Salcombe’s biggest
The Park
Park or garden
0.3 ha (1 acres)0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Salcombe
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Rodw · Public domainA+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Salcombe · parks, paths & countryside
Salcombe is inside the South Devon National Landscape
A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 100% of residents. The sea makes up 38% of the area within 5 km. Salcombe grades A+ for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
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
38 km
3.3 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
65%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: South Devon National Landscape
The sea
38%
of the area within 5 km
A coastal town
Character
What kind of outdoors village is Salcombe?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Inside the South Devon National LandscapeSalcombe sits inside it: 340 km² of protected landscape.A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.On the coast38% of the area within 5 km is sea; 19 beaches mapped.On a National TrailThe South West Coast Path passes through.
Salcombe’s strongest suit is a protected landscape all round, followed by parks close to every home.
Outdoors grade
Salcombe grades A+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Salcombe, 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 almost every UK town3rd of 60 UK villages its size
Public green space2.0 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
45out of
100
100
A park within a walk100%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
89out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape65%of the land within 5 km
95out of
100
100
Footpaths3.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
66out of
100
100
The sea38%of the area within 5 km
95out 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.
Villages its size
Salcombe is 3rd of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,500 to 1,700 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
Salcombe3.3
Villages its size2.8
Devon towns1.8
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Salcombe2.0
Villages its size2.2
Devon towns1.9
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Salcombe100%
Villages its size81%
Devon towns84%
All UK towns83%
Against villages its size, Salcombe stands out most for homes near a park: none of the other 59 has more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanhope County Durham | A+ | 7.7 | 100% | 3.5 | 86% |
| 2 | Melton Suffolk | A+ | 6.5 | 100% | 4.1 | 33% |
| 3 | Salcombe Devon | A+ | 2 | 100% | 3.3 | 65% |
| 4 | Finberry Kent | A+ | 4 | 100% | 5.1 | 2% |
| 5 | Dobcross Greater Manchester | A+ | 2.8 | 100% | 4.8 | 22% |
| 6 | Fairlight East Sussex | A+ | 39.6 | 50% | 3.3 | 42% |
| 7 | Crockenhill Kent | A+ | 5.2 | 100% | 3.1 | 27% |
| 8 | Wood Street Village Surrey | A+ | 25.7 | 81% | 4.9 | 18% |
| 9 | Ducklington Oxfordshire | A | 10.1 | 79% | 4.8 | 4% |
| 10 | Roydon Essex | A | 3.5 | 100% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 11 | North Bradley Wiltshire | A | 3.4 | 100% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 12 | Middle Winterslow Wiltshire | A | 7 | 100% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 13 | St Athan South Glamorgan | A | 2.2 | 100% | 3 | 0% |
| 14 | Sabden Lancashire | A− | 0.8 | 100% | 5 | 38% |
| 15 | Oakenshaw West Yorkshire | A− | 7.4 | 100% | 3 | 0% |
| 16 | West Wellow Hampshire | A− | 3.6 | 82% | 2.7 | 51% |
| 17 | Kewstoke Somerset | A− | 1.3 | 74% | 4.3 | 1% |
| 18 | Thorpe-le-Soken Essex | A− | 4.2 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 19 | East Dean and Friston East Sussex | B+ | 1.2 | 18% | 4.6 | 58% |
| 20 | Stithians Cornwall | B+ | 3.2 | 80% | 3.4 | 3% |
| 21 | King's Cliffe Northamptonshire | B+ | 3.3 | 100% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 22 | Littlebourne Kent | B+ | 1.6 | 100% | 3 | 9% |
| 23 | Ambergate Derbyshire | B+ | 2.4 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 24 | Farcet Cambridgeshire | B+ | 13.8 | 77% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 25 | Tideswell Derbyshire | B | 1.5 | 100% | 1.6 | 97% |
| 26 | Mount Hawke Cornwall | B | 1.4 | 85% | 2 | 6% |
| 27 | Fence Lancashire | B | 1.3 | 62% | 6.2 | 32% |
| 28 | Wick Gloucestershire | B− | 1.8 | 56% | 3.6 | 39% |
| 29 | Mundford Norfolk | B− | 3.1 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 30 | Gotham Nottinghamshire | B− | 3.9 | 83% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 31 | South Witham Lincolnshire | B− | 2.5 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 32 | High Harrington Cumbria | C+ | 0.5 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 33 | Evenwood County Durham | C+ | 3.4 | 100% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 34 | Norton (Norton Juxta Kempsey) Worcestershire | C+ | 0.9 | 100% | 3 | 0% |
| 35 | Bacton and Cotton Suffolk | C+ | 4.4 | 70% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 36 | Rufford Lancashire | C | 2.8 | 70% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 37 | Anna Valley and Upper Clatford Hampshire | C | 2.2 | 77% | 3 | 0% |
| 38 | Four Lanes Cornwall | C | 0.6 | 100% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 39 | Blisworth Northamptonshire | C | 2.2 | 81% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 40 | Stock Essex | C | 2.2 | 62% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 41 | Harden West Yorkshire | C | 1.8 | 40% | 5 | 0% |
| 42 | Scawby Lincolnshire | C− | 25.7 | 68% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 43 | Higher Walton Lancashire | C− | 2.2 | 61% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 44 | Arksey South Yorkshire | C− | 1.1 | 88% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 45 | Rawcliffe East Riding of Yorkshire | C− | 1 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 46 | Glapwell Derbyshire | C− | 2.2 | 60% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 47 | Horsmonden Kent | C− | 0.5 | 79% | 0.9 | 50% |
| 48 | Baston Lincolnshire | C− | 2.3 | 78% | 1 | 0% |
| 49 | Ainsworth Greater Manchester | D | 0.4 | 64% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 50 | Whittlesford Cambridgeshire | D | 2.3 | 57% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 51 | Henstridge Somerset | D | 1.8 | 47% | 2 | 0% |
