Whitehaven’s biggest
Whitehaven Playground
Playing field
3.6 ha (9 acres)
5 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.6 mi north-westfrom the centre
1 listed
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: habiloid · CC BY-SA 2.0B+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Whitehaven · parks, paths & countryside
Whitehaven is on the coast, on the Coast to Coast Walk
The sea makes up 35% of the area within 5 km. The Lake District National Park begins 2.5 mi from the town’s edge. 91% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Whitehaven grades B+ for the outdoors: #9 of 23 in Cumbria. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
1.8 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
91%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
55 km
2.0 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
1%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Lake District National Park
The sea
35%
of the area within 5 km
A coastal town
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Whitehaven?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
On the coast35% of the area within 5 km is sea; 5 beaches mapped.Countryside close byThe Lake District National Park starts 2.5 mi south-east.On a National TrailThe Coast to Coast Walk passes through.Less park per person1.8 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1.
Whitehaven’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by the Lake District National Park close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Outdoors grade
Whitehaven grades B+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Whitehaven, 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 73% of UK towns#9 of 23 in Cumbria · 24th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space1.8 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
39out of
100
100
A park within a walk91%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
68out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape1%of the land within 5 km
63out of
100
100
Footpaths2.0 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
31out of
100
100
The sea35%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.
Towns its size
Whitehaven is 24th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 21,400 to 24,700 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
Whitehaven2.0
Towns its size3.5
Cumbria towns2.1
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Whitehaven1.8
Towns its size2.5
Cumbria towns2.0
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Whitehaven91%
Towns its size82%
Cumbria towns84%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Whitehaven stands out most for homes near a park: only 15 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 56 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee-on-the-Solent Hampshire | A+ | 5.7 | 96% | 3.7 | 1% |
| 2 | Chapeltown and High Green South Yorkshire | A+ | 4.9 | 94% | 5.8 | 0% |
| 3 | Falmouth Cornwall | A | 1.3 | 96% | 3.5 | 41% |
| 4 | Reddish Greater Manchester | A | 6.7 | 100% | 5 | 0% |
| 5 | Caterham Surrey | A | 4.3 | 84% | 4.3 | 17% |
| 6 | Ash and Ash Vale Surrey | A | 4.3 | 72% | 5.4 | 20% |
| 7 | Seaham County Durham | A | 2.9 | 90% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 8 | Thornaby-on-Tees North Yorkshire | A | 5.4 | 92% | 5.2 | 0% |
| 9 | South Ockendon Essex | A− | 2.6 | 88% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 10 | Droylsden Greater Manchester | A− | 5.2 | 95% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 11 | Reigate Surrey | A− | 5.5 | 58% | 4.7 | 20% |
| 12 | Felixstowe Suffolk | A− | 2 | 88% | 1.9 | 28% |
| 13 | Heanor Derbyshire | A− | 4.2 | 92% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 14 | Gorleston-on-Sea Norfolk | A− | 1.4 | 81% | 3.2 | 17% |
| 15 | Hedge End Hampshire | A− | 5.5 | 87% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 16 | Coalville Leicestershire | A− | 3.7 | 94% | 4 | 0% |
| 17 | Kempston Bedfordshire | A− | 4.9 | 88% | 4 | 0% |
| 18 | Newton-le-Willows Merseyside | A− | 5.2 | 99% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 19 | Ryde Isle of Wight | A− | 1.7 | 76% | 2.6 | 19% |
| 20 | Shoreham-by-Sea West Sussex | A− | 1.6 | 74% | 2.7 | 35% |
| 21 | Whitefield Greater Manchester | A− | 4.7 | 87% | 4 | 0% |
| 22 | Ingleby Barwick North Yorkshire | B+ | 2.9 | 87% | 6.1 | 0% |
| 23 | Maldon Essex | B+ | 2.8 | 82% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 24 | Whitehaven Cumbria | B+ | 1.8 | 91% | 2 | 1% |
| 25 | Chesham Buckinghamshire | B+ | 1.9 | 73% | 4 | 64% |
| 26 | Crowborough East Sussex | B+ | 3.2 | 68% | 2.6 | 91% |
| 27 | Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock Essex | B+ | 2.2 | 97% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 28 | Oadby Leicestershire | B+ | 3.7 | 92% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 29 | Seaford East Sussex | B+ | 0.8 | 73% | 2.8 | 52% |
| 30 | Ossett West Yorkshire | B+ | 2.8 | 91% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 31 | Orrell Greater Manchester | B+ | 4.1 | 77% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 32 | Swinton Greater Manchester | B | 3.9 | 81% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 33 | Great Bookham and Fetcham Surrey | B | 1.7 | 68% | 4.4 | 33% |
| 34 | Biggleswade Bedfordshire | B | 1.6 | 95% | 5.2 | 0% |
| 35 | Westhoughton Greater Manchester | B | 1.9 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 36 | Old Trafford Greater Manchester | B | 2.5 | 79% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 37 | Sudbury Suffolk | B | 3.8 | 77% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 38 | Truro Cornwall | B | 1.6 | 84% | 2.9 | 21% |
| 39 | Hailsham East Sussex | B | 1.4 | 87% | 3.2 | 12% |
| 40 | Rawtenstall Lancashire | B | 1.9 | 83% | 6.4 | 0% |
