Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: David Weston · CC BY-SA 2.0The Peak District National Park reaches the edge of Buxton. Parks and playing fields in Buxton add up to 3.5 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Footpaths add up to 95 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 3.8 for every square kilometre. Buxton grades A for the outdoors: #4 of 59 in Derbyshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Buxton’s strongest suit is protected countryside on the doorstep, followed by plenty of park space.
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Buxton, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
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.
The 60 UK towns and cities of 18,800 to 21,400 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against towns its size, Buxton stands out most for park space per resident: only 7 of the other 59 have more.
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camborne Cornwall | A+ | 2.2 | 93% | 4 | 8% |
| 2 | Littlehampton West Sussex | A+ | 2.1 | 99% | 3.1 | 18% |
| 3 | Dronfield Derbyshire | A+ | 3.2 | 97% | 5.3 | 9% |
| 4 | Buxton Derbyshire | A | 3.5 | 86% | 3.8 | 61% |
| 5 | Faversham Kent | A | 2 | 88% | 3.5 | 24% |
| 6 | Hebburn Tyne and Wear | A | 6.6 | 99% | 5.8 | 0% |
| 7 | Colne Lancashire | A | 3.2 | 86% | 5.3 | 8% |
| 8 | Quedgeley and Hardwicke Gloucestershire | A | 2.1 | 99% | 4.7 | 21% |
| 9 | Farnham Surrey | A | 5.1 | 73% | 4.3 | 35% |
| 10 | Hazlemere Buckinghamshire | A | 2.5 | 81% | 4.7 | 68% |
| 11 | Forest Town Nottinghamshire | A | 6.4 | 94% | 5.7 | 0% |
| 12 | Leek Staffordshire | A | 4.2 | 83% | 3.6 | 19% |
| 13 | Stratton St Margaret Wiltshire | A | 3.3 | 82% | 5.1 | 5% |
| 14 | Keynsham Somerset | A | 2.1 | 95% | 4.6 | 11% |
| 15 | Harwich Essex | A− | 1.7 | 95% | 2.1 | 20% |
| 16 | Peterlee County Durham | A− | 2.3 | 85% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 17 | Workington Cumbria | A− | 3 | 97% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 18 | Dukinfield Greater Manchester | A− | 4 | 95% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 19 | Ebbw Vale Gwent | A− | 2 | 92% | 3.3 | 29% |
| 20 | Rothwell West Yorkshire | A− | 3.4 | 91% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 21 | Mansfield Woodhouse Nottinghamshire | A− | 2.8 | 94% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 22 | Devizes Wiltshire | A− | 1.8 | 91% | 3.2 | 38% |
| 23 | Kirkby-in-Ashfield Nottinghamshire | B+ | 3 | 93% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 24 | Belper Derbyshire | B+ | 2.4 | 94% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 25 | Eastwood Nottinghamshire | B+ | 2.6 | 93% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 26 | Hythe and Dibden Purlieu Hampshire | B+ | 0.8 | 49% | 4.4 | 44% |
| 27 | Sandhurst Berkshire | B+ | 5.1 | 79% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 28 | Hazel Grove Greater Manchester | B+ | 2.9 | 62% | 4.2 | 3% |
| 29 | Brownhills West Midlands | B | 11 | 80% | 2 | 2% |
| 30 | Mirfield West Yorkshire | B | 2.5 | 90% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 31 | Ripley Derbyshire | B | 2.4 | 91% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 32 | Irlam Greater Manchester | B | 3.1 | 95% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 33 | Penwortham Lancashire | B | 2.9 | 91% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 34 | Ely Cambridgeshire | B | 2.7 | 88% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 35 | Stanley County Durham | B | 1.7 | 88% | 5.2 | 0% |
| 36 | Stourport-on-Severn Worcestershire | B | 3.1 | 79% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 37 | Romsey Hampshire | B− | 1.2 | 82% | 4.5 | 2% |
| 38 | Ware Hertfordshire | B− | 2 | 81% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 39 | Bingley West Yorkshire | B− | 2.1 | 80% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 40 | Calne Wiltshire | B− | 1.3 | 88% | 2.4 | 33% |
| 41 | Berkhamsted Hertfordshire | B− | 1 | 69% | 3.6 | 56% |
| 42 | Staines-upon-Thames Surrey | B− | 3.4 | 67% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 43 | Wednesbury West Midlands | B− | 2.7 | 93% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 44 | Dereham Norfolk | B− | 1.8 | 90% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 45 | Failsworth Greater Manchester | C+ | 1.8 | 77% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 46 | Clevedon Somerset | C+ | 1.1 | 69% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 47 | Rawmarsh South Yorkshire | C+ | 2 | 84% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 48 | Bideford Devon | C+ | 0.9 | 83% | 1 | 11% |
