Photo: Ardfern · CC BY-SA 3.0Parks and walks in Ballygowan
The Strangford and Lecale AONB begins 1.9 mi from the town’s edge. 3 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 0.3 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Ballygowan add up to 0.6 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical town in England and Wales has 2.1. Ballygowan has no Outdoors Grade: Northern Ireland’s towns aren’t graded on the outdoors yet.
What kind of outdoors town is Ballygowan?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Ballygowan’s strongest suit is two protected landscapes close by. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Ballygowan’s settlement.
4 in 10 Ballygowan 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 (NISRA Census 2021 data zones against OpenStreetMap’s parks).
About 1,900 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Strangford and Lecale and Lagan Valley both start about 4 miles from Ballygowan
Protected landscapes within 30 km, by direction and distance from the edge of the settlement; circle size shows each one’s area. Northern Ireland has no National Parks.
8% of the land within 5 km of Ballygowan is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Footpaths in and around Ballygowan
3 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Ballygowan and the kilometre around it, 0.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical town in England and Wales has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Ballygowan; its footpaths are on the map above.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
The best walking months in Ballygowan: May 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) | 7.8 | 9.6 | 11.7 | 14.0 | 16.0 | 17.2 | 16.7 | 14.9 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.3 | 7.3 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 93 | 71 | 68 | 57 | 62 | 67 | 71 | 70 | 70 | 95 | 100 | 85 |
April is the driest month (57 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 100 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 35 nights a year. The climate in Ballygowan →
2 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.
The nearest beaches
Ballygowan is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Check the water before you swim. DAERA tests designated bathing waters from May to September and publishes a rating for each beach.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 1
Playgrounds 2
Plus 2 playgrounds without a name on the map.
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballygowan | – | 0.6 | 39% | 8% |
| Saintfield 3.6 mi | – | 5.0 | 85% | 0% |
| Comber 3.7 mi | – | 1.4 | 60% | 39% |
| Carryduff 4.0 mi | – | 1.4 | 66% | 18% |
| Metropolitan Castlereagh 5.7 mi | – | 2.1 | 83% | 16% |
| Newtownards 7.6 mi | – | 1.1 | 80% | 29% |
| Ballynahinch 8.1 mi | – | 14.5 | 88% | 2% |
Saintfield, Comber and Carryduff have at least twice Ballygowan’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Ballygowan
Is Ballygowan near an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty?
The nearest protected landscape is the Strangford and Lecale AONB, 1.9 mi north-east of the town’s edge. It covers 525 km² and was designated in 2010.
What is the nearest beach to Ballygowan?
Seapark Beach, 9.9 mi from the edge of the town, then Newtownabbey Bay (Hazelbank) Beach (11 mi). Ballygowan itself is inland.
How many people in Ballygowan live near a park?
39% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (NISRA Census 2021 data zones against OpenStreetMap’s parks). The typical town in England and Wales is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Ballygowan?
May 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, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Ballygowan’s overall grade.
Where Ballygowan’s outdoors figures come from
- Parks and green space: © OpenStreetMap contributors (parks, public gardens, pitches and recreation grounds, playgrounds), Open Database License (ODbL), via Geofabrik’s Ireland and Northern Ireland extract. Ordnance Survey’s OpenStreetMap covers Great Britain only.
- Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: DAERA (Northern Ireland Environment Agency) boundaries, areas and designation dates, via Open Data NI, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Footpaths, walking routes, beaches and things to do: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License (ODbL), via Geofabrik, October 2026. Places over the border are marked Republic of Ireland.
- Historic parks, listed buildings and monuments: Department for Communities, Historic Environment Division, via Open Data NI, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Rain and temperature: Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 averages for the town; daylight calculated from its latitude.
- The sea: ONS Countries (December 2024) and Tailte Éireann provinces (CC BY 4.0, © Tailte Éireann) as land. Residents near a park: NISRA Census 2021 data zones.
- Grade: Northern Ireland towns have no Outdoors Grade yet.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.