Photo: Lewis Clarke · CC BY-SA 2.0Ashford is on the coast
The sea makes up 7% of the area within 5 km. 10 km of footpaths run through the village and the kilometre around it, 1.6 for every square kilometre. No park or playing field is mapped within a 5-minute walk of homes in Ashford. Ashford has no Outdoors Grade (towns under 1,000 people aren’t graded).
What kind of outdoors village is Ashford?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Ashford’s strongest suit is the sea. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Few Ashford 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).
About 300 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Footpaths in and around Ashford
10 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Ashford and the kilometre around it, 1.6 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Ashford; its footpaths are on the map above.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
The best walking months in Ashford: May to September
The village’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) | 8.4 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 119 | 97 | 84 | 66 | 74 | 90 | 102 | 111 | 98 | 135 | 146 | 145 |
April is the driest month (66 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 146 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 27 nights a year. The climate in Ashford →
The coast and beaches near Ashford
7% of the area within 5 km of Ashford is sea.
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.
The outdoors in nearby towns
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashford | – | 0.0 | 0% | 0% |
| Bickington 1.7 mi | B | 1.4 | 100% | 0% |
| Chivenor and Wrafton 1.9 mi | C− | 0.6 | 0% | 17% |
| Barnstaple 2.3 mi | C | 1.6 | 92% | 0% |
| Fremington 2.5 mi | B+ | 1.4 | 88% | 10% |
| Braunton 3.0 mi | B | 1.6 | 78% | 24% |
| Landkey 4.8 mi | C+ | 2.5 | 100% | 0% |
Fremington, 2.5 miles away, grades B+, the best next door: 88% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Bickington, Chivenor and Wrafton and Barnstaple have at least twice Ashford’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Ashford
Is Ashford near a National Park?
No National Park or National Landscape is within 30 km (about 19 miles) of Ashford.
How many people in Ashford live near a park?
0% 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 Ashford?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
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 Ashford’s overall grade.
Where Ashford’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.