Bakewell’s biggest
Rutland Recreation Ground
Playing field
4.4 ha (11 acres)0.8 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.8 km of path
6 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Bakewell
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Peter Barr · CC BY-SA 2.0AOutdoors Grade
Outdoors in Bakewell · parks, paths & countryside
Bakewell is inside the Peak District National Park
Parks and playing fields in Bakewell add up to 5.5 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 91% of residents. Bakewell grades A for the outdoors: #3 of 59 in Derbyshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
5.5 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
91%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
38 km
2.7 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
98%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Peak District National Park
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Bakewell?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Inside the Peak District National ParkBakewell sits inside it: 1,438 km² of protected landscape.Room to roam5.5 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 88% of UK towns.
Bakewell’s strongest suit is a protected landscape all round, followed by plenty of park space.
Outdoors grade
Bakewell grades A for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Bakewell, 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 94% of UK towns#3 of 59 in Derbyshire · 2nd of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space5.5 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
89out of
100
100
A park within a walk91%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
70out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape98%of the land within 5 km
99out of
100
100
Footpaths2.7 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
51out 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
Bakewell is 2nd of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 3,100 to 3,400 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
Bakewell2.7
Towns its size2.3
Derbyshire towns3.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Bakewell5.5
Towns its size1.7
Derbyshire towns2.2
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Bakewell91%
Towns its size78%
Derbyshire towns86%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Bakewell stands out most for park space per resident: only 4 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whyteleafe Surrey | A+ | 16.3 | 100% | 4.9 | 15% |
| 2 | Bakewell Derbyshire | A | 5.5 | 91% | 2.7 | 98% |
| 3 | Bignall End Staffordshire | A | 9.1 | 100% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 4 | Broadwell and Coalway Gloucestershire | A | 2.8 | 72% | 5.5 | 38% |
| 5 | Moira Leicestershire | A | 15.5 | 86% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 6 | Neyland Dyfed | A− | 3 | 93% | 1.2 | 13% |
| 7 | Birdwell South Yorkshire | A− | 3.6 | 90% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 8 | North Petherton Somerset | B+ | 3.8 | 91% | 2.3 | 5% |
| 9 | Addingham West Yorkshire | B+ | 1.8 | 93% | 3 | 32% |
| 10 | Newlyn Cornwall | B+ | 1.5 | 67% | 3.2 | 24% |
| 11 | St Agnes Cornwall | B+ | 1 | 81% | 3 | 5% |
| 12 | Markyate Hertfordshire | B+ | 1.4 | 100% | 2.2 | 53% |
| 13 | Mickletown West Yorkshire | B+ | 3.3 | 93% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 14 | Elton Cheshire | B | 1.9 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 15 | Madeley Staffordshire | B | 3.8 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 16 | Walton West Yorkshire | B | 12.3 | 78% | 3 | 0% |
| 17 | Treeton South Yorkshire | B | 4.4 | 63% | 5.3 | 0% |
| 18 | Fishbourne West Sussex | B | 1.9 | 38% | 2.5 | 47% |
| 19 | Fernhill Heath Worcestershire | B | 3.2 | 88% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 20 | Caddington Bedfordshire | B | 1.3 | 81% | 3.6 | 33% |
| 21 | Hemingford Grey Cambridgeshire | B | 1.9 | 100% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 22 | Ringmer East Sussex | B− | 1.9 | 91% | 1.8 | 37% |
| 23 | Pangbourne Berkshire | B− | 2.9 | 61% | 2 | 85% |
| 24 | Askam in Furness Cumbria | B− | 1.7 | 90% | 2 | 0% |
| 25 | Dunton Green Kent | B− | 1 | 82% | 2.7 | 69% |
| 26 | Stalham Norfolk | B− | 1.9 | 85% | 2 | 23% |
| 27 | Healing Lincolnshire | B− | 2 | 78% | 1.3 | 1% |
| 28 | Highley Shropshire | C+ | 3.4 | 73% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 29 | Pegswood Northumberland | C+ | 1.3 | 100% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 30 | Milborne Port Somerset | C+ | 1.6 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 31 | Leadgate County Durham | C+ | 1.5 | 91% | 1.9 | 1% |
| 32 | West Bergholt Essex | C | 1.5 | 82% | 1.8 | 9% |
| 33 | Marlow Bottom Buckinghamshire | C | 0.5 | 40% | 3.4 | 50% |
| 34 | Ashburton Devon | C | 1.7 | 74% | 1 | 60% |
| 35 | Somersham Cambridgeshire | C | 2.7 | 81% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 36 | Earls Colne Essex | C | 1.4 | 91% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 37 | Bedale North Yorkshire | C | 3.6 | 78% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 38 | Adderbury and Twyford Oxfordshire | C | 1.7 | 89% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 39 | Laceby Lincolnshire | C | 1.6 | 64% | 2.1 | 18% |
