Bearwood’s biggest
Canford Country Park
Park or garden
20 ha (49 acres)5.3 km of path
1 h 10 minto walk all 5.3 km of path
28 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.6 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.0B+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Bearwood · parks, paths & countryside
Almost everyone in Bearwood lives within a 5-minute walk of a park
The Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs National Landscape begins 3.3 mi from the town’s edge. Footpaths add up to 35 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 3.8 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Bearwood add up to 2.5 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Bearwood grades B+ for the outdoors: #16 of 30 in Dorset. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
2.5 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
35 km
3.8 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs starts 3.3 mi out, past the 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Bearwood?
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.Countryside both waysCranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs starts 3.3 mi north-west, Dorset 4.4 mi south.A town of footpaths3.8 km of path per km², more than 76% of UK towns. The typical town has 3.0.
Bearwood’s strongest suit is parks close to every home, followed by two protected landscapes close by.
Outdoors grade
Bearwood grades B+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Bearwood, 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 74% of UK towns#16 of 30 in Dorset · 15th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space2.5 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
58out 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 Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths3.8 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
77out 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
Bearwood is 15th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 4,000 to 4,300 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
Bearwood3.8
Towns its size2.7
Dorset towns3.2
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Bearwood2.5
Towns its size2.0
Dorset towns1.9
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Bearwood100%
Towns its size84%
Dorset towns77%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Bearwood stands out most for path per km²: only 11 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hextable Kent | A+ | 6.7 | 100% | 5.1 | 9% |
| 2 | West Malling Kent | A+ | 8.7 | 100% | 3.4 | 21% |
| 3 | Telscombe Cliffs East Sussex | A+ | 3 | 58% | 5.1 | 42% |
| 4 | Southbourne West Sussex | A | 1.3 | 92% | 3.3 | 64% |
| 5 | Pitstone Buckinghamshire | A | 1.6 | 100% | 4.2 | 40% |
| 6 | Tenby Dyfed | A | 2.1 | 88% | 2.5 | 21% |
| 7 | Bisley Surrey | A | 8 | 92% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 8 | Milton Cambridgeshire | A | 10.4 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 9 | Holt Norfolk | A | 8.5 | 84% | 2.4 | 40% |
| 10 | Old Sarum Wiltshire | A | 4.6 | 100% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 11 | Loftus North Yorkshire | A− | 1.9 | 90% | 2 | 31% |
| 12 | Hunstanton Norfolk | A− | 3.7 | 71% | 1.4 | 31% |
| 13 | Prestbury Gloucestershire | A− | 1.6 | 80% | 5.3 | 51% |
| 14 | Fairford Gloucestershire | A− | 3.4 | 100% | 1.8 | 17% |
| 15 | Bearwood Dorset | B+ | 2.5 | 100% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 16 | Lofthouse and Robin Hood West Yorkshire | B+ | 3.4 | 93% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 17 | Cheddleton Staffordshire | B+ | 3.5 | 88% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 18 | Ratby Leicestershire | B+ | 1.7 | 100% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 19 | Bramley and Wonersh Surrey | B+ | 1.7 | 77% | 3.5 | 59% |
| 20 | Tangmere West Sussex | B | 2.1 | 100% | 1.2 | 36% |
| 21 | Grange-over-Sands Cumbria | B | 1.5 | 46% | 2.6 | 40% |
| 22 | Brampton Cumbria | B | 2 | 92% | 2.2 | 9% |
| 23 | Saltford Somerset | B | 1.6 | 75% | 3.6 | 24% |
| 24 | Bourton-on-the-Water Gloucestershire | B | 0.9 | 79% | 3.3 | 100% |
| 25 | Penrhyn Bay Clwyd | B− | 0.6 | 68% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 26 | Little Paxton Cambridgeshire | B− | 2.8 | 87% | 3 | 0% |
| 27 | Tumble Dyfed | B− | 19.5 | 93% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 28 | Stoney Stanton Leicestershire | B− | 2.5 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 29 | Topsham Devon | B− | 1.9 | 76% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 30 | Martock Somerset | B− | 2.9 | 85% | 3 | 0% |
| 31 | Easington Lane Tyne and Wear | B− | 0.9 | 100% | 4 | 0% |
| 32 | Kessingland Suffolk | C+ | 0.9 | 70% | 1.9 | 19% |
| 33 | Ystradgynlais Powys | C+ | 2.5 | 78% | 1.2 | 36% |
| 34 | Send Surrey | C+ | 2.6 | 28% | 3.3 | 5% |
| 35 | Old Tupton Derbyshire | C+ | 2.3 | 73% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 36 | Eaton Bray and Edlesborough Bedfordshire | C+ | 2.6 | 72% | 1.7 | 29% |
| 37 | Thorpe Hesley South Yorkshire | C+ | 1.8 | 80% | 4 | 0% |
| 38 | Sandwich Kent | C+ | 2.1 | 51% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 39 | Sible Hedingham Essex | C+ | 0.9 | 100% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 40 | Holmfield West Yorkshire | C+ | 2.8 | 74% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 41 | Knebworth Hertfordshire | C+ | 1.5 | 81% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 42 | Kirkburton West Yorkshire | C | 1.4 | 86% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 43 | Warton (Fylde) Lancashire | C | 1.3 | 92% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 44 | South Darenth and Sutton at Hone Kent | C | 1.8 | 43% | 2.7 | 10% |
