Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0

Outdoors in Eye · parks, paths & countryside

77% of Eye’s residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park

Footpaths add up to 8 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 0.6 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Eye add up to 1.4 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Eye grades D for the outdoors: #45 of 50 in Cambridgeshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.

1named park

Green space

1.4 ha

per 1,000 residents

Typical UK town 2.1

Near a park

77%

of residents within 400 m

Typical UK town 83%

Footpaths

8 km

0.6 km per km², town + 1 km

Typical UK town 3.0 per km²

Protected landscape

of the land within 5 km

Outdoors grade

Eye grades D for the outdoors

Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Eye, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.

Better than 6% of UK towns#45 of 50 in Cambridgeshire

Public green space1.4 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces

25out of
100

A park within a walk77%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)

41out of
100

National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · None within 5 km

31out of
100

Footpaths0.6 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it

2out of
100

The sea0%of the area within 5 km · Inland

42out of
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 Eye compares with UK towns of 5,200 to 5,700

The 60 UK towns and cities of 5,200 to 5,700 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

Eye0.6

Towns its size2.6

Cambridgeshire towns2.0

All UK towns3.0

Green space, ha per 1,000 residents

Eye1.4

Towns its size2.2

Cambridgeshire towns1.9

All UK towns2.1

Residents within 400 m of a park

Eye77%

Towns its size76%

Cambridgeshire towns79%

All UK towns83%

Eye falls furthest behind on path per km², where 58 of the 59 others do better.

Show as a table

	Town	Outdoors	Green space	Near a park	Path per km²	Protected
1	Ventnor Isle of Wight	A⁺	4.5	61%	3.7	25%
2	St Ives Cornwall	A	0.8	89%	3.5	24%
3	Budleigh Salterton Devon	A⁻	2.7	70%	2.3	38%
4	Edwinstowe Nottinghamshire	A⁻	5.6	90%	4	0%
5	Hoylake Merseyside	A⁻	3.5	83%	2.6	0%
6	Brotton North Yorkshire	A⁻	1.4	89%	3	2%
7	Eynsham Oxfordshire	A⁻	3	94%	2.8	1%
8	Steyning West Sussex	A⁻	1.6	86%	3.7	58%
9	Merley Dorset	B⁺	3.9	64%	4.1	6%
10	Highbridge Somerset	B⁺	2.9	83%	2.9	0%
11	Carlton in Lindrick Nottinghamshire	B⁺	9	95%	2.8	0%
12	Sonning Common Oxfordshire	B⁺	2.6	60%	3.7	74%
13	Aston Clinton Buckinghamshire	B⁺	3.1	61%	3.8	29%
14	Llantwit Major South Glamorgan	B⁺	3.2	83%	2.4	0%
15	Drighlington West Yorkshire	B⁺	4.1	92%	3.3	0%
16	Whitchurch Hampshire	B⁺	2.3	75%	3.3	43%
17	Cottam Lancashire	B⁺	6.4	92%	2.8	0%
18	New Alresford Hampshire	B⁺	2	94%	2.3	38%
19	Waverley and Catcliffe South Yorkshire	B⁺	8.8	65%	5	0%
20	Shrivenham and Watchfield Oxfordshire	B⁺	3.5	96%	1.7	6%
21	Dartmouth Devon	B⁺	2.1	71%	1.8	45%
22	Newent Gloucestershire	B⁺	3	100%	2.7	0%
23	Battle East Sussex	B⁺	1.7	64%	4.3	84%
24	Benson Oxfordshire	B	6	44%	2.3	50%
25	Askern South Yorkshire	B	8.5	100%	1.5	0%
26	Longstanton and Northstowe Cambridgeshire	B	4.3	86%	2.8	0%
27	Rowlands Gill Tyne and Wear	B	4.9	84%	2.8	0%
28	Shinfield Berkshire	B	1.6	100%	3.5	0%
29	Llandrindod Wells Powys	B⁻	4.5	88%	2.3	0%
30	Haddenham Buckinghamshire	B⁻	3.1	86%	2.7	0%
31	Midhurst West Sussex	C⁺	0.3	28%	4.3	100%
32	Brynmawr Gwent	C⁺	1.2	68%	2.9	45%
33	Broseley Shropshire	C⁺	1.2	74%	3.4	8%
34	Quorndon Leicestershire	C⁺	2.7	81%	2.5	0%
35	Helsby Cheshire	C⁺	1.4	66%	3.2	0%
36	Rainford Merseyside	C⁺	2.3	100%	1.4	0%
37	Oakley Hampshire	C	1.7	56%	2.6	21%
38	Coningsby and Tattershall Lincolnshire	C	2.7	79%	1.9	0%
39	Four Marks Hampshire	C	0.9	46%	3	31%
40	Bovingdon Hertfordshire	C	1.4	55%	2.3	26%
41	Shevington Greater Manchester	C	1.8	73%	2.9	0%
42	Waterbeach Cambridgeshire	C	1.5	94%	1.9	0%
43	Looe Cornwall	C⁻	0.1	47%	1.7	6%
44	Welshpool Powys	C⁻	2.6	82%	1.3	0%
45	Ludgershall Wiltshire	C⁻	0.7	72%	1.9	32%
46	Llangefni Gwynedd	C⁻	1.8	95%	0.8	0%
47	Ingatestone Essex	C⁻	3.2	56%	2	0%
48	Measham Leicestershire	C⁻	1.3	83%	2.4	0%
49	Littlestone-on-Sea Kent	C⁻	1.4	37%	1.8	0%
50	Long Sutton Lincolnshire	D	2.2	81%	0.7	0%
51	Takeley and Little Canfield Essex	D	1	45%	3.5	0%
52	Blackrod Greater Manchester	D	1	83%	1.9	0%
53	Wigton Cumbria	D	2.4	65%	1	0%
54	Thornton West Yorkshire	D	0.4	54%	3.1	0%
55	Pontardawe West Glamorgan	D	2.3	60%	0.8	0%
56	Treherbert Mid Glamorgan	D	1.2	73%	1.6	0%
57	Eye Cambridgeshire	D	1.4	77%	0.6	0%
58	Winslow Buckinghamshire	D⁻	1.4	59%	1.5	0%
59	Ravenshead Nottinghamshire	D⁻	0.1	0%	1.9	0%
60	Kirton Lincolnshire	D⁻	0.6	58%	0.5	0%

