Penryn’s biggest
Trecobeas Play Area
Playing field · 190 m outside town
4.7 ha (12 acres)1.0 km of path
15 minto walk all 1 km of path
7 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.2 mi south-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0AOutdoors Grade
Outdoors in Penryn · parks, paths & countryside
31% of the land within 5 km of Penryn is National Park or National Landscape
The Cornwall National Landscape reaches the edge of Penryn. The sea makes up 20% of the area within 5 km. 91% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Penryn grades A for the outdoors: #7 of 35 in Cornwall. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
1.9 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
91%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
39 km
2.6 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
31%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Cornwall National Landscape
The sea
20%
of the area within 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Penryn?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Protected countryside31% of the land within 5 km is Cornwall National Landscape.On a National TrailThe South West Coast Path passes through.
Penryn’s strongest suit is protected countryside on the doorstep, followed by the South West Coast Path.
Outdoors grade
Penryn grades A for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Penryn, 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 89% of UK towns#7 of 35 in Cornwall · 5th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space1.9 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
40out 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 Landscape31%of the land within 5 km
84out of
100
100
Footpaths2.6 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
48out of
100
100
The sea20%of the area within 5 km
89out 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
Penryn is 5th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 10,600 to 11,800 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
Penryn2.6
Towns its size3.0
Cornwall towns2.3
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Penryn1.9
Towns its size1.8
Cornwall towns1.6
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Penryn91%
Towns its size81%
Cornwall towns81%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Penryn stands out most for homes near a park: only 16 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 41 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minehead Somerset | A+ | 1.4 | 95% | 4.3 | 47% |
| 2 | Weybourne Surrey | A+ | 7.1 | 86% | 6.1 | 14% |
| 3 | West End Hampshire | A | 9.1 | 100% | 6.1 | 0% |
| 4 | Brierfield Lancashire | A | 2.1 | 92% | 5.6 | 18% |
| 5 | Penryn Cornwall | A | 1.9 | 91% | 2.6 | 31% |
| 6 | Emsworth Hampshire | A | 2.3 | 56% | 3.7 | 51% |
| 7 | Sandown Isle of Wight | A | 1.4 | 74% | 4.5 | 28% |
| 8 | Great Harwood Lancashire | A | 2.2 | 97% | 4.3 | 4% |
| 9 | Bradwell Norfolk | A− | 2 | 80% | 2.7 | 31% |
| 10 | Conisbrough South Yorkshire | A− | 5.3 | 99% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 11 | Royston South Yorkshire | A− | 7.9 | 97% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 12 | Romiley Greater Manchester | A− | 3.9 | 80% | 3.8 | 1% |
| 13 | Southwater West Sussex | A− | 3.4 | 82% | 3.7 | 3% |
| 14 | Chadwell St Mary Essex | A− | 3.2 | 97% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 15 | Uppermill Greater Manchester | A− | 2.4 | 70% | 4.8 | 27% |
| 16 | Kearsley Greater Manchester | A− | 3.4 | 91% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 17 | Cleckheaton West Yorkshire | B+ | 3.3 | 98% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 18 | Tidworth Wiltshire | B+ | 3.7 | 90% | 2.3 | 8% |
| 19 | Ross-on-Wye Herefordshire | B+ | 1.9 | 76% | 3.4 | 56% |
| 20 | Barnoldswick Lancashire | B+ | 1.8 | 87% | 4 | 2% |
| 21 | South Elmsall West Yorkshire | B+ | 9 | 92% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 22 | Oxted Surrey | B | 2.1 | 84% | 2.8 | 28% |
| 23 | Buckhurst Hill Essex | B | 4.5 | 64% | 6.3 | 0% |
| 24 | Corsham Wiltshire | B | 1.9 | 81% | 3 | 31% |
| 25 | Warmsworth South Yorkshire | B | 2.7 | 79% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 26 | Gillingham Dorset | B | 1.9 | 91% | 2.6 | 3% |
| 27 | Shirebrook Derbyshire | B | 1.8 | 100% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 28 | Sandbach Cheshire | B− | 2.5 | 87% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 29 | Helston Cornwall | B− | 1.3 | 61% | 2.7 | 21% |
| 30 | Mossley Greater Manchester | B− | 0.9 | 74% | 4.5 | 14% |
| 31 | Oswaldtwistle Lancashire | B− | 1.1 | 94% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 32 | Lymm Cheshire | B− | 3.6 | 89% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 33 | Leatherhead Surrey | B− | 1 | 72% | 3.9 | 24% |
| 34 | Filton Gloucestershire | B− | 3.3 | 40% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 35 | Cambourne Cambridgeshire | B− | 0.7 | 91% | 7.1 | 0% |
| 36 | Liskeard Cornwall | C+ | 0.8 | 89% | 2.7 | 6% |
| 37 | Bolsover Derbyshire | C+ | 1.9 | 85% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 38 | Stanwell Surrey | C+ | 1.4 | 93% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 39 | Selsey West Sussex | C | 1.6 | 79% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 40 | Earl Shilton Leicestershire | C | 1.5 | 98% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 41 | Sandy Bedfordshire | C | 0.9 | 76% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 42 | Brimington Derbyshire | C | 1.2 | 72% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 43 | Ulverston Cumbria | C | 0.7 | 60% | 1.8 | 8% |
| 44 | Towcester Northamptonshire | C | 1.3 | 77% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 45 | Featherstone West Yorkshire | C | 2 | 77% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Epping Essex | C− | 1.2 | 70% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 47 | Attleborough Norfolk | C− | 1.8 | 93% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 48 | Hexham Northumberland | C− | 1.5 | 64% | 2 | 9% |