| 49 | Newmarket Suffolk | C+ | 1.9 | 91% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 50 | Knowle and Dorridge West Midlands | C+ | 2.7 | 82% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 51 | Spennymoor County Durham | C+ | 2.1 | 84% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 52 | Thornton Lancashire | C | 2.1 | 71% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 53 | Horwich Greater Manchester | C | 1.8 | 67% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 54 | Maghull Merseyside | C− | 1.6 | 86% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 55 | Skegness Lincolnshire | C− | 0.9 | 58% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 56 | Willerby and Anlaby East Riding of Yorkshire | C− | 1.6 | 46% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 57 | Selby North Yorkshire | C− | 1.6 | 81% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 58 | Goole East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 1.7 | 81% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 59 | Stamford Lincolnshire | D | 1.3 | 64% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 60 | Tiverton Devon | D | 1.5 | 59% | 2.6 | 0% |
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Buxton’s built-up area.
The biggest is Grin Low and Buxton Country Park, 42 ha (103 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
The two biggest, Grin Low and Buxton Country Park and Pavilion Gardens, are 85% of the named green space and carry 12 km of path between them.
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).
About 3,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 17 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 1,179 residents.
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.
61% of the land within 5 km of Buxton is National Park or National Landscape, more than 94% of UK towns. Peak District National Park covers 1,438 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
95 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Buxton and the kilometre around it, 3.8 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
Close to home, the Buxton Ring of Trees Walk has 14 km of local walk within 2 km of the town. 4 regional routes pass through, including the Midshires Way, Dane Valley Way, Peak District Boundary Walk Stage 20 and Peak District Boundary Walk Stage 1.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
Historic England’s register of parks and gardens, and the listed buildings and scheduled monuments that stand inside Buxton’s named parks.
9.1 ha. Part of Pavilion Gardens, Buxton, a registered historic park (Grade II*). 8 listed structures and monuments stand inside it or at its edge.
A listed building or monument counts when it sits inside the park’s OS Open Greenspace outline (to about 15 m), so a few at the boundary are included. Historic England, National Heritage List for England.
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) | 5 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 127 | 121 | 101 | 89 | 85 | 99 | 108 | 108 | 114 | 146 | 140 | 158 |
May is the driest month (85 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 18 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 158 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 56 nights a year. The climate in Buxton →
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.
Plus 5 hills and peaks more.
Plus 16 playgrounds without a name on the map.
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buxton | A | 3.5 | 86% | 61% |
| Harpur Hill 1.4 mi | B− | 3.1 | 31% | 60% |
| Dove Holes 3.3 mi | A | 5.1 | 100% | 52% |
| Chapel-en-le-Frith 4.6 mi | B− | 1.0 | 75% | 58% |
| Tideswell 5.9 mi | B | 1.5 | 100% | 97% |
| Chinley 5.9 mi | B+ | 1.2 | 78% | 53% |
| Whaley Bridge 6.0 mi | B | 1.6 | 44% | 53% |
Buxton grades higher for the outdoors than every neighbour in the table.
Grin Low and Buxton Country Park, 42 ha (103 acres), with 8.8 km of path. Pavilion Gardens (9.1 ha) is second. 6 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Peak District National Park reaches the edge of Buxton. It covers 1,438 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
7 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Buxton Ring of Trees Walk, Midshires Way and Dane Valley Way. Grin Low and Buxton Country Park alone has 8.8 km of path.
86% 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%.
June to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
The Slopes (Grade II) and Pavilion Gardens (Grade II*) are on Historic England’s register of parks and gardens.
For paths, yes: 3.8 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 76% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 77% (3.5 ha per 1,000 residents).
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 Buxton’s overall grade.
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.