Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0

Outdoors in Wirksworth · parks, paths & countryside

Almost everyone in Wirksworth lives within a 5-minute walk of a park

Footpaths add up to 66 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 4.6 for every square kilometre. The Peak District National Park begins 1.1 mi from the town’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Wirksworth add up to 2.0 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Wirksworth grades A for the outdoors: #9 of 59 in Derbyshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.

4named parks 1.1 mito Peak District 4waymarked walks

Green space

2.0 ha

per 1,000 residents

Typical UK town 2.1

Near a park

100%

of residents within 400 m

Typical UK town 83%

Footpaths

66 km

4.6 km per km², town + 1 km

Typical UK town 3.0 per km²

Protected landscape

of the land within 5 km

Nearest: Peak District National Park

Character

What kind of outdoors town is Wirksworth?

Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.

A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.A town of footpaths4.6 km of path per km², more than 88% of UK towns. The typical town has 3.0.Countryside close byThe Peak District National Park starts 1.1 mi north-west.

Wirksworth’s strongest suit is parks close to every home, followed by dense footpaths.

Outdoors grade

Wirksworth grades A for the outdoors

Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Wirksworth, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.

Better than 90% of UK towns#9 of 59 in Derbyshire · 9th of 60 UK towns its size

Public green space2.0 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces

45out of
100

A park within a walk100%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)

89out of
100

National Park or National Landscape8%of the land within 5 km

70out of
100

Footpaths4.6 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it

89out of
100

The sea0%of the area within 5 km · Inland

42out of
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

Wirksworth is 9th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors

The 60 UK towns and cities of 4,700 to 5,100 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

Wirksworth4.6

Towns its size2.7

Derbyshire towns3.6

All UK towns3.0

Green space, ha per 1,000 residents

Wirksworth2.0

Towns its size2.5

Derbyshire towns2.2

All UK towns2.1

Residents within 400 m of a park

Wirksworth100%

Towns its size84%

Derbyshire towns86%

All UK towns83%

Against towns its size, Wirksworth stands out most for path per km²: only 5 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 33 of the others do better.

