95% of Forfar’s residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Parks and playing fields in Forfar add up to 7.1 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical town in England and Wales has 2.1. 76 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 3.4 for every square kilometre. Forfar has no Outdoors Grade: Scottish towns aren’t graded on the outdoors yet.
The biggest is Forfar Loch Country Park, 72 ha (178 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
All 10 named parks by size: 92 ha (227 acres) and 6 km of path
Parks & gardens 82 haPlaying fields 10 ha
The two biggest, Forfar Loch Country Park and Reid Park, are 85% of the named green space and carry 5 km of path between them. 4 of the 10 are under 2 ha: small gardens, play spaces and pitches.
Forfar’s biggest
Forfar Loch Country Park
Park or garden
72 ha (178 acres)3.6 km of path
50 minto walk all 3.6 km of path
101 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Forfar
Playground Queen Margaret's Inch, chapel and crannog monument
Each square is 1 in 100 residents: green lives within 400 m of a public park, garden or playing field (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (95%)Further (5%)
Forfar95%
Angus towns86%
Towns in England and Wales83%
About 700 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 18 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 765 residents.
National Parks & National Scenic Areas
The Cairngorms National Park is 13 mi away
Protected landscapes within 30 km, by direction and distance from the edge of the locality; circle size shows each one’s area. National Scenic Areas are Scotland’s finest landscapes, chosen by NatureScot.
National ParkNational Scenic AreaThe 5 km the grade counts
Cairngorms National Park covers 4,528 km² and has been a National Park since 2003.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Forfar
76 km of footpaths, tracks and core paths are mapped in Forfar and the kilometre around it, 3.4 km for every square kilometre (the typical town in England and Wales has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
Local
Forfar Path Circuit4.6 km
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Scotland has no rights-of-way register: everyone has a right of responsible access to most land, so tracks and councils’ core paths count. Paths are only as complete as the map in each area.
When to get out
The best walking months in Forfar: June to September
The town’s 1991–2020 averages (Met Office HadUK-Grid) and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15 °C or more and little rain for the town.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Daylight (h)
7.4
9.4
11.6
14.2
16.4
17.7
17.2
15.1
12.7
10.2
8.0
6.8
High (°C)
6
7
9
11
14
17
19
19
16
12
8
6
Rain (mm)
85
63
60
52
60
68
74
80
62
95
91
77
April is the driest month (52 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 95 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 68 nights a year. The climate in Forfar →
Things to do
2 viewpoints, 18 playgrounds and the nearest beaches
Mapped within 2 km of the town in OpenStreetMap. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Forfar
What is the biggest park in Forfar?
Forfar Loch Country Park, 72 ha (178 acres), with 3.6 km of path. Reid Park (6.3 ha) is second. 10 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Forfar near a National Park?
Yes. Cairngorms National Park begins 13 mi north-west of the town’s edge. It covers 4,528 km² and has been a National Park since 2003.
What are the best walks near Forfar?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the Forfar Path Circuit. Forfar Loch Country Park alone has 3.6 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Forfar?
Grassy Beach, 11 mi from the edge of the town, then Carnoustie Beach (11 mi). Forfar itself is inland.
How many people in Forfar live near a park?
95% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical town in England and Wales is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Forfar?
June to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
How is the Outdoors Grade worked out?
From five measures, each placed among UK towns of 1,000 or more: public green space per resident, the share living near a park, National Park or National Scenic Area within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Forfar’s overall grade.
National Parks and National Scenic Areas: Scottish Government and NatureScot boundaries (Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, Cairngorms; the 40 National Scenic Areas), clipped to land, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Photo: Russ Hamer · CC BY-SA 3.0