Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Rob Farrow · CC BY-SA 2.0The sea makes up 44% of the area within 5 km. The Kyles of Bute National Scenic Area begins 3.6 mi from the town’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Rothesay add up to 3.8 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical town in England and Wales has 2.1. Rothesay has no Outdoors Grade: Scottish towns aren’t graded on the outdoors yet.
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Rothesay’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by the Kyles of Bute National Scenic Area close by.
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Rothesay’s locality.
The biggest is King George's Field, 13 ha (33 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
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).
About 800 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 4 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 1,052 residents.
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.
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Rothesay scores 0% on it even though the Kyles of Bute National Scenic Area is 3.6 mi away. Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park covers 1,861 km² and has been a National Park since 2002.
24 km of footpaths, tracks and core paths are mapped in Rothesay and the kilometre around it, 1.4 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.
The West Island Way, a national route, passes Rothesay. Close to home, the Bute Path Network has 31 km of local walk within 2 km of the town.
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.
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) | 7.6 | 9.5 | 11.6 | 14.1 | 16.3 | 17.5 | 17.0 | 15.0 | 12.6 | 10.3 | 8.1 | 7.0 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 163 | 122 | 111 | 83 | 81 | 90 | 107 | 121 | 112 | 158 | 150 | 153 |
May is the driest month (81 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 18 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 163 mm of rain falls in January, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 23 nights a year. The climate in Rothesay →
44% of the area within 5 km of Rothesay is sea. 5 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 1 with a name.
Sea: the area outside the ONS coastline (mean high water). Bathing water quality is published by SEPA; check it before swimming.
Mapped within 2 km of the town in OpenStreetMap. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
Plus 1 peak without a name on the map.
Plus 3 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Plus 1 campsite without a name on the map.
Plus 1 slipway without a name on the map.
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
King George's Field, 13 ha (33 acres), with 1.6 km of path. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Yes. Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park begins 11 mi north-east of the town’s edge. It covers 1,861 km² and has been a National Park since 2002. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the Kyles of Bute National Scenic Area, 3.6 mi away.
3 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Bute Path Network, West Island Way and Bute Pilgrimage Route - St Blane.
82% 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%.
June to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
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 Rothesay’s overall grade.
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.