First pick
Annagh Woods
Wood or forest · 290 m outside town
63 ha2.2 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.2 km of path
1.6 km north-eastfrom the centre
Ballyconnell Canal Walk
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Deadstar · CC BY-SA 3.060%near a park
Outdoors in Ballyconnell · parks, paths & countryside
Ballyconnell is more wooded than 9 in 10 Irish towns
Woods cover 15% of Ballyconnell and the kilometre around it. 60% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. 9 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 0.7 for every square kilometre.
Near a park
60%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
3.0 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
9 km
0.7 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
4.5%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Lough Oughter and Associated Loughs SAC
Woodland
15%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Ballyconnell?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Wooded country15% mapped woodland in and around town, more than 99% of Irish towns.Parks can be a walk away40% of residents live more than 400 m from a park or playing field.
Ballyconnell’s strongest suit is its woods. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Against other towns
How Ballyconnell compares with Irish towns
Each figure against Ireland’s 321 towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (city hubs left out): the marked bar is the town’s, the line the median. Ireland has no Outdoors Grade yet: the figures are described, each against other Irish towns, and none of them counts towards the overall grade.
A park within a walk60%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
10out of 100
Public green space3.0 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
39out of 100
Footpaths0.7 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
21out of 100
Protected for nature4.5%of the land within 5 km
70out of 100
Woodland15%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
99out of 100
Parks, paths and woods: OpenStreetMap; residents: CSO Census 2022 Small Areas; protected sites: NPWS; sea: CSO and ONS land outlines. A 0 means nothing is mapped.
Towns its size
Ballyconnell has the 20th most footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (1,422 to 3,141 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Ballybrack (8.6 km per km²) to Sixmilebridge (0 km per km²).
Footpath, km per km²
Ballyconnell0.7
Towns its size0.7
Co. Cavan towns0.6
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Ballyconnell3.0
Towns its size3.8
Co. Cavan towns2.2
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Ballyconnell60%
Towns its size83%
Co. Cavan towns80%
Typical Irish town92%
Ballyconnell falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 33 of the 39 others do better.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | The sea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ballybrack Dublin | 8.6 | 8% | 0.2% | 36% |
| 2 | Sunday's Well Cork | 7.3 | 2.7% | 0.4% | – |
| 3 | Blackpool Cork | 6.6 | 3% | 1.4% | – |
| 4 | Carna Dublin | 5.4 | 1.7% | 0% | – |
| 5 | Taylor's Hill Galway | 5.1 | 1.2% | 15% | 37% |
| 6 | Togher Cork | 5 | 1.5% | 0.5% | – |
| 7 | Decies Dublin | 4.8 | 7.2% | 0% | – |
| 8 | Mayfield Cork | 4.7 | 5.3% | 3.3% | – |
| 9 | Kylemore Dublin | 4 | 3% | 0% | – |
| 10 | Edenmore Dublin | 2.8 | 3.6% | 5.9% | 24% |
| 11 | Ballynanty Limerick | 2.5 | 5.7% | 12% | – |
| 12 | Claddagh Galway | 2.4 | 0.2% | 17% | 46% |
| 13 | Murrough Galway | 2.3 | 5.1% | 10% | 26% |
| 14 | Grange Upper Waterford | 1.4 | 1.5% | 6.6% | – |
| 15 | Blarney Cork | 1.4 | 14% | 0% | – |
| 16 | Kilbarry Waterford | 1.3 | 1.6% | 5.1% | – |
| 17 | Bantry Cork | 1 | 4.4% | 0% | 18% |
| 18 | Ballina Tipperary | 0.9 | 1.8% | 4.7% | – |
| 19 | Moate Westmeath | 0.7 | 2.4% | 2.4% | – |
| 20 | Ballyconnell Cavan | 0.7 | 15% | 4.5% | – |
| 21 | Callan Kilkenny | 0.7 | 0.1% | 2.3% | – |
| 22 | Kingscourt Cavan | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | – |
| 23 | Kenmare Kerry | 0.6 | 7.2% | 6.5% | 6.4% |
| 24 | Athboy Meath | 0.6 | 1.1% | 1.5% | – |
| 25 | Bundoran Donegal | 0.5 | 2% | 5.1% | 35% |
| 26 | Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) Carlow | 0.5 | 3.9% | 2.9% | – |
| 27 | Skibbereen Cork | 0.5 | 1.7% | 1.6% | – |
| 28 | Kinnegad Westmeath | 0.3 | 4.5% | 4.5% | – |
| 29 | Donegal Donegal | 0.3 | 4% | 4.1% | 12% |
| 30 | Boyle Roscommon | 0.3 | 3.2% | 0% | – |
| 31 | Bailieborough Cavan | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | – |
| 32 | Castleisland Kerry | 0.3 | 1.7% | 12% | – |
| 33 | Kanturk Cork | 0.3 | 0% | 5.1% | – |
| 34 | Baltinglass Wicklow | 0.2 | 4.9% | 0.5% | – |
| 35 | Ballyhaunis Mayo | 0.2 | 2.8% | 3.4% | – |
| 36 | Kilrush Clare | 0.2 | 9.8% | 37% | – |
| 37 | Ballyjamesduff Cavan | 0.2 | 7.6% | 0% | – |
| 38 | Gort Galway | 0.2 | 4.3% | 24% | – |
| 39 | Carndonagh Donegal | 0.1 | 4.9% | 5.1% | 5.8% |
| 40 | Sixmilebridge Clare | 0 | 0.7% | 2% | – |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Ballyconnell’s urban area.