| 52 | Moulton Lincolnshire | D | 1.9 | 75% | 0.1 | 0% |
| 53 | St Erme and Trispen Cornwall | D | 0.3 | 69% | 1.2 | 2% |
| 54 | Findern Derbyshire | D | 1.8 | 40% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 55 | Wood End (North Warwickshire) Warwickshire | D | 1.1 | 74% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 56 | Camblesforth North Yorkshire | D | 0.3 | 81% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 57 | Burton Green Warwickshire | D− | 0 | 0% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 58 | Edgmond Shropshire | D− | 1.7 | 33% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 59 | Walpole St Peter and Walpole St Andrew Norfolk | D− | 1.7 | 52% | 0.2 | 0% |
| 60 | School Aycliffe County Durham | D− | 0 | 0% | 2.5 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Salcombe’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 Salcombe
The biggest is The Park, 0.3 ha (1 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Twomeads
Playing field
1.0 ha (2 acres)
Centralin the middle of Salcombe
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Jubilee Gardens
Park or garden
0.3 ha (1 acres)0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Salcombe
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
Everyone in Salcombe lives 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 (100%)Further (0%)
Salcombe100%
Villages its size81%
Devon towns84%
All UK towns83%
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 5 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 317 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
National Parks and National Landscapes around Salcombe
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 Landscape
South Devon
Salcombe is inside it340 km²since 196065% of the land within 5 km
Official site65% of the land within 5 km of Salcombe is National Park or National Landscape, more than 95% of UK towns. Dartmoor National Park covers 956 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Salcombe is on the South West Coast Path
38 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Salcombe and the kilometre around it, 3.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
National
South West Coast Path (Section 38: Bigbury on Sea to Salcombe)7.0 km
South West Coast Path (Section 39: Salcombe to Torcross)3.6 km
The South West Coast Path, a national route, passes Salcombe.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
History along the way
A registered historic park in Salcombe
Historic England’s register of parks and gardens, and the listed buildings and scheduled monuments that stand inside Salcombe’s named parks.
Registered · Grade IIOverbecks (Sharpitor)2.1 ha
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.
When to get out
The best walking months in Salcombe: 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) | 8.5 | 10.0 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.4 | 16.4 | 16.0 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.9 | 8.1 |
| High (°C) | 10 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 16 | 13 | 11 |
| Rain (mm) | 124 | 97 | 81 | 81 | 68 | 67 | 80 | 82 | 79 | 127 | 135 | 132 |
June is the driest month (67 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 135 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 10 nights a year. The climate in Salcombe →
The coast
Salcombe is a coastal town
38% of the area within 5 km of Salcombe is sea. 19 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 13 with a name.
Splat Cove0.0 mi from town
DirectionsSouth Sands0.0 mi from town
DirectionsNorth Sands0.1 mi from town
DirectionsFisherman's Cove0.2 mi from town
DirectionsSmall's Cove0.2 mi from town
DirectionsRipple Sand0.2 mi from town
DirectionsSunny Cove0.2 mi from town
DirectionsMill Bay0.3 mi from town
DirectionsRickham Sand1.3 mi from town
DirectionsSeacombe Sand1.4 mi from town
DirectionsSoar Mill Cove1.7 mi from town
DirectionsVenerick's Cove2.0 mi from town
DirectionsThe South West Coast Path passes the town.
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.
Things to do
6 viewpoints and 5 playgrounds
Mapped within 2 km of the village in OpenStreetMap, against the typical UK village its size per resident. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 6
Plus 6 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 5
Plus 5 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 2
Higher Rew Campsite0.6 mi from town
DirectionsIlton Castle Farm0.7 mi from town
DirectionsSlipways 5
Batson Slipwayin town
DirectionsWhitestrandin town
DirectionsPlus 3 slipways 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.
KingsbridgeChillingtonLoddiswellModburyDartmouthSalcombe
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salcombe | A+ | 2.0 | 100% | 65% |
| Kingsbridge 3.4 mi | B+ | 1.5 | 91% | 67% |
| Chillington 4.4 mi | C+ | 0.6 | 78% | 55% |
| Loddiswell 6.1 mi | B+ | 2.1 | 100% | 53% |
| Modbury 9.3 mi | C− | 1.7 | 39% | 41% |
| Dartmouth 11.4 mi | B+ | 2.1 | 71% | 45% |
Salcombe grades higher for the outdoors than every neighbour in the table.
Questions about the outdoors in Salcombe
What is the biggest park in Salcombe?
The Park, 0.3 ha (1 acres). Twomeads (1.0 ha) is second. 3 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the village or within 400 m of it.
Is Salcombe near a National Park?
Yes. Dartmoor National Park begins 11 mi north of the village’s edge. It covers 956 km² and has been a National Park since 1951. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the South Devon National Landscape, at the edge of the village.
What are the best walks near Salcombe?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the South West Coast Path (Section 38: Bigbury on Sea to Salcombe) and South West Coast Path (Section 39: Salcombe to Torcross).
How many people in Salcombe 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 Salcombe?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Which parks in Salcombe are historic?
Overbecks (Sharpitor) (Grade II) is on Historic England’s register of parks and gardens.
Is Salcombe good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.3 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 66% 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 Salcombe’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Salcombe’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.