Eckington’s biggest
Eckington Cricket Club
Playing field · 200 m outside town
1.6 ha (4 acres)
2 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.6 mi eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Jonathan Clitheroe · CC BY-SA 2.0B−Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Eckington · parks, paths & countryside
Eckington has more footpath per square kilometre than 9 in 10 UK towns
Footpaths add up to 78 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 6.0 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Eckington add up to 1.8 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 80% of residents. Eckington grades B− for the outdoors: #39 of 59 in Derbyshire. 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
80%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
78 km
6.0 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Peak District National Park
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Eckington?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
A town of footpaths6.0 km of path per km², more than 97% of UK towns. The typical town has 3.0.Less park per person1.8 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1.
Eckington’s strongest suit is dense footpaths. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Outdoors grade
Eckington grades B− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Eckington, 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 49% of UK towns#39 of 59 in Derbyshire · 24th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space1.8 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
37out of
100
100
A park within a walk80%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
46out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · None within 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths6.0 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
97out 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
Eckington is 24th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 7,100 to 7,700 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
Eckington6.0
Towns its size3.0
Derbyshire towns3.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Eckington1.8
Towns its size1.8
Derbyshire towns2.2
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Eckington80%
Towns its size78%
Derbyshire towns86%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Eckington stands out most for path per km²: none of the other 59 has more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freshwater and Totland Isle of Wight | A+ | 5 | 89% | 3.9 | 20% |
| 2 | Holbury Hampshire | A+ | 5.5 | 89% | 3.1 | 42% |
| 3 | Stocksbridge South Yorkshire | A | 2.2 | 100% | 4.4 | 30% |
| 4 | Ruddington Nottinghamshire | A | 9.7 | 100% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 5 | Bude Cornwall | A | 3.1 | 78% | 3.3 | 9% |
| 6 | Bolton upon Dearne South Yorkshire | A | 5.6 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 7 | Darfield South Yorkshire | A | 4 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 8 | Prestwood and Great Missenden Buckinghamshire | A− | 5.5 | 65% | 3.2 | 94% |
| 9 | Seaton Devon | A− | 1.1 | 84% | 2.5 | 55% |
| 10 | Otford and Kemsing Kent | A− | 3.3 | 53% | 3.6 | 73% |
| 11 | Goldthorpe South Yorkshire | A− | 8.4 | 84% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 12 | Chinnor Oxfordshire | B+ | 1.5 | 88% | 3.7 | 37% |
| 13 | Great Notley Essex | B+ | 6.4 | 79% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 14 | Cromer Norfolk | B+ | 1.4 | 74% | 2.5 | 36% |
| 15 | Gowerton West Glamorgan | B+ | 3.2 | 79% | 1.2 | 14% |
| 16 | Barugh Green and Redbrook South Yorkshire | B | 2.1 | 94% | 4 | 0% |
| 17 | Malmesbury Wiltshire | B | 2 | 86% | 2.5 | 26% |
| 18 | Wroughton Wiltshire | B | 1.1 | 78% | 3.9 | 52% |
| 19 | Princes Risborough Buckinghamshire | B | 1.4 | 78% | 3.2 | 57% |
| 20 | Chapel-en-le-Frith Derbyshire | B− | 1 | 75% | 3.8 | 58% |
| 21 | Woodville Derbyshire | B− | 3.7 | 78% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 22 | Wootton Bedfordshire | B− | 2.5 | 79% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 23 | Rogerstone Gwent | B− | 3.1 | 60% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 24 | Eckington Derbyshire | B− | 1.8 | 80% | 6 | 0% |
| 25 | Crawcrook and Greenside Tyne and Wear | B− | 3.2 | 86% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 26 | Bollington Cheshire | B− | 1.3 | 56% | 4.1 | 31% |
| 27 | Abersychan Gwent | B− | 2.8 | 83% | 1.1 | 17% |
| 28 | Wrecclesham Surrey | C+ | 1.2 | 50% | 3.8 | 37% |
| 29 | Paddock Wood Kent | C+ | 1.7 | 78% | 2.1 | 28% |
| 30 | Pelton and Ouston County Durham | C+ | 2 | 64% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 31 | Countesthorpe Leicestershire | C+ | 1.7 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 32 | Murton County Durham | C+ | 2.1 | 54% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 33 | Sprotbrough South Yorkshire | C+ | 1.8 | 79% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 34 | Thrapston Northamptonshire | C | 1.2 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 35 | Caerleon Gwent | C | 1.9 | 64% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 36 | Horncastle Lincolnshire | C | 0.6 | 60% | 3.9 | 10% |
| 37 | Mablethorpe Lincolnshire | C | 2.1 | 66% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 38 | Radcliffe on Trent Nottinghamshire | C | 2.5 | 76% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 39 | Elworth Cheshire | C | 1.8 | 83% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 40 | Sawston Cambridgeshire | C | 1.4 | 97% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 41 | Castle Donington Leicestershire | C | 1.8 | 85% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 42 | Newbridge Gwent | C | 2.2 | 94% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 43 | Fazeley Staffordshire | C | 3.2 | 35% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 44 | Marske-by-the-Sea North Yorkshire | C | 1.6 | 66% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 45 | Dalton-in-Furness Cumbria | C | 0.9 | 74% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Heathfield East Sussex | C | 0.9 | 53% | 2.3 | 79% |
