Photo: Manfred Heyde · CC BY-SA 4.0Bude is on the coast, on the South West Coast Path
The sea makes up 37% of the area within 5 km. The Cornwall National Landscape begins 0.7 mi from the town’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Bude add up to 3.1 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Bude grades A for the outdoors: #6 of 35 in Cornwall. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors town is Bude?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Bude’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by its views.
Bude grades A for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Bude, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
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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.
Bude is 5th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 7,100 to 7,600 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against towns its size, Bude stands out most for park space per resident: only 16 of the other 59 have more.
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 | Stocksbridge South Yorkshire | A | 2.2 | 100% | 4.4 | 30% |
| 4 | Ruddington Nottinghamshire | A | 9.7 | 100% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 5 | Bude Cornwall | A | 3.1 | 78% | 3.3 | 9% |
| 6 | Liphook Hampshire | A | 3.1 | 86% | 3.8 | 64% |
| 7 | Bolton upon Dearne South Yorkshire | A | 5.6 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 8 | Bourne End Buckinghamshire | A | 2.9 | 87% | 4 | 19% |
| 9 | Gwersyllt Clwyd | A | 14.6 | 96% | 2.5 | 2% |
| 10 | Ashley Heath Dorset | A | 24.2 | 68% | 4 | 15% |
| 11 | Darfield South Yorkshire | A | 4 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 12 | Prestwood and Great Missenden Buckinghamshire | A− | 5.5 | 65% | 3.2 | 94% |
| 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 | Cromer Norfolk | B+ | 1.4 | 74% | 2.5 | 36% |
| 20 | Gowerton West Glamorgan | B+ | 3.2 | 79% | 1.2 | 14% |
| 21 | Barugh Green and Redbrook South Yorkshire | B | 2.1 | 94% | 4 | 0% |
| 22 | Malmesbury Wiltshire | B | 2 | 86% | 2.5 | 26% |
| 23 | Wroughton Wiltshire | B | 1.1 | 78% | 3.9 | 52% |
| 24 | Princes Risborough Buckinghamshire | B | 1.4 | 78% | 3.2 | 57% |
| 25 | Chapel-en-le-Frith Derbyshire | B− | 1 | 75% | 3.8 | 58% |
| 26 | Woodville Derbyshire | B− | 3.7 | 78% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 27 | Wootton Bedfordshire | B− | 2.5 | 79% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 28 | Rogerstone Gwent | B− | 3.1 | 60% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 29 | Eckington Derbyshire | B− | 1.8 | 80% | 6 | 0% |
| 30 | Crawcrook and Greenside Tyne and Wear | B− | 3.2 | 86% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 31 | Borrowash Derbyshire | B− | 2.8 | 85% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 32 | Bollington Cheshire | B− | 1.3 | 56% | 4.1 | 31% |
| 33 | Abersychan Gwent | B− | 2.8 | 83% | 1.1 | 17% |
| 34 | Wrecclesham Surrey | C+ | 1.2 | 50% | 3.8 | 37% |
| 35 | Poringland Norfolk | C+ | 1.3 | 91% | 2.1 | 5% |
| 36 | Pelton and Ouston County Durham | C+ | 2 | 64% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 37 | Murton County Durham | C+ | 2.1 | 54% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 38 | Sprotbrough South Yorkshire | C+ | 1.8 | 79% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 39 | Thrapston Northamptonshire | C | 1.2 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 40 | Caerleon Gwent | C | 1.9 | 64% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 41 | Horncastle Lincolnshire | C | 0.6 | 60% | 3.9 | 10% |
| 42 | Radcliffe on Trent Nottinghamshire | C | 2.5 | 76% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 43 | Sawston Cambridgeshire | C | 1.4 | 97% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 44 | Castle Donington Leicestershire | C | 1.8 | 85% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 45 | Newbridge Gwent | C | 2.2 | 94% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 46 | Fazeley Staffordshire | C | 3.2 | 35% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 47 | Marske-by-the-Sea North Yorkshire | C | 1.6 | 66% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 48 | Dalton-in-Furness Cumbria | C | 0.9 | 74% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 49 | Aylsham Norfolk | C | 2.6 | 74% | 2 | 0% |
| 50 | Wivenhoe Essex | C− | 0.9 | 65% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 51 | Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt Leicestershire | C− | 2.1 | 82% | 2 | 0% |
| 52 | Southwell Nottinghamshire | C− | 1.7 | 59% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 53 | Calverton Nottinghamshire | C− | 1.7 | 62% | 3 | 0% |
| 54 | Breaston and Draycott Derbyshire | C− | 1.1 | 73% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 55 | Pickering North Yorkshire | C− | 1.7 | 39% | 1.7 | 19% |
| 56 | Shefford Bedfordshire | D | 1.1 | 67% | 3 | 0% |
| 57 | Deeping St James Lincolnshire | D | 0.5 | 73% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 58 | Polesworth and Dordon Warwickshire | D | 1.6 | 68% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 59 | Beddau Mid Glamorgan | D | 1 | 77% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 60 | Market Weighton East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 0.7 | 79% | 1 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Bude’s built-up area.
8 in 10 Bude 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).
About 1,600 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 14 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 525 residents.
Cornwall and North Devon both start about 6 miles from Bude
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.
9% of the land within 5 km of Bude is National Park or National Landscape, more than 70% of UK towns.
Bude is on the South West Coast Path
52 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Bude and the kilometre around it, 3.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
The South West Coast Path, a national route, passes Bude.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
The best walking months in Bude: 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) | 8.4 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 92 | 74 | 59 | 54 | 54 | 60 | 72 | 79 | 66 | 99 | 105 | 104 |
May is the driest month (54 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 105 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 22 nights a year. The climate in Bude →
The coast and beaches near Bude
37% of the area within 5 km of Bude is sea. 21 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 19 with a name.
The South West Coast Path passes the town.
Sea: the area outside the ONS coastline (mean high water). Bathing water quality is published by the Environment Agency (England) and Natural Resources Wales; check it before swimming.
5 viewpoints and 14 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.
Every named place, with directions
Nature reserves 1
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 14
Plus 14 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 2
Slipways 3
Plus 3 slipways without a name on the map.
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bude | A | 3.1 | 78% | 9% |
| Stratton 0.8 mi | C+ | 0.8 | 23% | 8% |
| Holsworthy 8.0 mi | C− | 2.7 | 84% | 0% |
Bude grades higher for the outdoors than every neighbour in the table.
Questions about the outdoors in Bude
Is Bude near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Cornwall National Landscape, 0.7 mi north of the town’s edge. It covers 964 km² and was designated in 1959.
What are the best walks near Bude?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the South West Coast Path (Section 11: Bude to Crackington Haven) and South West Coast Path (Section 10: Hartland Quay to Bude).
How many people in Bude live near a park?
78% 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 Bude?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Bude good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.3 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 67% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 71% (3.1 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 Bude’s overall grade.
Where Bude’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.