Brandon’s biggest
Holliday Park
Park or garden
7.3 ha (18 acres)1.8 km of path
25 minto walk all 1.8 km of path
10 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1 mi north-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Robert Graham · CC BY-SA 2.0C+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Brandon · parks, paths & countryside
Parks and walks in Brandon
61 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 3.6 for every square kilometre. 72% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Parks and playing fields in Brandon add up to 2.2 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Brandon grades C+ for the outdoors: #32 of 52 in County Durham. 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
72%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
61 km
3.6 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: North Pennines National Landscape
Outdoors grade
Brandon grades C+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Brandon, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
C+
Better than 38% of UK towns#32 of 52 in County Durham · 48th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space2.2 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
52out of
100
100
A park within a walk72%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
34out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · None within 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths3.6 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
74out 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
Brandon is 48th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 9,000 to 10,000 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
Brandon3.6
Towns its size3.2
County Durham towns3.0
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Brandon2.2
Towns its size2.7
County Durham towns2.1
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Brandon72%
Towns its size86%
County Durham towns88%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Brandon stands out most for path per km²: only 20 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 45 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swanage Dorset | A+ | 6.9 | 95% | 4.2 | 47% |
| 2 | Caldicot Gwent | A+ | 4.2 | 92% | 3 | 2% |
| 3 | Brynteg Clwyd | A | 8.5 | 100% | 2.8 | 7% |
| 4 | Ilfracombe Devon | A | 2 | 86% | 3 | 28% |
| 5 | Bordon Hampshire | A | 8.6 | 54% | 6.7 | 49% |
| 6 | Killamarsh Derbyshire | A | 10.6 | 97% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 7 | Linthwaite and Slaithwaite West Yorkshire | A | 2.2 | 97% | 4.8 | 12% |
| 8 | New Mills Derbyshire | A | 2.4 | 84% | 5.1 | 34% |
| 9 | Beccles Suffolk | A | 4.5 | 87% | 3.2 | 20% |
| 10 | South Merstham Surrey | A | 3.7 | 84% | 3.7 | 20% |
| 11 | Nuthall and Watnall Nottinghamshire | A | 6.3 | 97% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 12 | Bradford-on-Avon Wiltshire | A | 2.8 | 88% | 3.7 | 21% |
| 13 | Greasby Merseyside | A | 5.9 | 74% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 14 | Southborough Kent | A− | 2.8 | 94% | 2.5 | 57% |
| 15 | Whiteley Hampshire | A− | 3 | 52% | 4.4 | 2% |
| 16 | Thurmaston Leicestershire | A− | 10.4 | 89% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 17 | Esher Surrey | A− | 6.9 | 86% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 18 | Shelf and Northowram West Yorkshire | A− | 5.3 | 88% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 19 | Billingshurst West Sussex | A− | 2.9 | 95% | 3.1 | 3% |
| 20 | Thurnscoe South Yorkshire | A− | 9.4 | 100% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 21 | Shaftesbury Dorset | A− | 2.8 | 92% | 2.3 | 44% |
| 22 | Aveley Essex | A− | 3.4 | 84% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 23 | Shanklin Isle of Wight | A− | 1.4 | 33% | 4.5 | 29% |
| 24 | Irthlingborough Northamptonshire | A− | 4.7 | 94% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 25 | Yarm North Yorkshire | A− | 3.3 | 96% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 26 | Frodsham Cheshire | B+ | 2.5 | 67% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 27 | Sandiacre Derbyshire | B+ | 2.6 | 94% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 28 | Shildon County Durham | B | 2.8 | 93% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 29 | Pontllanfraith Gwent | B | 3.7 | 93% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 30 | Hemsworth West Yorkshire | B | 3.6 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 31 | Gatley Greater Manchester | B | 5.7 | 66% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 32 | North Wingfield and Holmewood Derbyshire | B | 2.7 | 84% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 33 | Queensbury West Yorkshire | B | 2.6 | 91% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 34 | Tiptree Essex | B | 2.7 | 90% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 35 | Immingham Lincolnshire | B | 2 | 100% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 36 | Perton Staffordshire | B | 2.4 | 93% | 3 | 0% |
| 37 | Yaxley Cambridgeshire | B− | 2.6 | 90% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 38 | Pembroke Dock Dyfed | B− | 1.7 | 80% | 1.1 | 25% |
| 39 | Caernarfon Gwynedd | B− | 1.7 | 83% | 1.4 | 14% |
| 40 | Horbury West Yorkshire | B− | 2.5 | 75% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 41 | Mildenhall Suffolk | B− | 2.1 | 91% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 42 | Knottingley West Yorkshire | B− | 2.7 | 88% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 43 | Whitchurch Shropshire | B− | 2.7 | 86% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 44 | Caister-on-Sea Norfolk | C+ | 1.1 | 58% | 2.1 | 21% |
| 45 | Wideopen Tyne and Wear | C+ | 2.1 | 75% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 46 | Mold Clwyd | C+ | 1.9 | 86% | 1.6 | 17% |
| 47 | Okehampton Devon | C+ | 0.9 | 85% | 2.2 | 37% |