Green: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces and woods, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · NPWS · Sport Ireland · CSO
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Ballyconnell
The biggest is Annagh Woods, 63 ha (155 acres).
All 5 named parks and woods by size: 68 ha (167 acres) and 3 km of path
Parks & gardens 1.6 haWoods 66 ha
The two biggest, Annagh Woods and Bray Wood, are 98% of the named green space and carry 2 km of path between them. 3 of the 5 are under 2 ha.
Ballyconnell Amenity Area
Park or garden
0.7 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Ballyconnell
Ballyconnell Canal Walk
Directionsto a point inside
Daisy Hill Gardens
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Ballyconnell
Directionsto a point inside
Bray Wood
Wood or forest · 310 m outside town
3.4 ha
1.5 km north-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Russell Quay
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Ballyconnell
Russell Quay
Directionsto a point inside
Named parks, gardens, commons and woods in the town or within 400 m of it, from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); pieces of one name that touch are one place. Sizes are the whole site; directions go to a point inside.
Close to home
6 in 10 Ballyconnell residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Each square is 1 in 100 residents: green lives within 400 m of a public park, garden or playing field (CSO Census 2022 Small Areas against OpenStreetMap).
Within 400 m (60%)Further (40%)
Ballyconnell60%
Co. Cavan towns80%
Typical Irish town92%
About 600 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
Protected sites cover 4.5% of the land within 5 km of Ballyconnell
Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and Natural Heritage Areas designated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, within 5 km of the town’s edge.
Inside Ballyconnell0%
Within 5 km4.5%
Co. Cavan towns0%
Typical Irish town1.8%
2 protected sites lie within 5 km of Ballyconnell. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 2% of the land within 5 km as well; many have been proposed since 1995 and aren’t counted here. Ireland’s National Parks have a block of their own on this page; much of their land also lies inside these sites.
Protected sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service designated site boundaries (CC BY 4.0), 2026; land within 5 km from CSO Small Areas and, over the border, ONS. Overlapping sites are counted once.
National Parks
Glenveagh National Park is 92 km away
Ireland’s National Parks within 100 km, and the nearest always, by direction and distance from the town’s edge; circle size shows each park’s area.
National ParkThe 5 km around the town
National Park
Glenveagh National Park
92 km north155 km²
National Park boundaries: National Parks and Wildlife Service, generalised to 50 m (CC BY 4.0, © Government of Ireland), 2022. Distances from the town’s outline (CSO Small Areas).
Footpaths and woods
9 km of footpaths cross Ballyconnell
Footways that aren’t pavements, paths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, and mapped woods and forest, in the town and 1 km around it, each beside the county’s and Ireland’s typical town of 2,500+.
Footpaths
8.6 km
over 11.9 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
15%
about 1.7 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
1
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
BallyconnellCo. Cavan townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths0.7
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
BallyconnellCo. Cavan townsTypical Irish town
Woodland15%
0%50%100%
Ballyconnell has less footpath per km² than 79% of Irish towns and more woodland than 99% of Irish towns.
Footpaths and woods: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Woods are mapped cover, private and Coillte forests included.
Footpaths & trails
One waymarked trail starts near Ballyconnell
9 km of footpaths are mapped in Ballyconnell and the kilometre around it, 0.7 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Walking trail
Woodford River Walk4.8 km
One cycling or paddling trail also starts within 5 km.
One more waymarked walk on OpenStreetMap
Local
Ballyconnell Canal Loop4.9 km
Trails: Sport Ireland National Trails Register (CC BY 4.0), registered trails within 5 km; footpaths: OpenStreetMap (ODbL). More waymarked walks: OpenStreetMap route relations (ODbL) within 2 km, those already on the register left out. Coillte’s own forest trails and recreation sites aren’t included: Coillte’s terms limit its data to research or private study. Its trails on the National Trails Register are listed.
History
One historic park or garden on the record in Ballyconnell
Parks, gardens, walled gardens and demesne walls in the town on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, each with its record.