| 45 | Brayton North Yorkshire | C | 0.8 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Langley Park County Durham | C | 0.8 | 84% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 47 | Deanshanger Northamptonshire | C | 1.5 | 93% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 48 | Uppingham Rutland | C | 2.2 | 89% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 49 | Wynyard County Durham | C | 10.7 | 64% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 50 | Beck Row Suffolk | C | 5.3 | 76% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 51 | Great Glen Leicestershire | C | 1.4 | 91% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 52 | Nelson Gwent | C | 2.1 | 88% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 53 | Ellesmere Shropshire | C− | 12.5 | 54% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 54 | Brookmans Park Hertfordshire | C− | 2.5 | 43% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 55 | Doddinghurst Essex | D | 1.6 | 60% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 56 | Middleton Cheney Northamptonshire | D | 0.9 | 70% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 57 | Gnosall Staffordshire | D | 1.2 | 42% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 58 | Cricklade Wiltshire | D | 0.3 | 9% | 3 | 0% |
| 59 | Llantrisant Mid Glamorgan | D− | 0.6 | 42% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 60 | Little Eriswell Suffolk | D− | 0.1 | 0% | 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 Bearwood’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 Bearwood
The biggest is Canford Country Park, 20 ha (49 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
How close Bearwood’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%)
Bearwood100%
Towns its size84%
Dorset towns77%
All UK towns83%
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 21 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 197 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs and Dorset both start about 4 miles from Bearwood
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
Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs
3.3 mi north-west986 km²since 1983
Official siteProtected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Bearwood scores 0% on it even though the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs National Landscape is 3.3 mi away. New Forest National Park covers 567 km² and has been a National Park since 2006.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
3 waymarked walks pass through or near Bearwood
35 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Bearwood and the kilometre around it, 3.8 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
Stour Valley Way7.5 km
Bourne Valley Greenway walk2.8 km
Ferndown, Stour and Forest Trail0.7 km
The regional route here is the Stour Valley 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 Bearwood: 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) | 8.4 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 22 | 20 | 16 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 97 | 73 | 64 | 60 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 59 | 68 | 106 | 114 | 108 |
May is the driest month (52 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 114 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 37 nights a year. The climate in Bearwood →
Things to do
21 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
Bearwood is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Alum Chine Beach3.8 mi from Bearwood’s edge
DirectionsBranksome Dene Chine Beach3.8 mi from Bearwood’s edge
DirectionsBournemouth West Beach3.9 mi from Bearwood’s edge
DirectionsBranksome Chine Beach3.9 mi from Bearwood’s edge
DirectionsBournemouth East Beach4.2 mi from Bearwood’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.
Up high. Lodge Hill, at 70 m, is the highest named top within 2 km of Bearwood.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 1
Site of Kinson Village Pound1.0 mi from town
DirectionsHills and peaks 1
Lodge Hill70 m (230 ft) · 1.2 mi from town
DirectionsNature reserves 5
Turbary Common Local Nature Reserve42 ha · 0.8 mi from town
DirectionsPoole Lane Meadows3.1 ha · 0.9 mi from town
DirectionsKinson Common17 ha · 0.9 mi from town
DirectionsBlanchard's Copse2.2 ha · 0.9 mi from town
DirectionsFernheath Valley3.0 ha · 1.1 mi from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 21
Poole Lane Meadows play area0.9 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 20 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
Butcher's Coppice0.3 mi from town
DirectionsNext door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
MerleyWest ParleyPooleFerndownWimborne MinsterBournemouthBearwood
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bearwood | B+ | 2.5 | 100% | 0% |
| Merley 1.9 mi | B+ | 3.9 | 64% | 6% |
| West Parley 2.5 mi | C− | 1.6 | 20% | 0% |
| Poole 2.6 mi | A | 2.5 | 81% | 20% |
| Ferndown 3.0 mi | C | 0.7 | 13% | 0% |
| Wimborne Minster 3.1 mi | B | 2.7 | 51% | 17% |
| Bournemouth 3.6 mi | A− | 1.9 | 81% | 1% |
Poole, 2.6 miles away, grades A, the best next door: 81% of its residents live within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Bearwood
What is the biggest park in Bearwood?
Canford Country Park, 20 ha (49 acres), with 5.3 km of path. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Bearwood near a National Park?
Yes. New Forest National Park begins 5.8 mi north-east of the town’s edge. It covers 567 km² and has been a National Park since 2006. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs National Landscape, 3.3 mi away.
What are the best walks near Bearwood?
3 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Stour Valley Way, Bourne Valley Greenway walk and Ferndown, Stour and Forest Trail. Canford Country Park alone has 5.3 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Bearwood?
Alum Chine Beach, 3.8 mi from the edge of the town, then Branksome Dene Chine Beach (3.8 mi). Bearwood itself is inland.
How many people in Bearwood 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 Bearwood?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Bearwood good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.8 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 77% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 58% (2.5 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 Bearwood’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Bearwood’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.