Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Gwyn Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0The South Devon National Landscape begins 0.6 mi from the village’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Sherford add up to 3.2 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. 13 km of footpaths run through the village and the kilometre around it, 1.5 for every square kilometre. Sherford grades A− for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Sherford’s strongest suit is parks close to every home, followed by protected countryside on the doorstep. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Sherford, 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 1,200 to 1,400 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against villages its size, Sherford stands out most for homes near a park: none of the other 59 has more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 46 of the others do better.
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hightown Hampshire | A+ | 15.7 | 100% | 3.5 | 58% |
| 2 | Rough Common Kent | A+ | 11 | 100% | 9.2 | 1% |
| 3 | Worrall South Yorkshire | A+ | 3.7 | 100% | 5.4 | 21% |
| 4 | Holybourne Hampshire | A+ | 12.2 | 100% | 2.7 | 23% |
| 5 | Wolvercote Oxfordshire | A | 32 | 100% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 6 | Crowmarsh Gifford Oxfordshire | A | 8 | 77% | 3.6 | 60% |
| 7 | Pwll Dyfed | A | 21.6 | 64% | 2.6 | 19% |
| 8 | Hurley Berkshire | A | 3.1 | 100% | 2.6 | 36% |
| 9 | Amberley Gloucestershire | A | 13.7 | 0% | 6.3 | 87% |
| 10 | Bere Regis Dorset | A | 39.2 | 100% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 11 | Brinscall Lancashire | A | 3.5 | 100% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 12 | Burbage Wiltshire | A | 2.7 | 100% | 1.9 | 100% |
| 13 | Compton Hampshire | A− | 18.8 | 61% | 3.6 | 28% |
| 14 | Upper Caldecote Bedfordshire | A− | 3.7 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 15 | Bradley Clwyd | A− | 29.9 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 16 | Blean Kent | A− | 5.9 | 80% | 6.5 | 0% |
| 17 | Sherford Devon | A− | 3.2 | 100% | 1.5 | 28% |
| 18 | Riseley Bedfordshire | B+ | 2.4 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 19 | Marshfield Gloucestershire | B+ | 4.9 | 42% | 2.7 | 99% |
| 20 | Welland Worcestershire | B+ | 1.7 | 100% | 1.9 | 38% |
| 21 | Abbots Bromley Staffordshire | B | 6.9 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 22 | Lidlington Bedfordshire | B | 1.9 | 100% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 23 | Weir Lancashire | B | 0.6 | 100% | 6 | 0% |
| 24 | Codmore Hill West Sussex | B− | 3.5 | 0% | 2.7 | 46% |
| 25 | Lingdale North Yorkshire | B− | 1.4 | 100% | 1.7 | 31% |
| 26 | Blindley Heath Surrey | B− | 3.2 | 79% | 2.2 | 1% |
| 27 | Blakeney Gloucestershire | B− | 2.1 | 68% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 28 | Fowlmere Cambridgeshire | B− | 4.5 | 100% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 29 | Burham Kent | C+ | 1.4 | 77% | 2.8 | 35% |
| 30 | Pensarn Clwyd | C+ | 13.1 | 45% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 31 | Belford Northumberland | C+ | 1.2 | 83% | 0.9 | 21% |
| 32 | Perranarworthal Cornwall | C+ | 2.5 | 76% | 1.6 | 19% |
| 33 | Littleton Panell Wiltshire | C+ | 5.3 | 39% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 34 | Claverdon Warwickshire | C+ | 1.2 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 35 | North Duffield North Yorkshire | C | 2.6 | 100% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 36 | Quainton Buckinghamshire | C | 3.8 | 69% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 37 | Haughley Suffolk | C | 3 | 71% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 38 | Kislingbury Northamptonshire | C | 8.4 | 26% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 39 | Nefyn Gwynedd | C | 0 | 0% | 2 | 24% |
| 40 | Moretonhampstead Devon | C | 0.6 | 81% | 1.2 | 100% |
| 41 | Ninfield East Sussex | C− | 1.8 | 50% | 1.4 | 50% |
| 42 | Atworth Wiltshire | C− | 1.5 | 62% | 2.2 | 13% |
| 43 | Spratton Northamptonshire | C− | 2.3 | 85% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 44 | Langthorpe North Yorkshire | C− | 0.3 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 45 | Wingham Kent | C− | 2.2 | 53% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 46 | Llandysul Dyfed | C− | 5.2 | 47% | 1 | 0% |
| 47 | Wooden Dyfed | D | 0.1 | 0% | 0.4 | 18% |
| 48 | Bampton Devon | D | 1.5 | 22% | 1.6 | 5% |
| 49 | Pagham West Sussex | D | 0.3 | 0% | 2 | 0% |
| 50 | Heddon-on-the-Wall Northumberland | D | 0.6 | 70% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 51 | Colsterworth Lincolnshire | D | 1.3 | 67% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 52 | Hockwold cum Wilton Norfolk | D | 1.6 | 75% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 53 | Garsington Oxfordshire | D | 0.4 | 65% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 54 | Appleby Magna Leicestershire | D | 1.7 | 46% | 2 | 0% |
| 55 | Byfield Northamptonshire | D | 1.9 | 48% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 56 | Croeserw West Glamorgan | D | 1.3 | 33% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 57 | Hauxton Cambridgeshire | D− | 1.3 | 55% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 58 | Deeping St Nicholas Lincolnshire | D− | 0.7 | 80% | 0 | 0% |
| 59 | Hunger Hill Greater Manchester | D− | 0 | 0% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 60 | Witheridge Devon | D− | 0.5 | 36% | 1 | 0% |
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Sherford’s built-up area.
The biggest is King George V Memorial Playnig Field, 7.4 ha (18 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
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).
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 15 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 87 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.
28% of the land within 5 km of Sherford is National Park or National Landscape, more than 82% of UK towns. Dartmoor National Park covers 956 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
13 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Sherford and the kilometre around it, 1.5 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
The regional route here is the Erme-Plym Trail.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
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 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 133 | 97 | 83 | 75 | 66 | 73 | 76 | 92 | 79 | 124 | 132 | 138 |
May 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 138 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 22 nights a year. The climate in Sherford →
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.
Sherford is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the village.
Check the water before you swim. The Environment Agency tests designated bathing waters from May to September and publishes a rating for each beach.
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Plus 15 playgrounds without a name on the map.
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
Plymouth, 3.8 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: 87% of its residents live within 400 m of a park.
King George V Memorial Playnig Field, 7.4 ha (18 acres), with 0.7 km of path, just outside the built-up area. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the village or within 400 m of it.
Yes. Dartmoor National Park begins 4.1 mi north-east 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, 0.6 mi away.
5 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the Wixenford Way, Saltram, Erme-Plym Trail and Meadow Path, Saltram.
Wembury Beach, 3.2 mi from the edge of the village, then Bovisand Beach (3.4 mi). Sherford itself is inland.
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%.
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.5 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 16% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 72% (3.2 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 Sherford’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.