| 41 | Royton Greater Manchester | B− | 2.8 | 71% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 42 | St Austell Cornwall | B− | 1.2 | 71% | 2.5 | 7% |
| 43 | Bishop Auckland County Durham | B− | 2.7 | 85% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 44 | Chester-le-Street County Durham | C+ | 1.7 | 75% | 6.2 | 0% |
| 45 | Hindley Greater Manchester | C+ | 2.5 | 77% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Newquay Cornwall | C+ | 1.6 | 75% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 47 | Ashford Surrey | C+ | 3.4 | 73% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 48 | Clifton Nottinghamshire | C+ | 1.5 | 76% | 6.2 | 0% |
| 49 | Sunbury-on-Thames Surrey | C+ | 2 | 79% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 50 | Kenilworth Warwickshire | C+ | 2.7 | 75% | 3 | 0% |
| 51 | Market Harborough Leicestershire | C+ | 1.9 | 94% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 52 | Formby Merseyside | C+ | 1.4 | 63% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 53 | Ascot Berkshire | C+ | 3.6 | 56% | 3 | 0% |
| 54 | Potters Bar Hertfordshire | C | 1.6 | 71% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 55 | Normanton West Yorkshire | C | 1.2 | 88% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 56 | Wickersley and Bramley South Yorkshire | C | 1.7 | 77% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 57 | Stowmarket Suffolk | C− | 0.8 | 50% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 58 | Retford Nottinghamshire | C− | 1.7 | 76% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 59 | Gainsborough Lincolnshire | C− | 1 | 96% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 60 | Darlaston West Midlands | D | 1.3 | 78% | 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 Whitehaven’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 Whitehaven
The biggest is Whitehaven Playground, 3.6 ha (9 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Trinity Gardens
Park or garden
0.4 ha (1 acres)
0.6 mi north-westfrom the centre
2 listed
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
9 in 10 Whitehaven 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 (10%)
Whitehaven91%
Towns its size82%
Cumbria towns84%
All UK towns83%
About 2,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 16 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 1,435 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Lake District National Park is 2.5 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
Lake District National Park covers 2,362 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Whitehaven is on the Coast to Coast Walk
55 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Whitehaven and the kilometre around it, 2.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
NationalLocal
Coast to Coast Walk (St Bees to Shap)7.5 km
King Charles III England Coast Path: Allonby to Whitehaven5.5 km
Whitehaven Colourful Coastal Walk, North Lakes Outdoors4.6 km
King Charles III England Coast Path: Whitehaven to Silecroft4.5 km
The Coast to Coast Walk, a national route, passes Whitehaven.
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 Whitehaven: 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 | 16.0 | 17.2 | 16.7 | 14.9 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.3 | 7.3 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 104 | 80 | 76 | 57 | 67 | 75 | 84 | 103 | 96 | 132 | 121 | 111 |
April is the driest month (57 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 132 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 27 nights a year. The climate in Whitehaven →
The coast
The coast and beaches near Whitehaven
35% of the area within 5 km of Whitehaven is sea. 5 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 2 with a name.
North Beach0.0 mi from town
DirectionsFleswick Bay1.9 mi from town
DirectionsThe Coast to Coast Walk 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
16 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 1
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 16
Plus 16 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 2
Plus 2 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.
Moresby ParksCleator MoorFrizingtonSt BeesDistingtonEgremontWhitehaven
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitehaven | B+ | 1.8 | 91% | 1% |
| Moresby Parks 1.8 mi | B− | 1.2 | 100% | 0% |
| Cleator Moor 2.7 mi | B+ | 3.5 | 91% | 11% |
| Frizington 3.4 mi | D | 1.4 | 52% | 15% |
| St Bees 3.5 mi | B | 8.5 | 78% | 0% |
| Distington 4.2 mi | A− | 4.2 | 100% | 0% |
| Egremont 4.3 mi | C | 1.1 | 63% | 11% |
Distington, 4.2 miles away, grades A−, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. St Bees and Distington have at least twice Whitehaven’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Whitehaven
What is the biggest park in Whitehaven?
Whitehaven Playground, 3.6 ha (9 acres). Trinity Gardens (0.4 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Whitehaven near a National Park?
Yes. Lake District National Park begins 2.5 mi south-east of the town’s edge. It covers 2,362 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
What are the best walks near Whitehaven?
4 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Coast to Coast Walk (St Bees to Shap), King Charles III England Coast Path: Allonby to Whitehaven and Whitehaven Colourful Coastal Walk, North Lakes Outdoors.
How many people in Whitehaven 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 Whitehaven?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Whitehaven good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 2.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 31% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 39% (1.8 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 Whitehaven’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Whitehaven’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.