anjou Maine-et-Loire | 0.3 | 12% | 100% | 141 km |
| 38 | Cadaujac Gironde | 0.2 | 14% | 45% | 29 km |
| 39 | Caussade Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.2 | 5.6% | 0% | 172 km |
| 40 | Le Controis-en-Sologne Loir-et-Cher | 0.2 | 24% | 6.7% | 229 km |
| 41 | Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche Haute-Vienne | 0.1 | 24% | 0% | 151 km |
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.
Parks and woods to walk in, in and around Essarts-en-Bocage
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Le Bois Jard leads, at 13 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park is the nearest protected area, 24 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park
Share of the commune’s land
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.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
24 km of footpaths cross Essarts-en-Bocage
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.
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
That is less than in 92% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland less than in 81% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. 96% of Essarts-en-Bocage’s residents live within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, close to the typical town.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
The best walking months in Essarts-en-Bocage: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at La Roche sur Yon, 13 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) | 8.9 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 22 | 17 | 13 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 95 | 71 | 64 | 66 | 62 | 45 | 48 | 52 | 72 | 99 | 108 | 104 |
June is the driest month (45 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 25 °C). 108 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 33 nights a year. The climate in Essarts-en-Bocage →
Next to Essarts-en-Bocage
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) | Coast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essarts-en-Bocage | 0% | 4.1% | 0.3 | 46 km |
| Chauché 2,613 · 6.5 km | 0% | 9.1% | 0.2 | 51 km |
| Saint-Martin-des-Noyers 2,560 · 7.2 km | 0% | 11% | 0.1 | 43 km |
| La Ferrière 5,454 · 9 km | 0% | 9.6% | 0.7 | 38 km |
| Saint-Fulgent 3,994 · 10 km | 0% | 5.8% | 0.5 | 57 km |
| Dompierre-sur-Yon 4,625 · 12 km | 0% | 8.7% | 0.4 | 39 km |
| La Chaize-le-Vicomte 3,948 · 12 km | 0% | 12% | 0.4 | 34 km |
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 Essarts-en-Bocage
Is Essarts-en-Bocage in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Marais Poitevin Regional Nature Park, 24 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Essarts-en-Bocage?
OpenStreetMap maps 24 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²).
How much of Essarts-en-Bocage is woodland?
4.1% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Essarts-en-Bocage near the sea?
No: the coast is 46 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Essarts-en-Bocage?
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.