| 40 | Eastchurch Kent | C | 1.9 | 72% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 41 | Sapcote Leicestershire | C− | 2.4 | 67% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 42 | Appleby-in-Westmorland Cumbria | C− | 1.2 | 63% | 2.1 | 24% |
| 43 | Bishopthorpe North Yorkshire | C− | 3.2 | 51% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 44 | Yarnton Oxfordshire | C− | 0.4 | 69% | 3 | 0% |
| 45 | Farnsfield Nottinghamshire | C− | 2 | 63% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 46 | Purton Wiltshire | C− | 0.8 | 60% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 47 | Rendlesham Suffolk | C− | 0.8 | 52% | 1.6 | 59% |
| 48 | Astwood Bank Worcestershire | C− | 0.9 | 79% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 49 | Talbot Green Mid Glamorgan | D | 0.7 | 66% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 50 | Messingham Lincolnshire | D | 3.4 | 46% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 51 | Eglwys-Brewis South Glamorgan | D | 0.3 | 0% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 52 | Iver Buckinghamshire | D | 1.3 | 60% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 53 | Tarporley Cheshire | D | 1 | 69% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 54 | Eccleshall Staffordshire | D | 1.1 | 74% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 55 | Heckington Lincolnshire | D | 1.4 | 68% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 56 | New Tredegar Gwent | D− | 1.4 | 68% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 57 | Headcorn Kent | D− | 1.6 | 48% | 1 | 0% |
| 58 | Dunnington North Yorkshire | D− | 0.8 | 44% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 59 | Upper Tean Staffordshire | D− | 0.6 | 60% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Donington Lincolnshire | D− | 0.8 | 54% | 0.8 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Bakewell’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 Bakewell
The biggest is Rutland Recreation Ground, 4.4 ha (11 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Scot's Garden
Park or garden
1.1 ha (3 acres)0.4 km of path
2 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Bakewell
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Bath Gardens
Park or garden
0.3 ha (1 acres)0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Bakewell
1 listed
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
9 in 10 Bakewell 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%)
Bakewell91%
Towns its size78%
Derbyshire towns86%
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; 7 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 468 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
National Parks and National Landscapes around Bakewell
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 Park
Peak District
Bakewell is inside it1,438 km²since 195198% of the land within 5 km
Official site98% of the land within 5 km of Bakewell is National Park or National Landscape, more than 98% of UK towns. Peak District National Park covers 1,438 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Bakewell
38 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Bakewell and the kilometre around it, 2.7 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
Local
Monsal Trail5.3 km
Close to home, the Monsal Trail has 5 km of local walk within 2 km of the town.
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 Bakewell: June 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) | 8.0 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.8 | 16.9 | 16.5 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 16 | 12 | 9 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 93 | 97 | 85 | 77 | 75 | 85 | 97 | 93 | 86 | 118 | 118 | 126 |
May is the driest month (75 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 126 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 52 nights a year. The climate in Bakewell →
Things to do
7 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
Hills and peaks 2
Castle Hill150 m (492 ft) · in town
DirectionsPlus 1 peak without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 3
Plus 3 picnic sites 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.
BaslowCalverDarley DaleTideswellMatlockHolymoorsideBakewell
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bakewell | A | 5.5 | 91% | 98% |
| Baslow 3.4 mi | C+ | 1.6 | 45% | 98% |
| Calver 4.1 mi | B+ | 2.2 | 44% | 99% |
| Darley Dale 4.6 mi | A+ | 3.8 | 100% | 51% |
| Tideswell 6.0 mi | B | 1.5 | 100% | 97% |
| Matlock 7.2 mi | A− | 2.9 | 76% | 20% |
| Holymoorside 7.6 mi | B− | 1.1 | 82% | 14% |
Darley Dale, 4.6 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Bakewell
What is the biggest park in Bakewell?
Rutland Recreation Ground, 4.4 ha (11 acres), with 0.8 km of path. Scot's Garden (1.1 ha) is second. 3 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
What are the best walks near Bakewell?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the Monsal Trail.
How many people in Bakewell 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 Bakewell?
June to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Bakewell good for walking?
About average for paths: 2.7 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 51% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 89% (5.5 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 Bakewell’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Bakewell’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.