St Merryn’s biggest
The Green
Park or garden
0.4 ha (1 acres)
0.5 mi northfrom the centre
1 listed
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Church of St Merryn · Photo: Ruth Sharville · CC BY-SA 2.0B−Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in St Merryn · parks, paths & countryside
29% of the land within 5 km of St Merryn is National Park or National Landscape
The Cornwall National Landscape reaches the edge of St Merryn. The sea makes up 34% of the area within 5 km. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 47% of residents. St Merryn grades B− for the outdoors. 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
47%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
19 km
1.7 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
29%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Cornwall National Landscape
The sea
34%
of the area within 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors village is St Merryn?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Protected countryside29% of the land within 5 km is Cornwall National Landscape.On a National TrailThe South West Coast Path passes through.Parks can be a walk away54% of residents live more than 400 m from a park or playing field.
St Merryn’s strongest suit is protected countryside on the doorstep, followed by the South West Coast Path. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Outdoors grade
St Merryn grades B− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is St Merryn, 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 49% of UK towns32nd of 60 UK villages its size
Public green space1.9 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
42out of
100
100
A park within a walk47%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
12out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape29%of the land within 5 km
83out of
100
100
Footpaths1.7 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
20out of
100
100
The sea34%of the area within 5 km
94out 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.
Villages its size
St Merryn is 32nd of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,300 to 1,400 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
St Merryn1.7
Villages its size2.3
Cornwall towns2.3
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
St Merryn1.9
Villages its size2.4
Cornwall towns1.6
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
St Merryn47%
Villages its size80%
Cornwall towns81%
All UK towns83%
St Merryn falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 47 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Davids Dyfed | A+ | 5.2 | 84% | 2.5 | 47% |
| 2 | Pateley Bridge North Yorkshire | A+ | 2.4 | 100% | 3.4 | 100% |
| 3 | Wolvercote Oxfordshire | A | 32 | 100% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 4 | Winsley Wiltshire | A | 12.4 | 79% | 4.2 | 38% |
| 5 | Crowmarsh Gifford Oxfordshire | A | 8 | 77% | 3.6 | 60% |
| 6 | Goldsithney Cornwall | A | 1.4 | 100% | 3.1 | 10% |
| 7 | Charmouth Dorset | A | 2.5 | 82% | 2.3 | 63% |
| 8 | Brinscall Lancashire | A | 3.5 | 100% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 9 | Biddenden Kent | A− | 4.2 | 100% | 1.9 | 20% |
| 10 | Cwmfelinfach Gwent | A− | 24.6 | 100% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 11 | Stoke sub Hamdon Somerset | A− | 25.1 | 81% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 12 | Upper Caldecote Bedfordshire | A− | 3.7 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 13 | Blean Kent | A− | 5.9 | 80% | 6.5 | 0% |
| 14 | Govilon Gwent | A− | 2.1 | 80% | 3.4 | 69% |
| 15 | Auckley South Yorkshire | B+ | 4.9 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 16 | Layer-de-la-Haye Essex | B+ | 9.5 | 79% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 17 | Mynydd Marian Clwyd | B+ | 1.7 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 18 | Quintrell Downs Cornwall | B+ | 3.3 | 100% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 19 | Barleythorpe Rutland | B+ | 3.7 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 20 | Abbots Bromley Staffordshire | B | 6.9 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 21 | Wymeswold Leicestershire | B | 2.9 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 22 | Motcombe Dorset | B | 9.5 | 74% | 1.5 | 25% |
| 23 | Marazion Cornwall | B | 1.4 | 80% | 2 | 14% |
| 24 | Seven Sisters West Glamorgan | B | 7 | 82% | 0.5 | 19% |
| 25 | Cwmllynfell and Ystradowen West Glamorgan | B | 4.1 | 79% | 1 | 40% |
| 26 | Lingdale North Yorkshire | B− | 1.4 | 100% | 1.7 | 31% |
| 27 | Holymoorside Derbyshire | B− | 1.1 | 82% | 3.8 | 14% |
| 28 | Burton-in-Kendal Cumbria | B− | 0.6 | 100% | 2.4 | 23% |
| 29 | Narborough Norfolk | B− | 3.8 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 30 | Cockfield County Durham | B− | 2.3 | 81% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 31 | Burwash East Sussex | B− | 1.5 | 76% | 2.5 | 100% |
| 32 | St Merryn Cornwall | B− | 1.9 | 47% | 1.7 | 29% |
| 33 | Helmsley North Yorkshire | B− | 2.4 | 44% | 2.5 | 73% |
| 34 | Mobberley Cheshire | C+ | 1.4 | 100% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 35 | Pensarn Clwyd | C+ | 13.1 | 45% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 36 | Morton Derbyshire | C+ | 18.3 | 66% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 37 | Littleton Panell Wiltshire | C+ | 5.3 | 39% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 38 | Stonnall Staffordshire | C+ | 11.5 | 82% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 39 | Stoke Gabriel Devon | C+ | 1.2 | 70% | 1.2 | 30% |
| 40 | Harpole Northamptonshire | C | 2.3 | 81% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 41 | Kislingbury Northamptonshire | C | 8.4 | 26% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 42 | Moretonhampstead Devon | C | 0.6 | 81% | 1.2 | 100% |
| 43 | Seaton Burn Tyne and Wear | C | 3.3 | 36% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 44 | Winkleigh Devon | C | 1.9 | 100% | 0.2 | 0% |
