St Bees’ biggest
Adams Recreation Ground
Playing field
4.2 ha (10 acres)
6 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.4 mi north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Doug Sim · CC BY-SA 3.0BOutdoors Grade
Outdoors in St Bees · parks, paths & countryside
St Bees is on the coast, on the King Charles III England Coast Path
The sea makes up 46% of the area within 5 km. Parks and playing fields in St Bees add up to 8.5 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. The Lake District National Park begins 3.7 mi from the village’s edge. St Bees grades B for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
8.5 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
78%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
13 km
1.2 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Lake District starts 3.7 mi out, past the 5 km
The sea
46%
of the area within 5 km
A coastal town
Character
What kind of outdoors village is St Bees?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
On the coast46% of the area within 5 km is sea; 3 beaches mapped.Room to roam8.5 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 94% of UK towns.Countryside close byThe Lake District National Park starts 3.7 mi north-east.Few mapped footpaths1.2 km of path per km²; the typical UK town has 3.0.
St Bees’ strongest suit is the sea, followed by plenty of park space. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Outdoors grade
St Bees grades B for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is St Bees, 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 63% of UK towns16th of 60 UK villages its size
Public green space8.5 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
94out of
100
100
A park within a walk78%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
43out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · Lake District begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths1.2 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
11out of
100
100
The sea46%of the area within 5 km
98out 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 Bees is 16th of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,100 to 1,300 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 Bees1.2
Villages its size1.9
Cumbria towns2.1
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
St Bees8.5
Villages its size2.3
Cumbria towns2.0
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
St Bees78%
Villages its size75%
Cumbria towns84%
All UK towns83%
Against villages its size, St Bees stands out most for park space per resident: only 3 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 46 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porlock Somerset | A+ | 2.9 | 75% | 5.2 | 71% |
| 2 | Carlin How North Yorkshire | A+ | 3.1 | 100% | 2.3 | 13% |
| 3 | Sundridge Kent | A+ | 9.1 | 100% | 2.3 | 73% |
| 4 | Longhoughton Northumberland | A+ | 4.7 | 100% | 1.2 | 27% |
| 5 | Shamley Green Surrey | A | 2.9 | 100% | 3 | 69% |
| 6 | Dawlish Warren Devon | A | 21.1 | 73% | 2.9 | 1% |
| 7 | Niton Isle of Wight | A | 2.6 | 76% | 3.1 | 37% |
| 8 | Egloshayle Cornwall | A | 7.3 | 100% | 2.6 | 12% |
| 9 | Bures Suffolk | A | 5.4 | 100% | 2.5 | 14% |
| 10 | Ruardean Gloucestershire | A | 4.5 | 100% | 2.2 | 29% |
| 11 | Great Bedwyn Wiltshire | A | 3 | 76% | 3.7 | 100% |
| 12 | Brighstone Isle of Wight | A | 2.2 | 55% | 3.4 | 56% |
| 13 | Hurst Green East Sussex | B+ | 2.3 | 100% | 1.1 | 100% |
| 14 | Oxspring South Yorkshire | B+ | 2.7 | 77% | 4 | 1% |
| 15 | Stallingborough Lincolnshire | B+ | 2.3 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 16 | St Bees Cumbria | B | 8.5 | 78% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 17 | Clyst St Mary Devon | B | 5.8 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 18 | Bodedern Gwynedd | B | 1.2 | 100% | 0 | 16% |
| 19 | Woodchurch Kent | B | 2.3 | 78% | 2.8 | 12% |
| 20 | Moresby Parks Cumbria | B− | 1.2 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 21 | Stradbroke Suffolk | B− | 3 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 22 | Thorpe End Norfolk | B− | 0.7 | 100% | 2.5 | 10% |
| 23 | Stretton-on-Dunsmore Warwickshire | B− | 2.9 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 24 | Welford Northamptonshire | B− | 3.5 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 25 | Rushwick Worcestershire | B− | 5 | 71% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 26 | Datchworth Hertfordshire | C+ | 10.8 | 76% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 27 | Tansley Derbyshire | C+ | 1.6 | 73% | 3.4 | 4% |
| 28 | Lyne Surrey | C+ | 4 | 71% | 3 | 0% |
| 29 | Coldeast Devon | C+ | 1.6 | 47% | 3.6 | 30% |
| 30 | Haswell County Durham | C+ | 3.2 | 100% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 31 | Chesterton Oxfordshire | C+ | 1.8 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 32 | Bottom Boat West Yorkshire | C | 0.8 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 33 | Stalmine Lancashire | C | 3.1 | 67% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 34 | Carlyon Bay Cornwall | C | 0.7 | 0% | 2.4 | 12% |
| 35 | Rearsby Leicestershire | C | 1.5 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 36 | Yoxall Staffordshire | C | 1.9 | 100% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 37 | Barrington Cambridgeshire | C | 3.6 | 69% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 38 | Croughton Northamptonshire | C | 3.6 | 73% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 39 | Raglan Gwent | C− | 3.9 | 0% | 1.2 | 1% |
| 40 | Hill Brow and Rake Hampshire | C− | 0 | 0% | 2.9 | 97% |
