Poynton’s biggest
Poynton Park
Park or garden
13 ha (33 acres)2.1 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.1 km of path
18 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.5 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Rovernut · CC BY 2.0B+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Poynton · parks, paths & countryside
79% of Poynton’s residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
The Peak District National Park begins 0.5 mi from the town’s edge. Footpaths add up to 83 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 3.7 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Poynton add up to 2.2 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Poynton grades B+ for the outdoors: #10 of 46 in Cheshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
2.2 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
79%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
83 km
3.7 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
14%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Peak District National Park
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Poynton?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
A town of footpaths3.7 km of path per km², more than 75% of UK towns. The typical town has 3.0.Countryside close byThe Peak District National Park starts 0.5 mi south-east.
Poynton’s strongest suit is dense footpaths, followed by the Peak District National Park close by.
Outdoors grade
Poynton grades B+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Poynton, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
B+
Better than 68% of UK towns#10 of 46 in Cheshire · 28th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space2.2 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
50out of
100
100
A park within a walk79%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
44out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape14%of the land within 5 km
74out of
100
100
Footpaths3.7 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
76out 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
Poynton is 28th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 12,400 to 13,700 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
Poynton3.7
Towns its size3.1
Cheshire towns2.5
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Poynton2.2
Towns its size2.2
Cheshire towns1.8
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Poynton79%
Towns its size81%
Cheshire towns82%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Poynton stands out most for path per km²: only 18 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whitby North Yorkshire | A+ | 4 | 100% | 2.9 | 53% |
| 2 | Farncombe Surrey | A+ | 5.7 | 92% | 3.8 | 54% |
| 3 | Sidmouth Devon | A | 2.6 | 73% | 2.9 | 60% |
| 4 | Newhaven East Sussex | A | 1.9 | 84% | 2.9 | 50% |
| 5 | Rhosllannerchrugog Clwyd | A | 3.5 | 98% | 2.8 | 31% |
| 6 | Houghton-le-Spring Tyne and Wear | A | 4.8 | 100% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 7 | Abergavenny Gwent | A | 3.2 | 83% | 3.1 | 60% |
| 8 | Little Lever Greater Manchester | A | 4.5 | 97% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 9 | Wick West Sussex | A | 1.3 | 91% | 3 | 25% |
| 10 | Stoke Gifford Gloucestershire | A− | 5.7 | 87% | 5.9 | 0% |
| 11 | Blackwood Gwent | A− | 3.6 | 97% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 12 | Heckmondwike West Yorkshire | A− | 2.9 | 100% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 13 | Churchdown Gloucestershire | A− | 2.2 | 92% | 3.7 | 11% |
| 14 | Flackwell Heath and Wooburn Green Buckinghamshire | A− | 1.7 | 90% | 3.9 | 30% |
| 15 | Guiseley West Yorkshire | A− | 2.5 | 75% | 5.7 | 6% |
| 16 | Wantage Oxfordshire | A− | 2.5 | 71% | 3.9 | 47% |
| 17 | Lees Greater Manchester | A− | 2.5 | 80% | 4.4 | 4% |
| 18 | Tavistock Devon | A− | 5.9 | 83% | 1.6 | 72% |
| 19 | Bacup Lancashire | A− | 2.5 | 94% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 20 | Audenshaw Greater Manchester | B+ | 4.6 | 93% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 21 | Ivybridge Devon | B+ | 1.8 | 86% | 3.4 | 38% |
| 22 | Berwick-upon-Tweed Northumberland | B+ | 2.5 | 62% | 2.7 | 1% |
| 23 | Ringwood Hampshire | B+ | 2.3 | 78% | 3.2 | 43% |
| 24 | Chorleywood Hertfordshire | B+ | 2.7 | 37% | 5.7 | 22% |
| 25 | Poulton-le-Fylde Lancashire | B+ | 3.6 | 85% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 26 | Chalfont St Peter Buckinghamshire | B+ | 2.2 | 80% | 3.5 | 18% |
| 27 | Marple Greater Manchester | B+ | 3.4 | 64% | 3.8 | 5% |
| 28 | Poynton Cheshire | B+ | 2.2 | 79% | 3.7 | 14% |
| 29 | Royal Wootton Bassett Wiltshire | B+ | 1.6 | 98% | 3.1 | 10% |
| 30 | Cudworth and Shafton South Yorkshire | B | 3.1 | 88% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 31 | Enderby and Narborough Leicestershire | B | 1.9 | 89% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 32 | West Kirby Merseyside | B | 1.9 | 68% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 33 | Rushall and Shelfield West Midlands | B | 4.3 | 88% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 34 | Scawthorpe and Cusworth South Yorkshire | B− | 3.1 | 88% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 35 | Standish Greater Manchester | B− | 2.6 | 84% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 36 | Sheerness Kent | B− | 3 | 68% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 37 | Rochford Essex | B− | 2 | 71% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 38 | Knutsford Cheshire | C+ | 2.6 | 83% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 39 | Thame Oxfordshire | C+ | 2.9 | 91% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 40 | Buckley Clwyd | C+ | 2.6 | 82% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 41 | Huntington North Yorkshire | C+ | 2 | 72% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 42 | Street Somerset | C+ | 0.7 | 96% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 43 | Flitwick Bedfordshire | C | 0.8 | 59% | 3.9 | 3% |
| 44 | Todmorden West Yorkshire | C | 0.8 | 72% | 6.8 | 0% |
| 45 | Hersham Surrey | C | 2.5 | 73% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Syston Leicestershire | C | 1.4 | 84% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 47 | Ferndown Dorset | C | 0.7 | 13% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 48 | Rhondda Mid Glamorgan | C− | 1.4 | 84% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 49 | Brough East Riding of Yorkshire | C− | 1.4 | 74% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 50 | North Walsham Norfolk | C− | 1.3 | 69% | 2 | 10% |