| 45 | Cottingham and Middleton Northamptonshire | C− | 12.1 | 53% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 46 | Cowbit Lincolnshire | C− | 0.9 | 100% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 47 | Northborough Cambridgeshire | C− | 1.7 | 68% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 48 | Ogmore-by-Sea South Glamorgan | C− | 0 | 0% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 49 | Butterwick Lincolnshire | D | 1.8 | 40% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 50 | Todwick South Yorkshire | D | 2 | 51% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 51 | Malpas Cheshire | D | 1.6 | 61% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 52 | North Cave East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 2.5 | 47% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 53 | Staindrop County Durham | D | 1.4 | 82% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 54 | Longframlington Northumberland | D | 1.3 | 78% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 55 | Bomere Heath Shropshire | D− | 1.8 | 0% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 56 | Brandesburton East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 2.2 | 0% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 57 | Claypole Lincolnshire | D− | 0.7 | 0% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 58 | Kilsby Northamptonshire | D− | 0.5 | 50% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 59 | Griston Norfolk | D− | 0.8 | 15% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 60 | Cock and End Suffolk | D− | 0 | 0% | 0.9 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is St Merryn’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 St Merryn
The biggest is The Green, 0.4 ha (1 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
5 in 10 St Merryn 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 (47%)Further (54%)
St Merryn47%
Villages its size80%
Cornwall towns81%
All UK towns83%
About 700 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 7 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 192 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
National Parks and National Landscapes around St Merryn
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-west964 km²since 195929% of the land within 5 km
Official site29% of the land within 5 km of St Merryn is National Park or National Landscape, more than 82% of UK towns.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
St Merryn is on the South West Coast Path
19 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in St Merryn and the kilometre around it, 1.7 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
NationalLocal
Booby's Bay walk, North Cornwall7.1 km
South West Coast Path (Section 15: Padstow to Porthcothan)6.9 km
King Charles III England Coast Path: Marsland Mouth to Newquay6.9 km
Walk to Trevose Head from the bus stop, North Cornwall1.3 km
The South West Coast Path, a national route, passes St Merryn. Close to home, the Booby's Bay walk, North Cornwall has 7 km of local walk within 2 km of the village.
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 St Merryn: May to September
The village’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 | 15.5 | 16.4 | 16.0 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.9 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 102 | 79 | 66 | 57 | 55 | 59 | 65 | 71 | 71 | 111 | 117 | 115 |
May is the driest month (55 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 117 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 9 nights a year. The climate in St Merryn →
The coast
St Merryn is near the sea
34% of the area within 5 km of St Merryn is sea. 32 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 11 with a name.
Harlyn Bay1.0 mi from town
DirectionsTrevone Beach1.1 mi from town
DirectionsTreyarnon Beach1.1 mi from town
DirectionsFox Cove1.2 mi from town
DirectionsPepper Cove1.2 mi from town
DirectionsConstantine Bay1.3 mi from town
DirectionsPorthcothan Beach1.4 mi from town
DirectionsMother Ivy's Bay1.5 mi from town
DirectionsBooby's Bay1.6 mi from town
DirectionsMackerel Cove2.2 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
7 playgrounds
Mapped within 2 km of the village in OpenStreetMap, against the typical UK village its size per resident. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
Every named place, with directions
Playgrounds 7
Plus 7 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 6
Trewithen Caravan and Camping0.3 mi from town
DirectionsTregella0.9 mi from town
DirectionsTrayarnon Bay Youth Hostel1.0 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 3 campsites 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.
PadstowRockSt Columb MajorWadebridgeEgloshayleNewquaySt Merryn
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Merryn | B− | 1.9 | 47% | 29% |
| Padstow 2.2 mi | C+ | 0.6 | 33% | 37% |
| Rock 4.1 mi | A− | 3.2 | 39% | 37% |
| St Columb Major 6.6 mi | D | 1.0 | 89% | 0% |
| Wadebridge 6.7 mi | C | 1.8 | 74% | 17% |
| Egloshayle 7.2 mi | A | 7.3 | 100% | 12% |
| Newquay 8.3 mi | C+ | 1.6 | 75% | 0% |
Egloshayle, 7.2 miles away, grades A, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Egloshayle has at least twice St Merryn’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in St Merryn
What is the biggest park in St Merryn?
The Green, 0.4 ha (1 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the village or within 400 m of it.
Is St Merryn near a National Park?
It covers 964 km² and was designated in 1959.
What are the best walks near St Merryn?
4 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the Booby's Bay walk, North Cornwall, South West Coast Path (Section 15: Padstow to Porthcothan) and King Charles III England Coast Path: Marsland Mouth to Newquay.
How many people in St Merryn live near a park?
47% 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 St Merryn?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is St Merryn good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.7 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 20% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 42% (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 St Merryn’s overall grade.
Sources
Where St Merryn’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.