| 48 | Brandon County Durham | C+ | 2.2 | 72% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 49 | Crook County Durham | C+ | 1.5 | 85% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 50 | Lydney Gloucestershire | C+ | 2.1 | 52% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 51 | Barwell Leicestershire | C | 1.7 | 90% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 52 | Diss Norfolk | C | 1.5 | 80% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 53 | Milnrow Greater Manchester | C | 2.9 | 58% | 3 | 0% |
| 54 | Shepton Mallet Somerset | C | 1.2 | 70% | 2.8 | 1% |
| 55 | Totnes Devon | C | 0.4 | 65% | 3.3 | 11% |
| 56 | Pencoed Mid Glamorgan | C− | 2.8 | 52% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 57 | Broughton Astley Leicestershire | D | 1 | 82% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 58 | Brandon Suffolk | D | 0.8 | 39% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 59 | Littleport Cambridgeshire | D | 1 | 71% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 60 | Pheasey West Midlands | D− | 0.9 | 40% | 2.4 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Brandon’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 Brandon
The biggest is Holliday Park, 7.3 ha (18 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Addison Park
Playing field
2.5 ha (6 acres)0.6 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.6 km of path
4 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Brandon
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
7 in 10 Brandon 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 (72%)Further (28%)
Brandon72%
Towns its size86%
County Durham towns88%
All UK towns83%
About 2,700 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 10 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 951 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The North Pennines National Landscape is 7.7 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
Footpaths & waymarked walks
11 waymarked walks pass through or near Brandon
61 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Brandon and the kilometre around it, 3.6 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
RegionalLocal
Finchale Camino Inglés (Durham to Escomb)6.2 km
Heritage 100 - Bearpark4.9 km
Small Pilgrim Places4.4 km
Riverside Trail3.5 km
Weardale Way3.1 km
Battle of Neville's Cross2.8 km
Sulphur and Salt Trail2.5 km
H100: Croxdale2.0 km
Wagon Way Trail1.1 km
Heritage 100 - Ushaw Moor0.7 km
Houghall Discovery Trail0.6 km
2 regional routes pass through, including the Finchale Camino Inglés (Durham to Escomb) and Weardale Way.
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 Brandon: 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) | 7.8 | 9.6 | 11.7 | 14.0 | 16.1 | 17.3 | 16.8 | 14.9 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.3 | 7.2 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 55 | 48 | 43 | 52 | 46 | 63 | 62 | 68 | 57 | 65 | 75 | 64 |
March is the driest month (43 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 75 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 50 nights a year. The climate in Brandon →
Things to do
4 viewpoints, 10 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.
4Viewpoints4.1× towns its size3Hills and peaks1Nature reserves5Picnic sites10Playgrounds0.5× towns its size
The nearest beaches
Brandon is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Shippersea Bay12 mi from Brandon’s edge
DirectionsBlast Beach12 mi from Brandon’s edge
DirectionsHawthorn Hive12 mi from Brandon’s edge
DirectionsHendon Beach13 mi from Brandon’s edge
DirectionsShingles16 mi from Brandon’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.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 4
Observatory Hill0.9 mi from town
DirectionsView of Cathedral, Mill and weir1.2 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 2 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 3
Elvet Hill0.8 mi from town
DirectionsThe Mound0.9 mi from town
DirectionsPinnock Hill1.1 mi from town
DirectionsNature reserves 1
The Ponderosa3.9 ha · 0.0 mi from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 5
Broompark Picnic Area0.3 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 4 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 10
Plus 10 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.
New BrancepethUshaw Moor and BearparkDurhamSpennymoorHigh ShincliffeWillingtonBrandon
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon | C+ | 2.2 | 72% | 0% |
| New Brancepeth 1.5 mi | B+ | 2.6 | 100% | 0% |
| Ushaw Moor and Bearpark 2.1 mi | C+ | 1.6 | 82% | 0% |
| Durham 3.1 mi | C | 1.1 | 68% | 0% |
| Spennymoor 3.4 mi | C+ | 2.1 | 84% | 0% |
| High Shincliffe 3.4 mi | B− | 0.5 | 100% | 0% |
| Willington 3.7 mi | B+ | 4.7 | 95% | 0% |
New Brancepeth, 1.5 miles away, grades B+, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Willington has at least twice Brandon’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Brandon
What is the biggest park in Brandon?
Holliday Park, 7.3 ha (18 acres), with 1.8 km of path. Addison Park (2.5 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Brandon near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the North Pennines National Landscape, 7.7 mi west of the town’s edge. It covers 1,985 km² and was designated in 1988.
What are the best walks near Brandon?
11 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Finchale Camino Inglés (Durham to Escomb), Heritage 100 - Bearpark and Small Pilgrim Places.
What is the nearest beach to Brandon?
Shippersea Bay, 12 mi from the edge of the town, then Blast Beach (12 mi). Brandon itself is inland.
How many people in Brandon live near a park?
72% 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 Brandon?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Brandon good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.6 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 74% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 52% (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 Brandon’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Brandon’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.