| 49 | Cleveleys Lancashire | C− | 0.8 | 71% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 50 | Downham Market Norfolk | C− | 1.5 | 77% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 51 | Chatteris Cambridgeshire | C− | 1.4 | 94% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 52 | Cheadle Staffordshire | C− | 1.7 | 90% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 53 | Dinnington South Yorkshire | C− | 1.1 | 81% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 54 | New Ollerton and Ollerton Nottinghamshire | C− | 0.8 | 80% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 55 | Leominster Herefordshire | C− | 1.1 | 72% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 56 | Newtown Powys | D | 2.3 | 65% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 57 | Longton Lancashire | D | 1.7 | 60% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 58 | Wetherby West Yorkshire | D | 0.5 | 14% | 3 | 0% |
| 59 | Tonyrefail Mid Glamorgan | D− | 0.7 | 48% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 60 | Watton Norfolk | D− | 0.5 | 28% | 1.4 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Penryn’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 Penryn
The biggest is Trecobeas Play Area, 4.7 ha (12 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
All 6 named parks by size: 11 ha (27 acres) and 1 km of path
Parks & gardens 1.7 haPlaying fields 9.4 ha
The two biggest, Trecobeas Play Area and Memorial Ground, are 81% of the named green space. 4 of the 6 are under 2 ha: small gardens, play spaces and pitches.
Memorial Ground
Playing field
4.3 ha (11 acres)
6 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Penryn
Directionsto the nearest entrance
College Field
Park or garden
1.0 ha (2 acres)
0.5 mi south-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Trelawney Park
Park or garden
0.6 ha (2 acres)
Centralin the middle of Penryn
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Glasney Playing Field
Playing field
0.4 ha (1 acres)
0.6 mi south-eastfrom the centre
College known as Glasney College, Penryn monument +1 listed
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Memorial Park
Park or garden
0.1 ha (0 acres)
0.7 mi eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
9 in 10 Penryn 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%)
Penryn91%
Towns its size81%
Cornwall towns81%
All UK towns83%
About 1,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 24 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 466 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
National Parks and National Landscapes around Penryn
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 Landscape
Cornwall
At the edge north-east964 km²since 195931% of the land within 5 km
Official site31% of the land within 5 km of Penryn is National Park or National Landscape, more than 84% of UK towns.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Penryn is on the South West Coast Path
39 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Penryn and the kilometre around it, 2.6 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
National
South West Coast Path (Section 29: Helford to Falmouth)0.7 km
South West Coast Path (Section 30: Falmouth to Portloe)0.6 km
The South West Coast Path, a national route, passes Penryn.
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 Penryn: 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) | 8.5 | 10.0 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.4 | 16.4 | 16.0 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.9 | 8.1 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 151 | 120 | 95 | 84 | 70 | 77 | 83 | 100 | 90 | 135 | 155 | 162 |
May is the driest month (70 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 162 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 12 nights a year. The climate in Penryn →
The coast
Penryn is near the sea
20% of the area within 5 km of Penryn is sea. 27 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 6 with a name.
Gyllyngvase Beach1.6 mi from town
DirectionsSwanpool Beach1.7 mi from town
DirectionsArthur's Beach (Sunny Cove)2.2 mi from town
DirectionsMaenporth Beach2.6 mi from town
DirectionsLoe Beach2.8 mi from town
DirectionsThe 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.
Things to do
4 viewpoints and 24 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
Viewpoints 4
Plus 4 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
Plus 1 campsite without a name on the map.
Slipways 5
Plus 5 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.
Mylor BridgeFalmouthPerranarworthalStithiansCarnon Downs and DevoranMawnan SmithPenryn
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penryn | A | 1.9 | 91% | 31% |
| Mylor Bridge 1.9 mi | C+ | 1.1 | 63% | 49% |
| Falmouth 2.0 mi | A | 1.3 | 96% | 41% |
| Perranarworthal 2.8 mi | C+ | 2.5 | 76% | 19% |
| Stithians 3.1 mi | B+ | 3.2 | 80% | 3% |
| Carnon Downs and Devoran 3.6 mi | B+ | 0.3 | 87% | 36% |
| Mawnan Smith 3.8 mi | A | 3.5 | 30% | 40% |
Falmouth, 2 miles away, grades A, the best next door: 96% of its residents live within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Penryn
What is the biggest park in Penryn?
Trecobeas Play Area, 4.7 ha (12 acres), with 1 km of path, just outside the built-up area. Memorial Ground (4.3 ha) is second. 6 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Penryn near a National Park?
It covers 964 km² and was designated in 1959.
What are the best walks near Penryn?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the South West Coast Path (Section 29: Helford to Falmouth) and South West Coast Path (Section 30: Falmouth to Portloe).
How many people in Penryn 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 Penryn?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Penryn good for walking?
About average for paths: 2.6 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 48% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 40% (1.9 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 Penryn’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Penryn’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.