| 47 | Wivenhoe Essex | C− | 0.9 | 65% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 48 | Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt Leicestershire | C− | 2.1 | 82% | 2 | 0% |
| 49 | Southwell Nottinghamshire | C− | 1.7 | 59% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 50 | Calverton Nottinghamshire | C− | 1.7 | 62% | 3 | 0% |
| 51 | Breaston and Draycott Derbyshire | C− | 1.1 | 73% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 52 | Pickering North Yorkshire | C− | 1.7 | 39% | 1.7 | 19% |
| 53 | Shefford Bedfordshire | D | 1.1 | 67% | 3 | 0% |
| 54 | Spencers Wood and Three Mile Cross Berkshire | D | 0.7 | 78% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 55 | Deeping St James Lincolnshire | D | 0.5 | 73% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 56 | Polesworth and Dordon Warwickshire | D | 1.6 | 68% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 57 | Old Windsor and Wraysbury Berkshire | D | 1.2 | 52% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 58 | Beddau Mid Glamorgan | D | 1 | 77% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 59 | Market Weighton East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 0.7 | 79% | 1 | 0% |
| 60 | Treorchy Mid Glamorgan | D− | 1 | 57% | 1.6 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Eckington’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 Eckington
The biggest is Eckington Cricket Club, 1.6 ha (4 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
8 in 10 Eckington 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 (80%)Further (21%)
Eckington80%
Towns its size78%
Derbyshire towns86%
All UK towns83%
About 1,500 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 19 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 391 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Peak District National Park is 6.5 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
Peak District National Park covers 1,438 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
6 waymarked walks pass through or near Eckington
78 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Eckington and the kilometre around it, 6.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
RegionalLocalOther waymarked
Sheffield Country Walk7.9 km
Trans-Pennine Trail (Beighton to Staveley spur)4.6 km
Cuckoo Way4.4 km
A Walk On The Wild Side4.3 km
Whittington and the Handleys1.8 km
Chesterfield Round Walk1.6 km
2 regional routes pass through, including the Sheffield Country Walk and Trans-Pennine Trail (Beighton to Staveley spur).
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 Eckington: 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) | 8.0 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.8 | 17.0 | 16.5 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 59 | 48 | 42 | 47 | 49 | 63 | 58 | 56 | 52 | 64 | 68 | 65 |
March is the driest month (42 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 21 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 68 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 42 nights a year. The climate in Eckington →
Things to do
19 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.
The nearest beaches
Eckington is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
The Beach15 mi from Eckington’s edge
DirectionsDoncaster Lakeside Beach17 mi from Eckington’s edge
DirectionsBeach at Doncaster Lakeside17 mi from Eckington’s edge
DirectionsSea Lions18 mi from Eckington’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 1
Plus 1 viewpoint 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.
RenishawKillamarshStaveleyBarlboroughBrimingtonDuckmantonEckington
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eckington | B− | 1.8 | 80% | 0% |
| Renishaw 1.8 mi | C+ | 0.6 | 100% | 0% |
| Killamarsh 2.3 mi | A | 10.6 | 97% | 0% |
| Staveley 3.0 mi | A | 6.6 | 100% | 0% |
| Barlborough 3.6 mi | B | 4.4 | 100% | 0% |
| Brimington 3.8 mi | C | 1.2 | 72% | 0% |
| Duckmanton 4.4 mi | C | 1.2 | 100% | 0% |
Killamarsh, 2.3 miles away, grades A, the best next door: 97% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Killamarsh, Staveley and Barlborough have at least twice Eckington’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Eckington
What is the biggest park in Eckington?
Eckington Cricket Club, 1.6 ha (4 acres), just outside the built-up area. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Eckington near a National Park?
Yes. Peak District National Park begins 6.5 mi west of the town’s edge. It covers 1,438 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
What are the best walks near Eckington?
6 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Sheffield Country Walk, Trans-Pennine Trail (Beighton to Staveley spur) and Cuckoo Way.
What is the nearest beach to Eckington?
The Beach, 15 mi from the edge of the town, then Doncaster Lakeside Beach (17 mi). Eckington itself is inland.
How many people in Eckington live near a park?
80% 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 Eckington?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Eckington good for walking?
For paths, yes: 6.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 97% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 37% (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 Eckington’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Eckington’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.