| 41 | Old Leake Lincolnshire | C− | 3.6 | 75% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 42 | Methley West Yorkshire | C− | 0.2 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 43 | Abbotskerswell Devon | C− | 4.2 | 49% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 44 | Spofforth North Yorkshire | C− | 1.7 | 78% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 45 | Parson Drove Cambridgeshire | D | 3.5 | 60% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 46 | Shardlow Derbyshire | D | 1.5 | 73% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 47 | Kingswood Warwickshire | D | 1.7 | 42% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 48 | Pant Shropshire | D | 0.3 | 0% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 49 | Puddletown Dorset | D | 0.2 | 0% | 2.1 | 15% |
| 50 | Outlane West Yorkshire | D | 0.5 | 0% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 51 | Aston Oxfordshire | D | 2.2 | 62% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 52 | Llanybydder Dyfed | D | 2.2 | 60% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 53 | Melton Constable Norfolk | D | 1.6 | 76% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 54 | Stoke Ferry Norfolk | D | 1.1 | 73% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 55 | Ifold West Sussex | D | 0 | 0% | 1.9 | 5% |
| 56 | Bretforton Worcestershire | D− | 0.2 | 0% | 1.4 | 9% |
| 57 | Standlake Oxfordshire | D− | 1.7 | 42% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 58 | Wrawby Lincolnshire | D− | 1.8 | 26% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 59 | Darrington West Yorkshire | D− | 0.5 | 72% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Fiskerton Lincolnshire | D− | 0 | 0% | 1.9 | 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 Bees’ 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 Bees
The biggest is Adams Recreation Ground, 4.2 ha (10 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
8 in 10 St Bees 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 (78%)Further (22%)
St Bees78%
Villages its size75%
Cumbria towns84%
All UK towns83%
About 300 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Lake District National Park is 3.7 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
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so St Bees scores 0% on it even though the Lake District National Park is 3.7 mi away. Lake District National Park covers 2,362 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
St Bees is on the King Charles III England Coast Path
13 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in St Bees and the kilometre around it, 1.2 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
NationalRegionalLocal
King Charles III England Coast Path: Whitehaven to Silecroft7.2 km
Cumbria Coastal Way4.3 km
Coast to Coast Walk (St Bees to Shap)4.3 km
Whitehaven Colourful Coastal Walk, North Lakes Outdoors4.1 km
The King Charles III England Coast Path, a national route, passes St Bees. The regional route here is the Cumbria Coastal 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 St Bees: June 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) | 7.8 | 9.6 | 11.7 | 14.0 | 16.0 | 17.2 | 16.7 | 14.9 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.3 | 7.3 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 100 | 80 | 74 | 59 | 64 | 72 | 80 | 97 | 92 | 127 | 118 | 110 |
April is the driest month (59 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 127 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 24 nights a year. The climate in St Bees →
The coast
The coast and beaches near St Bees
46% of the area within 5 km of St Bees is sea. 3 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 1 with a name.
Fleswick Bay1.1 mi from town
DirectionsThe King Charles III England 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
Viewpoints, hills and nature near St Bees
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
Viewpoints 1
Old Coastguard look-out0.4 mi from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 1
St Bees Beach play areain town
DirectionsCampsites 1
Plus 1 campsite without a name on the map.
Slipways 1
Plus 1 slipway 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.
EgremontWhitehavenCleator MoorMoresby ParksFrizingtonDistingtonSt Bees
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Bees | B | 8.5 | 78% | 0% |
| Egremont 2.3 mi | C | 1.1 | 63% | 11% |
| Whitehaven 3.5 mi | B+ | 1.8 | 91% | 1% |
| Cleator Moor 3.7 mi | B+ | 3.5 | 91% | 11% |
| Moresby Parks 5.2 mi | B− | 1.2 | 100% | 0% |
| Frizington 5.4 mi | D | 1.4 | 52% | 15% |
| Distington 7.6 mi | A− | 4.2 | 100% | 0% |
Distington, 7.6 miles away, grades A−, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in St Bees
What is the biggest park in St Bees?
Adams Recreation Ground, 4.2 ha (10 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the village or within 400 m of it.
Is St Bees near a National Park?
Yes. Lake District National Park begins 3.7 mi north-east of the village’s edge. It covers 2,362 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
What are the best walks near St Bees?
4 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the King Charles III England Coast Path: Whitehaven to Silecroft, Cumbria Coastal Way and Coast to Coast Walk (St Bees to Shap).
How many people in St Bees 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 St Bees?
June to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is St Bees good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.2 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 11% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 94% (8.5 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 Bees’ overall grade.
Sources
Where St Bees’ 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.