Shefford’s biggest
Bellcote Meadow
Park or garden
3.9 ha (10 acres)1.3 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.3 km of path
5 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Shefford
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Bikeboy · CC BY-SA 2.0DOutdoors Grade
Outdoors in Shefford · parks, paths & countryside
Parks and walks in Shefford
The Chilterns National Landscape begins 3.9 mi from the town’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Shefford add up to 1.1 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 67% of residents. Shefford grades D for the outdoors: #29 of 33 in Bedfordshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
1.1 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
67%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
37 km
3.0 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Chilterns starts 3.9 mi out, past the 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Shefford?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Countryside close byThe Chilterns National Landscape starts 3.9 mi south.Historic parksChicksands Priory is a registered historic park (Grade II).Less park per person1.1 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1.
Shefford’s strongest suit is the Chilterns National Landscape close by, followed by its historic parks. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Outdoors grade
Shefford grades D for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Shefford, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
D
Better than 15% of UK towns#29 of 33 in Bedfordshire
Public green space1.1 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
15out of
100
100
A park within a walk67%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
27out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · Chilterns begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths3.0 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
59out of
100
100
The sea0%of the area within 5 km · Inland
42out of
100
100
Graded, never part of the overall grade (like History and Civic life). It measures what is mapped: OS Open Greenspace leaves out woodland and open-access land that isn’t a park, and OpenStreetMap’s rural paths are more complete in some places than others.
Towns its size
How Shefford compares with UK towns of 7,000 to 7,600
The 60 UK towns and cities of 7,000 to 7,600 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Outdoors score: the share of UK towns each one beats
Footpath, km per km²
Shefford3.0
Towns its size3.2
Bedfordshire towns3.2
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Shefford1.1
Towns its size2.1
Bedfordshire towns2.0
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Shefford67%
Towns its size79%
Bedfordshire towns82%
All UK towns83%
Shefford falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 50 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freshwater and Totland Isle of Wight | A+ | 5 | 89% | 3.9 | 20% |
| 2 | Holbury Hampshire | A+ | 5.5 | 89% | 3.1 | 42% |
| 3 | Sheringham Norfolk | A+ | 11.6 | 74% | 3.4 | 32% |
| 4 | Stocksbridge South Yorkshire | A | 2.2 | 100% | 4.4 | 30% |
| 5 | Ruddington Nottinghamshire | A | 9.7 | 100% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 6 | Bude Cornwall | A | 3.1 | 78% | 3.3 | 9% |
| 7 | Liphook Hampshire | A | 3.1 | 86% | 3.8 | 64% |
| 8 | Bolton upon Dearne South Yorkshire | A | 5.6 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 9 | Bourne End Buckinghamshire | A | 2.9 | 87% | 4 | 19% |
| 10 | Gwersyllt Clwyd | A | 14.6 | 96% | 2.5 | 2% |
| 11 | Ashley Heath Dorset | A | 24.2 | 68% | 4 | 15% |
| 12 | Darfield South Yorkshire | A | 4 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 13 | Seaton Devon | A− | 1.1 | 84% | 2.5 | 55% |
| 14 | Otford and Kemsing Kent | A− | 3.3 | 53% | 3.6 | 73% |
| 15 | Torpoint Cornwall | A− | 2.2 | 84% | 1.6 | 26% |
| 16 | Goldthorpe South Yorkshire | A− | 8.4 | 84% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 17 | Blackwater Hampshire | B+ | 10.6 | 74% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 18 | Chinnor Oxfordshire | B+ | 1.5 | 88% | 3.7 | 37% |
| 19 | Kiveton Park South Yorkshire | B+ | 2.8 | 100% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 20 | Cromer Norfolk | B+ | 1.4 | 74% | 2.5 | 36% |
| 21 | Gowerton West Glamorgan | B+ | 3.2 | 79% | 1.2 | 14% |
| 22 | Barugh Green and Redbrook South Yorkshire | B | 2.1 | 94% | 4 | 0% |
| 23 | Malmesbury Wiltshire | B | 2 | 86% | 2.5 | 26% |
| 24 | Wroughton Wiltshire | B | 1.1 | 78% | 3.9 | 52% |
| 25 | Princes Risborough Buckinghamshire | B | 1.4 | 78% | 3.2 | 57% |
| 26 | Chapel-en-le-Frith Derbyshire | B− | 1 | 75% | 3.8 | 58% |
| 27 | Woodville Derbyshire | B− | 3.7 | 78% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 28 | Wootton Bedfordshire | B− | 2.5 | 79% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 29 | Rogerstone Gwent | B− | 3.1 | 60% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 30 | Eckington Derbyshire | B− | 1.8 | 80% | 6 | 0% |
| 31 | Balsall Common West Midlands | B− | 3.7 | 81% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 32 | Crawcrook and Greenside Tyne and Wear | B− | 3.2 | 86% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 33 | Borrowash Derbyshire | B− | 2.8 | 85% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 34 | Bollington Cheshire | B− | 1.3 | 56% | 4.1 | 31% |
| 35 | Abersychan Gwent | B− | 2.8 | 83% | 1.1 | 17% |
| 36 | Wrecclesham Surrey | C+ | 1.2 | 50% | 3.8 | 37% |
| 37 | Poringland Norfolk | C+ | 1.3 | 91% | 2.1 | 5% |
| 38 | Pelton and Ouston County Durham | C+ | 2 | 64% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 39 | Murton County Durham | C+ | 2.1 | 54% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 40 | Sprotbrough South Yorkshire | C+ | 1.8 | 79% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 41 | Thrapston Northamptonshire | C | 1.2 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 42 | Caerleon Gwent | C | 1.9 | 64% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 43 | Horncastle Lincolnshire | C | 0.6 | 60% | 3.9 | 10% |
| 44 | Radcliffe on Trent Nottinghamshire | C | 2.5 | 76% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 45 | Sawston Cambridgeshire | C | 1.4 | 97% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 46 | Castle Donington Leicestershire | C | 1.8 | 85% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 47 | Dalton-in-Furness Cumbria | C | 0.9 | 74% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 48 | Aylsham Norfolk | C | 2.6 | 74% | 2 | 0% |
| 49 | Wivenhoe Essex | C− | 0.9 | 65% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 50 | Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt Leicestershire | C− | 2.1 | 82% | 2 | 0% |
| 51 | Southwell Nottinghamshire | C− | 1.7 | 59% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 52 | Calverton Nottinghamshire | C− | 1.7 | 62% | 3 | 0% |
| 53 | Breaston and Draycott Derbyshire | C− | 1.1 | 73% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 54 | Pickering North Yorkshire | C− | 1.7 | 39% | 1.7 | 19% |
| 55 | Shefford Bedfordshire | D | 1.1 | 67% | 3 | 0% |
| 56 | Deeping St James Lincolnshire | D | 0.5 | 73% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 57 | Polesworth and Dordon Warwickshire | D | 1.6 | 68% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 58 | Beddau Mid Glamorgan | D | 1 | 77% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 59 | Market Weighton East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 0.7 | 79% | 1 | 0% |
| 60 | Featherstone Staffordshire | D− | 1.2 | 52% | 1.5 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Shefford’s built-up area.
