Bletchley’s biggest
Caldecotte Lake
Park or garden · 0 m outside town
109 ha (269 acres)12.1 km of path
2 h 40 minto walk all 12.1 km of path
152 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.8 mi north-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Tom walker · CC BY 3.0AOutdoors Grade
Outdoors in Bletchley · parks, paths & countryside
Bletchley has more footpath per square kilometre than 9 in 10 UK towns
211 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 5.9 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Bletchley add up to 4.1 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. 91% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Bletchley grades A for the outdoors: #8 of 39 in Buckinghamshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
4.1 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
91%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
211 km
5.9 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Chilterns National Landscape
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Bletchley?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
A town of footpaths5.9 km of path per km², more than 97% of UK towns. The typical town has 3.0.Room to roam4.1 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 82% of UK towns.Hills with a view6 mapped viewpoints, about 3× as many per resident as the typical town its size.
Bletchley’s strongest suit is dense footpaths, followed by plenty of park space.
Outdoors grade
Bletchley grades A for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Bletchley, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
A
Better than 85% of UK towns#8 of 39 in Buckinghamshire · 10th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space4.1 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
82out of
100
100
A park within a walk91%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
69out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · None within 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths5.9 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
97out 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
Bletchley is 10th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 39,500 to 51,300 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
Bletchley5.9
Towns its size3.7
Buckinghamshire towns3.2
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Bletchley4.1
Towns its size2.3
Buckinghamshire towns2.4
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Bletchley91%
Towns its size83%
Buckinghamshire towns74%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Bletchley stands out most for park space per resident: only 7 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Havant Hampshire | A+ | 3.6 | 84% | 5.8 | 30% |
| 2 | Andover Hampshire | A | 2.7 | 91% | 4.4 | 21% |
| 3 | Wrexham Clwyd | A | 3.8 | 92% | 3.9 | 2% |
| 4 | Salisbury Wiltshire | A | 2.7 | 94% | 3.9 | 22% |
| 5 | Aldershot Hampshire | A | 3.4 | 77% | 6.3 | 17% |
| 6 | Wallsend Tyne and Wear | A | 6 | 93% | 5.7 | 0% |
| 7 | Merthyr Tydfil Mid Glamorgan | A | 3.3 | 89% | 3.2 | 29% |
| 8 | Haywards Heath West Sussex | A | 2.4 | 84% | 4.2 | 44% |
| 9 | Bexhill-on-Sea East Sussex | A | 1.7 | 83% | 3.4 | 13% |
| 10 | Bletchley Buckinghamshire | A | 4.1 | 91% | 5.9 | 0% |
| 11 | Eastleigh Hampshire | A− | 3 | 76% | 4.9 | 17% |
| 12 | Llanelli Dyfed | A− | 2.3 | 85% | 2.4 | 18% |
| 13 | Trowbridge Wiltshire | A− | 2.3 | 91% | 4.3 | 3% |
| 14 | Christchurch Dorset | A− | 2.1 | 70% | 3.3 | 14% |
| 15 | Crosby Merseyside | A− | 4.6 | 89% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 16 | Royal Tunbridge Wells Kent | A− | 2.2 | 93% | 2.7 | 73% |
| 17 | Ashton-under-Lyne Greater Manchester | A− | 3.1 | 85% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 18 | Bamber Bridge Lancashire | A− | 6.4 | 88% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 19 | Hoddesdon Hertfordshire | A− | 6.5 | 82% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 20 | Cheshunt Hertfordshire | B+ | 4.8 | 79% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 21 | Newbury Berkshire | B+ | 1.9 | 81% | 3.3 | 50% |
| 22 | Hatfield Hertfordshire | B+ | 2.8 | 84% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 23 | West Molesey Surrey | B+ | 4.4 | 80% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 24 | Thundersley and South Benfleet Essex | B+ | 3.2 | 69% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 25 | Bridgwater Somerset | B+ | 1.9 | 86% | 3.7 | 2% |
| 26 | Yeovil Somerset | B+ | 2 | 90% | 3.2 | 2% |
| 27 | Batley West Yorkshire | B+ | 2.7 | 94% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 28 | Cwmbrân Gwent | B+ | 2.1 | 84% | 3.7 | 1% |
| 29 | Middleton Greater Manchester | B+ | 3.5 | 80% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 30 | Horsham West Sussex | B | 1.5 | 83% | 3.9 | 19% |
| 31 | Wokingham Berkshire | B | 4 | 84% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 32 | Leigh Greater Manchester | B | 5.3 | 77% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 33 | Arnold Nottinghamshire | B | 3 | 81% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 34 | Bishop's Stortford Hertfordshire | B | 2.3 | 80% | 6.8 | 0% |
| 35 | Ramsgate Kent | B | 1.2 | 89% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 36 | Borehamwood Hertfordshire | B | 1.8 | 97% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 37 | Winchester Hampshire | B | 1.2 | 79% | 3.8 | 35% |
| 38 | Altrincham Greater Manchester | B | 2.2 | 91% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 39 | Blyth Northumberland | B | 1.6 | 83% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 40 | Castleford West Yorkshire | B | 2.3 | 92% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 41 | Fareham Hampshire | B | 1.1 | 48% | 4 | 2% |
| 42 | Bury St Edmunds Suffolk | B− | 3 | 78% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 43 | Oldbury West Midlands | B− | 3 | 68% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 44 | Eccles Greater Manchester | B− | 2.7 | 93% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 45 | Lytham St Anne's Lancashire | B− | 2.4 | 83% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 46 | Braintree Essex | B− | 1.7 | 89% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 47 | Tipton West Midlands | B− | 1.9 | 79% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 48 | Hinckley Leicestershire | C+ | 1.8 | 87% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 49 | Willenhall West Midlands | C+ | 3.4 | 66% | 3 | 0% |
| 50 | Leighton Buzzard Bedfordshire | C+ | 1.5 | 85% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 51 | Urmston Greater Manchester | C+ | 1.7 | 79% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 52 | King's Lynn Norfolk | C+ | 1.3 | 80% | 2.2 | 23% |
| 53 | Neath West Glamorgan | C | 2 | 80% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 54 | Kirkby Merseyside | C | 2.2 | 87% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 55 | Grays Essex | C | 1.2 | 83% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 56 | Durham County Durham | C | 1.1 | 68% | 6 | 0% |
| 57 | Keighley West Yorkshire | C | 1.6 | 73% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 58 | Boston Lincolnshire | C− | 2.1 | 78% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 59 | Worksop Nottinghamshire | C− | 1.3 | 75% | 3 | 0% |
| 60 | Grantham Lincolnshire | D | 0.9 | 69% | 2.7 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Bletchley’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 Bletchley
The biggest is Caldecotte Lake, 109 ha (269 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
All 8 named parks by size: 278 ha (687 acres) and 39 km of path
Parks & gardens 278 ha
The two biggest, Caldecotte Lake and Tattenhoe Valley Park, are 62% of the named green space and carry 26 km of path between them.
