Photo: Andrew Smith · CC BY-SA 2.058% of the land within 5 km of Charlton Down is National Park or National Landscape
The Dorset National Landscape reaches the edge of Charlton Down. Parks and playing fields in Charlton Down add up to 4.0 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. 15 km of footpaths run through the village and the kilometre around it, 2.3 for every square kilometre. Charlton Down grades A for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors village is Charlton Down?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Charlton Down’s strongest suit is protected countryside on the doorstep, followed by parks close to every home.
Charlton Down grades A for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Charlton Down, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
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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.
Charlton Down is 4th of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,400 to 1,600 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against villages its size, Charlton Down stands out most for park space per resident: only 14 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chambercombe Devon | A+ | 8.7 | 100% | 2.8 | 29% |
| 2 | Ashurst Wood West Sussex | A+ | 4 | 100% | 3.4 | 81% |
| 3 | Heathfield Devon | A+ | 20.4 | 100% | 3 | 30% |
| 4 | Charlton Down Dorset | A | 4 | 100% | 2.3 | 58% |
| 5 | Newburn Tyne and Wear | A | 12.1 | 100% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 6 | Gargrave North Yorkshire | A | 5.2 | 100% | 1.9 | 41% |
| 7 | Three Crosses West Glamorgan | A | 2.4 | 100% | 1.3 | 39% |
| 8 | Denham Buckinghamshire | A− | 5.7 | 100% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 9 | Knowle Hampshire | A− | 2 | 100% | 3.1 | 7% |
| 10 | Hale Cheshire | A− | 4.8 | 100% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 11 | Littleton Hampshire | A− | 7.8 | 100% | 1.1 | 10% |
| 12 | Twyford Hampshire | A− | 6.8 | 49% | 3.3 | 44% |
| 13 | Little Kingshill Buckinghamshire | A− | 6.5 | 50% | 2.9 | 90% |
| 14 | Holme Cumbria | A− | 2.8 | 100% | 1.8 | 25% |
| 15 | Burnhope County Durham | B+ | 3.1 | 100% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 16 | Offenham Worcestershire | B+ | 2.4 | 100% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 17 | Horspath Oxfordshire | B | 14 | 54% | 5 | 0% |
| 18 | Hellifield North Yorkshire | B | 1.3 | 100% | 2.2 | 38% |
| 19 | Staveley Cumbria | B | 1.7 | 85% | 2.5 | 89% |
| 20 | Sturminster Marshall Dorset | B | 2 | 100% | 1.4 | 30% |
| 21 | Pont Rhyd-y-cyff Mid Glamorgan | B | 4.9 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 22 | Houghton Cumbria | B | 1.7 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 23 | Wingrave Buckinghamshire | B− | 3.7 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 24 | Kingstone Herefordshire | B− | 3.1 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 25 | Kibblesworth Tyne and Wear | B− | 2.5 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 26 | Netherne on-the-Hill Surrey | B− | 1.6 | 40% | 5.9 | 19% |
| 27 | Trinant Gwent | C+ | 2.5 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 28 | Nether Stowey Somerset | C+ | 1.9 | 18% | 3 | 39% |
| 29 | Killinghall North Yorkshire | C+ | 1 | 100% | 1.6 | 7% |
| 30 | Nether Heyford Northamptonshire | C+ | 1.4 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 31 | Lavendon Buckinghamshire | C | 1.5 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 32 | Connor Downs Cornwall | C | 0.5 | 79% | 0.7 | 8% |
| 33 | Barton Lancashire | C | 2.6 | 47% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 34 | Newborough Cambridgeshire | C | 2.1 | 100% | 0.1 | 0% |
| 35 | Eythorne Kent | C | 0.5 | 79% | 2.5 | 9% |
| 36 | Brabourne Lees Kent | C | 0.9 | 0% | 3.2 | 34% |
| 37 | Alveley Shropshire | C− | 5.4 | 51% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 38 | Warton Warwickshire | C− | 1.1 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 39 | Cogenhoe Northamptonshire | C− | 1.5 | 78% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 40 | Burniston North Yorkshire | C− | 0.1 | 0% | 0.9 | 49% |
| 41 | Hartwell Northamptonshire | C− | 1.2 | 59% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 42 | Silverton Devon | C− | 1 | 100% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 43 | Ruishton Somerset | C− | 0.6 | 60% | 2.7 | 4% |
| 44 | Denbury Devon | C− | 2.8 | 24% | 0.7 | 3% |
| 45 | Marnhull Dorset | C− | 1.8 | 41% | 3 | 0% |
| 46 | Pontyberem Dyfed | C− | 4.7 | 58% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 47 | East Rainton Tyne and Wear | D | 1.4 | 34% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 48 | Hook East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 1.1 | 19% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 49 | North Somercotes Lincolnshire | D | 1.7 | 44% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 50 | Pontyates Dyfed | D | 4.6 | 39% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 51 | Cawood North Yorkshire | D | 1.9 | 60% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 52 | Copplestone Devon | D | 1.1 | 88% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 53 | Oakington Cambridgeshire | D | 2.1 | 52% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 54 | Stockton Warwickshire | D | 1.5 | 44% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 55 | Newton-with-Scales Lancashire | D | 1.4 | 76% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 56 | Four Crosses Powys | D− | 1.9 | 53% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 57 | Badersfield Norfolk | D− | 0.3 | 53% | 1 | 2% |
| 58 | Sturton by Stow Lincolnshire | D− | 1.7 | 41% | 1 | 0% |
| 59 | Tilney St Lawrence Norfolk | D− | 1.5 | 53% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 60 | Woodford Northamptonshire | D− | 0 | 0% | 1.5 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Charlton Down’s built-up area.
Everyone in Charlton Down 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).
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
National Parks and National Landscapes around Charlton Down
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.
Dorset
Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs
58% of the land within 5 km of Charlton Down is National Park or National Landscape, more than 93% of UK towns.
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Charlton Down
15 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Charlton Down and the kilometre around it, 2.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
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 Charlton Down: 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 | 13.7 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.9 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 131 | 94 | 80 | 74 | 64 | 64 | 60 | 85 | 84 | 131 | 135 | 136 |
July is the driest month (60 mm) and the warmest (highs of 21 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 136 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. The climate in Charlton Down →
Viewpoints, hills and nature near Charlton Down
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.
The nearest beaches
Charlton Down 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.
Every named place, with directions
Playgrounds 1
Plus 1 playground without a name on the map.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlton Down | A | 4.0 | 100% | 58% |
| Charminster 1.3 mi | D | 0.3 | 0% | 56% |
| Dorchester 3.0 mi | B | 1.6 | 78% | 53% |
| Puddletown 4.9 mi | D | 0.2 | 0% | 15% |
| Maiden Newton 5.3 mi | C− | 1.1 | 27% | 100% |
| Crossways 6.8 mi | C+ | 0.5 | 100% | 22% |
| Milborne St Andrew 7.9 mi | B | 3.3 | 71% | 33% |
Charlton Down grades higher for the outdoors than every neighbour in the table.
Questions about the outdoors in Charlton Down
Is Charlton Down near a National Park?
It covers 1,129 km² and was designated in 1959.
What are the best walks near Charlton Down?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the village, including the Frome Valley Way.
What is the nearest beach to Charlton Down?
Ringstead Beach, 9.1 mi from the edge of the village, then Chesil Beach (9.8 mi). Charlton Down itself is inland.
How many people in Charlton Down 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 Charlton Down?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Charlton Down good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 2.3 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 38% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 82% (4.0 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 Charlton Down’s overall grade.
Where Charlton Down’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.