The map

Parks, footpaths & countryside

Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Eye’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 Eye

The biggest is Manor Farm Park, 4.6 ha (11 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.

Eye’s biggest

Manor Farm Park

Playing field

4.6 ha (11 acres)0.4 km of path

6 pitchesfootball pitches would fit

Centralin the middle of Eye

Playground

Directionsto the nearest entrance

Close to home

How close Eye’s homes are to 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 (77%)Further (23%)

Eye77%

Towns its size76%

Cambridgeshire towns79%

All UK towns83%

About 1,300 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 23 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 236 residents.

Footpaths & waymarked walks

Footpaths in and around Eye

8 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Eye and the kilometre around it, 0.6 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).

No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Eye; 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.

When to get out

The best walking months in Eye: 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)	8.1	9.8	11.7	13.9	15.7	16.8	16.4	14.7	12.6	10.5	8.6	7.7
High (°C)	8	8	11	14	17	20	23	23	20	15	11	8
Rain (mm)	48	35	32	41	49	50	63	63	53	57	48	50

March is the driest month (32 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 63 mm of rain falls in July, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 46 nights a year. The climate in Eye →

Things to do

23 playgrounds

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.

2Nature reserves 23Playgrounds2.5× towns its size

Every named place, with directions

Nature reserves 2

Eye Green Local Nature Reserve12 ha · 0.0 mi from town

Directions

Star Pit Nature Reserve38 ha · 0.2 mi from town

Directions

Playgrounds 23

Children's play areain town

Directions

Ulverston Close Play Area1.1 mi from town

Directions

Plus 21 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.

NewboroughPeterboroughThorneyWhittleseyCrowlandGlintonEye

ABCDOutdoors Grade

Town	Outdoors	Green space, ha per 1,000	Near a park	Protected within 5 km
Eye	D	1.4	77%	0%
Newborough 2.4 mi	C	2.1	100%	0%
Peterborough 3.7 mi	B⁺	3.7	96%	0%
Thorney 3.7 mi	C⁻	3.4	74%	0%
Whittlesey 4.4 mi	D	1.7	73%	0%
Crowland 4.4 mi	C⁻	2.8	70%	0%
Glinton 4.8 mi	D	1.3	79%	0%

Peterborough, 3.7 miles away, grades B+, the best next door: 96% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Peterborough and Thorney have at least twice Eye’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.

Questions about the outdoors in Eye

What is the biggest park in Eye?

Manor Farm Park, 4.6 ha (11 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.

Is Eye near a National Park?

No National Park or National Landscape is within 30 km (about 19 miles) of Eye.

How many people in Eye live near a park?

77% 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 Eye?

May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.

Is Eye good for walking?

Paths are thinner than most towns: 0.6 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 2% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 25% (1.4 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 Eye’s overall grade.

Sources

Where Eye’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.