Show as a table

	Town	Outdoors	Green space	Near a park	Path per km²	Protected
1	Rye East Sussex	A⁺	3.5	89%	3.5	46%
2	Pill Somerset	A⁺	5.2	100%	3.8	0%
3	Frinton-on-Sea Essex	A⁺	7.5	100%	2.6	0%
4	Windermere Cumbria	A⁺	3	94%	3.6	100%
5	Burry Port Dyfed	A⁺	11.8	75%	2.8	17%
6	Rownhams and Nursling Hampshire	A⁺	4.9	86%	6.7	12%
7	Wilford Nottinghamshire	A	7.7	93%	9.6	0%
8	Moreton-in-Marsh Gloucestershire	A	5	100%	1.8	55%
9	Wirksworth Derbyshire	A	2	100%	4.6	8%
10	Rhymney Gwent	A	2.9	97%	3.8	6%
11	Meols Merseyside	A	3.1	100%	2.2	0%
12	Holmfirth West Yorkshire	A	2.2	88%	4.6	27%
13	Carleton Lancashire	A	3	86%	3.8	0%
14	Rudheath Cheshire	A	5.5	100%	3.7	0%
15	Fitzwilliam and Kinsley West Yorkshire	A⁻	11.5	100%	3	0%
16	Joyden's Wood Kent	A⁻	2.7	82%	5.6	4%
17	Fordingbridge Hampshire	A⁻	3.6	92%	2	56%
18	Coleford Gloucestershire	A⁻	2.8	66%	4.3	48%
19	Elvetham Heath Hampshire	A⁻	8.7	100%	2.8	0%
20	Binfield Berkshire	A⁻	8.5	100%	2.5	0%
21	Saxmundham Suffolk	B⁺	3.3	100%	1.9	3%
22	Cranbrook Devon	B⁺	6.4	87%	1.9	1%
23	Hildenborough Kent	B⁺	6.5	40%	2.8	46%
24	Sturry Kent	B⁺	2.7	80%	3.4	1%
25	Stone Cross East Sussex	B⁺	1.4	86%	2.3	9%
26	Aspull Greater Manchester	B	7.6	92%	2.4	0%
27	Easingwold North Yorkshire	B	4.3	86%	1.5	14%
28	Market Rasen Lincolnshire	B	2.6	94%	1.6	16%
29	Sedgefield County Durham	B	6.2	81%	2.8	0%
30	Headley Down and Headley Hampshire	B	2.1	55%	3.4	44%
31	Handsacre and Armitage Staffordshire	B⁻	1.8	89%	2.1	12%
32	Dudley Tyne and Wear	C⁺	2.6	69%	4	0%
33	Dickens Heath West Midlands	C⁺	3.2	82%	2.5	0%
34	Wotton-under-Edge Gloucestershire	C⁺	0.4	32%	5.4	60%
35	Stokesley North Yorkshire	C⁺	0.9	100%	1.7	16%
36	Cross Hills North Yorkshire	C⁺	1.9	86%	3	0%
37	Steeton West Yorkshire	C⁺	1.3	100%	2.7	0%
38	Moulton Northamptonshire	C⁺	3.3	88%	1.7	0%
39	Barton-le-Clay Bedfordshire	C⁺	1.3	43%	3.2	38%
40	Church Lancashire	C	1.5	79%	3.9	0%
41	Shortstown Bedfordshire	C	2.4	82%	2.5	0%
42	Billinge Merseyside	C	0.9	94%	3	0%
43	Datchet Berkshire	C	8.4	72%	1.5	0%
44	Copthorne West Sussex	C	1.2	62%	2.9	13%
45	Bowburn County Durham	C	1.5	71%	3.8	0%
46	Bungay Suffolk	C	0.5	78%	2.6	12%
47	Northway Gloucestershire	C	0.9	58%	3.1	13%
48	Bailrigg Lancashire	C⁻	0	0%	3.4	18%
49	Shavington Cheshire	C⁻	1.1	87%	2.1	0%
50	Melbourne Derbyshire	C⁻	1.5	67%	2.7	0%
51	Halesworth Suffolk	C⁻	1.4	55%	1.9	5%
52	Tickhill South Yorkshire	D	1.7	69%	2.2	0%
53	Gresford Clwyd	D	1.4	76%	1.8	0%
54	South Cave East Riding of Yorkshire	D	1.5	43%	0.9	0%
55	Melbourn Cambridgeshire	D	1.2	45%	2.7	0%
56	Fleckney Leicestershire	D	0.8	63%	2.3	0%
57	Lepton West Yorkshire	D⁻	0.9	36%	2.3	0%
58	Wingate County Durham	D⁻	1	64%	1.5	0%
59	Bulford Wiltshire	D⁻	0.9	51%	1.6	0%
60	Shotton Colliery County Durham	D⁻	0.9	40%	1.5	0%

The map

Parks, footpaths & countryside

Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Wirksworth’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 Wirksworth

The biggest is The Fanny Shaw Playing Field, 1.0 ha (2 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.

All 4 named parks by size: 3 ha (8 acres)

Playing fields 3.3 haPlay spaces 0.1 ha

The two biggest, The Fanny Shaw Playing Field and Middleton Recreation Ground, are 72% of the named green space. 4 of the 4 are under 2 ha: small gardens, play spaces and pitches.

Wirksworth’s biggest

The Fanny Shaw Playing Field

Playing field

1.0 ha (2 acres)0.2 km of path

Centralin the middle of Wirksworth

Directionsto the nearest entrance

Middleton Recreation Ground

Playing field · 230 m outside town

1.4 ha (4 acres)

2 pitchesfootball pitches would fit

1.1 mi northfrom the centre

Directionsto the nearest entrance

Bolehill and Steeple Grange Recreation Ground

Playing field

0.9 ha (2 acres)

0.9 mi northfrom the centre

Directionsto the nearest entrance

Wirksworth Memorial Playground

Play space

0.1 ha (0 acres)

0.4 mi southfrom the centre

Playground

Directionsto the park

Close to home

How close Wirksworth’s homes are to 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 (100%)Further (0%)

Wirksworth100%

Towns its size84%

Derbyshire towns86%

All UK towns83%

Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 13 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 377 residents.