| 51 | Porth Mid Glamorgan | D | 1.8 | 63% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 52 | Kirk Sandall and Edenthorpe South Yorkshire | D | 2 | 75% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 53 | Amesbury Wiltshire | D | 1.8 | 73% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 54 | Northallerton North Yorkshire | D | 1.1 | 70% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 55 | Driffield East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 2.1 | 75% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 56 | Mountsorrel Leicestershire | D | 0.9 | 56% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 57 | Flint Clwyd | D | 1 | 56% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 58 | Mountain Ash Mid Glamorgan | D | 1.4 | 56% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 59 | Wombourne Staffordshire | D | 0.8 | 78% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Balderton Nottinghamshire | D | 1.4 | 64% | 1.7 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Poynton’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 Poynton
The biggest is Poynton Park, 13 ha (33 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
How close Poynton’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 (79%)Further (21%)
Poynton79%
Towns its size81%
Cheshire towns82%
All UK towns83%
About 2,800 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 20 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 651 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Peak District National Park is 0.5 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
National Park
Peak District
0.5 mi south-east1,438 km²since 195114% of the land within 5 km
Official site14% of the land within 5 km of Poynton is National Park or National Landscape, more than 73% of UK towns. Peak District National Park covers 1,438 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
15 waymarked walks pass through or near Poynton
83 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Poynton and the kilometre around it, 3.7 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
RegionalLocalOther waymarked
GM Ringway Stage 410.6 km
Ladybrook Valley Interest Trail10.1 km
North Cheshire Way9.9 km
Fred Perry Way6.6 km
Cheshire Ring Canal Walk6.2 km
Peak District Boundary Walk Stage 195.9 km
GM Ringway Stage 54.8 km
Lyme South Perimeter Walk3.6 km
Paddock Cottage Walk2.8 km
Lime Avenue Ponds Walk1.6 km
A walk to The Cage, Lyme1.3 km
Gritstone Trail (Disley - River Dane)1.3 km
GM Ringway Stage 31.1 km
Step free cage and deer sanctuary view walk at Lyme1.0 km
A Walk to the Lantern at Lyme0.7 km
6 regional routes pass through, including the GM Ringway Stage 4, North Cheshire Way, Peak District Boundary Walk Stage 19 and GM Ringway Stage 5.
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 Poynton: 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) | 8.0 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.8 | 17.0 | 16.5 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 77 | 65 | 58 | 55 | 59 | 72 | 80 | 82 | 75 | 92 | 82 | 91 |
April is the driest month (55 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 21 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 92 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 41 nights a year. The climate in Poynton →
Things to do
20 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.
1Viewpoints1Hills and peaks1Waterfalls3Nature reserves3× towns its size1Picnic sites20Playgroundsabout the same as towns its size1Dog parks
The nearest beaches
Poynton is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Wader Point17 mi from Poynton’s edge
DirectionsStone Beach17 mi from Poynton’s edge
DirectionsCreek Beach South17 mi from Poynton’s edge
DirectionsCreek Beach North17 mi from Poynton’s edge
DirectionsCar Park Beach17 mi from Poynton’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.
Up high. The Knott, at 250 m, is the highest named top within 2 km of Poynton.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 1
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 1
The Knott250 m (820 ft) · 0.8 mi from town
DirectionsWaterfalls 1
Plus 1 waterfall without a name on the map.
Nature reserves 3
Poynton Coppice Local Nature Reserve0.0 mi from town
DirectionsJackson's Brick Works (Conservation Area)0.8 mi from town
DirectionsHappy Valley19 ha · 1.2 mi from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 20
Barnaby Road Play Areain town
DirectionsMount Vernon Playgroundin town
DirectionsGlastonbury Drive Playground0.0 mi from town
DirectionsDevonshire Road0.5 mi from town
DirectionsCrow Wood Playscape0.9 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 15 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Dog parks 1
Adlington Dog Field0.6 mi from town
DirectionsNext door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
WoodfordHazel GroveBramhallHigh LaneCheadle HulmeDisleyPoynton
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poynton | B+ | 2.2 | 79% | 14% |
| Woodford 1.6 mi | B+ | 5.9 | 80% | 5% |
| Hazel Grove 2.0 mi | B+ | 2.9 | 62% | 3% |
| Bramhall 2.2 mi | B− | 4.7 | 71% | 0% |
| High Lane 2.5 mi | B− | 1.5 | 67% | 12% |
| Cheadle Hulme 3.3 mi | B+ | 3.9 | 80% | 0% |
| Disley 3.7 mi | A− | 1.2 | 100% | 22% |
Disley, 3.7 miles away, grades A−, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Woodford and Bramhall have at least twice Poynton’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Poynton
What is the biggest park in Poynton?
Poynton Park, 13 ha (33 acres), with 2.1 km of path. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Poynton near a National Park?
Yes. Peak District National Park begins 0.5 mi south-east of the town’s edge. It covers 1,438 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
What are the best walks near Poynton?
15 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the GM Ringway Stage 4, Ladybrook Valley Interest Trail and North Cheshire Way. Poynton Park alone has 2.1 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Poynton?
Wader Point, 17 mi from the edge of the town, then Stone Beach (17 mi). Poynton itself is inland.
How many people in Poynton live near a park?
79% 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 Poynton?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Poynton good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.7 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 76% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 50% (2.2 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 Poynton’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Poynton’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.