Green space: parks, gardens, playing fields and play spaces, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · Contains OS data © Crown copyright · Natural England / NRW
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Shefford
The biggest is Bellcote Meadow, 3.9 ha (10 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
7 in 10 Shefford 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 (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (67%)Further (33%)
Shefford67%
Towns its size79%
Bedfordshire towns82%
All UK towns83%
About 2,400 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 407 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Chilterns National Landscape is 3.9 mi away
Protected landscapes within 30 km, by direction and distance from the edge of the built-up area; circle size shows each one’s area. National Landscapes were called Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty until 2023.
National ParkNational LandscapeThe 5 km the grade counts
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Shefford scores 0% on it even though the Chilterns National Landscape is 3.9 mi away.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Shefford
37 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Shefford and the kilometre around it, 3.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
Regional
John Bunyan Trail6.5 km
The regional route here is the John Bunyan Trail.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
History along the way
A registered historic park in Shefford
Historic England’s register of parks and gardens, and the listed buildings and scheduled monuments that stand inside Shefford’s named parks.
Registered · Grade IIChicksands Priory0.6 ha
A listed building or monument counts when it sits inside the park’s OS Open Greenspace outline (to about 15 m), so a few at the boundary are included. Historic England, National Heritage List for England.
When to get out
The best walking months in Shefford: 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) | 8.2 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.7 | 16.7 | 16.3 | 14.6 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.7 | 7.8 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 48 | 39 | 34 | 41 | 50 | 47 | 53 | 59 | 52 | 57 | 60 | 49 |
March is the driest month (34 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 60 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 45 nights a year. The climate in Shefford →
Things to do
18 playgrounds and the nearest beaches
Mapped within 2 km of the town in OpenStreetMap, against the typical UK town its size per resident. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
The nearest beaches
Shefford is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
The Beach7.8 mi from Shefford’s edge
DirectionsStort Beach25 mi from Shefford’s edge
DirectionsGood to know
Check the water before you swim. The Environment Agency tests designated bathing waters from May to September and publishes a rating for each beach.
Every named place, with directions
Playgrounds 18
Plus 18 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Next door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
CliftonMeppershallHenlowLower StondonLangfordShillingtonShefford
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shefford | D | 1.1 | 67% | 0% |
| Clifton 1.4 mi | C− | 1.7 | 64% | 0% |
| Meppershall 1.5 mi | B | 2.3 | 83% | 2% |
| Henlow 2.1 mi | B | 2.4 | 100% | 0% |
| Lower Stondon 2.6 mi | B− | 2.7 | 73% | 5% |
| Langford 2.9 mi | D | 1.4 | 63% | 0% |
| Shillington 3.1 mi | A− | 3.7 | 83% | 14% |
Shillington, 3.1 miles away, grades A−, the best next door: 83% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Meppershall, Henlow and Lower Stondon have at least twice Shefford’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Shefford
What is the biggest park in Shefford?
Bellcote Meadow, 3.9 ha (10 acres), with 1.3 km of path. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Shefford near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Chilterns National Landscape, 3.9 mi south of the town’s edge. It covers 838 km² and was designated in 1990.
What are the best walks near Shefford?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the John Bunyan Trail.
What is the nearest beach to Shefford?
The Beach, 7.8 mi from the edge of the town, then Stort Beach (25 mi). Shefford itself is inland.
How many people in Shefford live near a park?
67% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical UK town is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Shefford?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Which parks in Shefford are historic?
Chicksands Priory (Grade II) is on Historic England’s register of parks and gardens.
Is Shefford good for walking?
About average for paths: 3.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 59% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 15% (1.1 ha per 1,000 residents).
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 Landscape within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Shefford’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Shefford’s outdoors figures come from
- Parks and green space: Ordnance Survey OS Open Greenspace (parks and gardens, playing fields, play spaces, and their access points). Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- National Parks and National Landscapes: Natural England and Natural Resources Wales boundaries, areas and designation dates, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Footpaths, walking routes, beaches and things to do: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License (ODbL), via Geofabrik, 16 October 2026.
- Historic parks, listed buildings and monuments: Historic England, National Heritage List for England, 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) boundaries clipped to mean high water. Residents near a park: ONS Census 2021 output areas.
- Grade: TownRatings’ Outdoors Grade, ranked against UK towns only.
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.