Tattenhoe Valley Park
Park or garden · 190 m outside town
64 ha (157 acres)14.3 km of path
3 h 10 minto walk all 14.3 km of path
89 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.5 mi north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Furzton Lake
Park or garden · 330 m outside town
39 ha (96 acres)3.0 km of path
40 minto walk all 3 km of path
54 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.6 mi north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Waterhall Park
Park or garden
27 ha (67 acres)6.0 km of path
1 h 20 minto walk all 6 km of path
38 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1 mi eastfrom the centre
1 listed
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Mount Farm Park
Park or garden
19 ha (48 acres)0.1 km of path
27 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.2 mi north-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Ashland Lakes
Park or garden
11 ha (26 acres)2.6 km of path
35 minto walk all 2.6 km of path
15 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.7 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Rickley Park
Park or garden
5.4 ha (13 acres)1.1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.1 km of path
8 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.5 mi north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Loughton Valley Park
Park or garden · 370 m outside town
4.5 ha (11 acres)
6 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.8 mi north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
9 in 10 Bletchley 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 (91%)Further (9%)
Bletchley91%
Towns its size83%
Buckinghamshire towns74%
All UK towns83%
About 4,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 117 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 385 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Chilterns National Landscape is 9.2 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
Footpaths & waymarked walks
2 waymarked walks pass through or near Bletchley
211 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Bletchley and the kilometre around it, 5.9 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
Milton Keynes Boundary Walk12.1 km
Grand Union Canal Walk9.3 km
2 regional routes pass through, including the Milton Keynes Boundary Walk and Grand Union Canal Walk.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
When to get out
The best walking months in Bletchley: 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 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 60 | 39 | 39 | 46 | 48 | 52 | 49 | 57 | 49 | 65 | 62 | 58 |
March is the driest month (39 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 65 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 41 nights a year. The climate in Bletchley →
Things to do
6 viewpoints, 117 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.
6Viewpoints3.3× towns its size2Nature reserves15Picnic sites15.4× towns its size117Playgrounds2.4× towns its size1Campsites2Slipways
The nearest beaches
Bletchley is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
The Beach7.5 mi from Bletchley’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
Viewpoints 6
Plus 6 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Nature reserves 2
Blue Lagoon Local Nature Reserve39 ha · 0.1 mi from town
DirectionsElfield Nature Park4.4 ha · 0.5 mi from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 15
Plus 15 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 117
Flowers Park Play Areain town
DirectionsThe Beanhill Tinman0.3 mi from town
DirectionsKingsmead South Play Area1.1 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 114 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
The Old Dairy Farm0.5 mi from town
DirectionsSlipways 2
Plus 2 slipways 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.
Newton LongvilleStoke HammondMilton KeynesWoburn SandsStewkleyAspley GuiseBletchley
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bletchley | A | 4.1 | 91% | 0% |
| Newton Longville 1.8 mi | D | 2.9 | 18% | 0% |
| Stoke Hammond 2.5 mi | C | 1.8 | 100% | 0% |
| Milton Keynes 3.3 mi | A | 8.0 | 99% | 0% |
| Woburn Sands 4.1 mi | C+ | 1.1 | 94% | 0% |
| Stewkley 4.3 mi | C | 4.2 | 74% | 0% |
| Aspley Guise 4.6 mi | B− | 2.2 | 69% | 0% |
Milton Keynes, 3.3 miles away, grades A, the best next door: 99% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Bletchley
What is the biggest park in Bletchley?
Caldecotte Lake, 109 ha (269 acres), with 12.1 km of path, just outside the built-up area. Tattenhoe Valley Park (64 ha) is second. 8 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Bletchley near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Chilterns National Landscape, 9.2 mi east of the town’s edge. It covers 838 km² and was designated in 1990.
What are the best walks near Bletchley?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Milton Keynes Boundary Walk and Grand Union Canal Walk. Caldecotte Lake alone has 12.1 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Bletchley?
The Beach, 7.5 mi from the edge of the town. Bletchley itself is inland.
How many people in Bletchley live near a park?
91% 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 Bletchley?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Bletchley good for walking?
For paths, yes: 5.9 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 97% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 82% (4.1 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 Bletchley’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Bletchley’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.