Demesne walls/gates/railingsDemesne walls, Ballyconnellfrom 1760Regional rating (NIAH)
The oldest dated is Demesne walls, Ballyconnell, from 1760.
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0).
When to get out
The best walking months in Ballyconnell: May to September
Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages for the town’s 1 km square and the daylight at its 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) | 7.9 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 14.0 | 16.0 | 17.1 | 16.6 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.4 | 7.4 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 119 | 96 | 93 | 76 | 74 | 82 | 91 | 104 | 88 | 118 | 121 | 131 |
May is the driest month (74 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.4 hours of daylight in December, and 131 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. The climate in Ballyconnell →
Things to do
5 hills and peaks and 2 playgrounds
Mapped on OpenStreetMap in the town and 2 km around it; each count per resident beside Irish towns’ typical town of 2,500+. Beaches are on the coast’s list, from the EPA.
The highest named top on the map is Mullaghduff, at 94 m, 0.2 km from town.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 5
Mullaghduff94 m · 0.2 km from town
DirectionsChurch Hill192 m · 1.1 km from town
DirectionsKillywilly80 m · 1.6 km from town
DirectionsSlieverrickan72 m · 1.7 km from town
DirectionsCuillaghan80 m · 1.7 km from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 2
Plus 2 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 1
Plus 1 slipway without a name on the map.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Next door
Next to Ballyconnell
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
BelturbetBallinamoreBallyconnell
Under 1%1–10%10–25%25–50%50%+
| Town | Near a park | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Paths (km/km²) | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballyconnell | 60% | 3.0 | 0.7 | 4.5% |
| Belturbet 9.0 km | 60% | 5.5 | 0.4 | 10% |
| Ballinamore 16 km | 100% | 13.7 | 0.3 | 0% |
In Ballinamore, 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park, more than here. Ballinamore has at least twice Ballyconnell’s green space per resident.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Green space nearby. The share of residents (CSO Small Areas, by where people live) within 400 m of a park, garden, common or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap. Mapping is uneven: a town whose parks nobody has mapped looks greyer than it is.
- Protected areas. Land in a Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area or Natural Heritage Area within 5 km, overlaps counted once. Protected for nature doesn’t always mean open to walkers.
- Footpaths and hiking routes. Footways that aren’t pavements, paths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it, from OpenStreetMap. Trails are the registered ones within 5 km; a trail often follows mapped paths, so the two aren’t added.
- Woodland. Woods and forest as OpenStreetMap maps them, private and Coillte forests included: mapped cover, not access.
- No grade yet. Ireland’s grades don’t include the outdoors yet: these figures describe the town and stand beside the median Irish town.
Questions about the outdoors in Ballyconnell
What is the biggest park in Ballyconnell?
Ballyconnell Amenity Area, 0.7 ha (2 acres). Daisy Hill Gardens (0.5 ha) is second. 3 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Ballyconnell?
Yes: 4.5% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 2 sites. The nearest is Lough Oughter and Associated Loughs SAC, 0.6 km from the edge of town.
What are the best walks near Ballyconnell?
One waymarked trail starts within 5 km: the Woodford River Walk.
How many people in Ballyconnell live near a park?
60% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a park or playing field; in the typical Irish town it is 92%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Ballyconnell?
On the town’s 1991–2020 averages and its daylight: May to September, when days are long, highs reach 15 °C and rain is light for the place.
Is Ballyconnell near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Glenveagh National Park, 92 km north of the town’s edge; it covers about 155 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Ballyconnell?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 5 hills and peaks; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Which parks in Ballyconnell are historic?
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records one historic park, garden or demesne in the town: Demesne walls, Ballyconnell.
Sources
Where Ballyconnell’s outdoors figures come from
- Parks, woods and paths. OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL): parks, woods and footpaths, Geofabrik extract, October 2026
- Protected sites. National Parks and Wildlife Service: designated sites (SAC, SPA, NHA), 2026
- Trails. Sport Ireland: National Trails Register, 2026
- Residents. CSO: Census 2022 Small Areas (residents)
- National Parks. National Parks and Wildlife Service: National Park boundaries, generalised to 50 m (CC BY 4.0), 2022
- Things to do. OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL): viewpoints, hills, waterfalls, nature reserves, picnic sites, playgrounds, campsites and waymarked walks, Geofabrik extract, October 2026
- Historic parks and gardens. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (CC BY 4.0)
- Weather. Met Éireann: 1991–2020 averages (Copyright Met Éireann)
Protected sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service (CC BY 4.0). Trails: Sport Ireland National Trails Register (CC BY 4.0). Bathing water: EPA (CC BY 4.0). Parks, woods and paths: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Not on this page yet: Coillte’s forest trails (its terms) and bike routes.
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).