National Parks & National Landscapes

The Peak District National Park is 1.1 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

National Park

Peak District

1.1 mi north-west1,438 km²since 19518% of the land within 5 km

Official site

8% of the land within 5 km of Wirksworth is National Park or National Landscape, more than 69% of UK towns. Peak District National Park covers 1,438 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.

Footpaths & waymarked walks

4 waymarked walks pass through or near Wirksworth

66 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Wirksworth and the kilometre around it, 4.6 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.

RegionalLocal

Midshires Way6.2 km

High Peak Trail5.6 km

Ecclesbourne Way3.6 km

Derwent Valley Heritage Way2.9 km

3 regional routes pass through, including the Midshires Way, High Peak Trail and Derwent Valley Heritage 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 Wirksworth: 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)	8.1	9.8	11.7	13.9	15.8	16.9	16.5	14.7	12.6	10.5	8.6	7.6
High (°C)	6	7	9	12	15	18	20	20	17	13	9	7
Rain (mm)	83	73	68	71	64	76	81	77	71	108	97	103

May is the driest month (64 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 108 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 50 nights a year. The climate in Wirksworth →

Things to do

2 viewpoints, 13 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.

2Viewpoints 3Hills and peaks 3Waterfalls 1Nature reserves 5Picnic sites 13Playgroundsabout the same as towns its size 2Campsites

The nearest beaches

Wirksworth is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.

The Beach22 mi from Wirksworth’s edge

Directions

Good 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.

Up high. Bolehill, at 323 m, is the highest named top within 2 km of Wirksworth.

Every named place, with directions

Viewpoints 2

Plus 2 viewpoints without a name on the map.

Hills and peaks 3

Bolehill323 m (1,060 ft) · 0.1 mi from town

Directions

The Gilkin0.1 mi from town

Directions

Alport Height315 m (1,033 ft) · 1.2 mi from town

Directions

Waterfalls 3

Plus 3 waterfalls without a name on the map.

Nature reserves 1

Gang Mine9.6 ha · 0.1 mi from town

Directions

Picnic sites 5

Plus 5 picnic sites without a name on the map.

Playgrounds 13

Kingsfield Play Areain town

Directions

Play Mill1.1 mi from town

Directions

Plus 11 playgrounds without a name on the map.

Campsites 2

Middleton Top Campsite (Caravan & Camping Club)0.4 mi from town

Directions

Peak View Caravan Site0.5 mi from town

Directions

Next door

The outdoors in nearby towns

The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.

CromfordCrichMatlockTansleyAmbergateHeageWirksworth

ABCDOutdoors Grade

Town	Outdoors	Green space, ha per 1,000	Near a park	Protected within 5 km
Wirksworth	A	2.0	100%	8%
Cromford 1.7 mi	A	1.8	100%	12%
Crich 3.9 mi	C⁻	0.6	69%	0%
Matlock 4.3 mi	A⁻	2.9	76%	20%
Tansley 4.4 mi	C⁺	1.6	73%	4%
Ambergate 4.6 mi	B⁺	2.4	100%	0%
Heage 5.6 mi	C	1.9	78%	0%

Cromford, 1.7 miles away, grades A, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park.

Questions about the outdoors in Wirksworth

What is the biggest park in Wirksworth?

The Fanny Shaw Playing Field, 1.0 ha (2 acres). Middleton Recreation Ground (1.4 ha) is second. 4 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.

Is Wirksworth near a National Park?

Yes. Peak District National Park begins 1.1 mi north-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 Wirksworth?

4 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Midshires Way, High Peak Trail and Ecclesbourne Way.

What is the nearest beach to Wirksworth?

The Beach, 22 mi from the edge of the town. Wirksworth itself is inland.

How many people in Wirksworth live near a park?

100% 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 Wirksworth?

May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.

Is Wirksworth good for walking?

For paths, yes: 4.6 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 89% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 45% (2.0 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 Wirksworth’s overall grade.

Sources

Where Wirksworth’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.