Morn Lodge · Photo: N Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0Chickerell is on the coast, on the South West Coast Path
The sea makes up 40% of the area within 5 km. The Dorset National Landscape reaches the edge of Chickerell. 88% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Chickerell grades A for the outdoors: #7 of 30 in Dorset. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors town is Chickerell?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Chickerell’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by protected countryside on the doorstep. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Chickerell grades A for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Chickerell, 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.
Chickerell is 4th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 3,800 to 4,100 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against towns its size, Chickerell stands out most for path per km²: only 21 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 36 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darley Dale Derbyshire | A+ | 3.8 | 100% | 3.4 | 51% |
| 2 | Batheaston Somerset | A | 3 | 84% | 4.6 | 71% |
| 3 | Cranbrook Kent | A | 5.8 | 82% | 2.9 | 65% |
| 4 | Chickerell Dorset | A | 1.5 | 88% | 3 | 27% |
| 5 | Bisley Surrey | A | 8 | 92% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 6 | Walter's Ash and Naphill Buckinghamshire | A | 3.7 | 50% | 5.3 | 79% |
| 7 | Holt Norfolk | A | 8.5 | 84% | 2.4 | 40% |
| 8 | Old Sarum Wiltshire | A | 4.6 | 100% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 9 | Disley Cheshire | A− | 1.2 | 100% | 4.6 | 22% |
| 10 | Bowerhill Wiltshire | A− | 7.4 | 100% | 3 | 0% |
| 11 | Prestbury Gloucestershire | A− | 1.6 | 80% | 5.3 | 51% |
| 12 | Welwyn Hertfordshire | A− | 2.6 | 100% | 4 | 0% |
| 13 | Esh Winning County Durham | A− | 3.2 | 100% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 14 | Carbis Bay Cornwall | B+ | 0.5 | 88% | 2.8 | 20% |
| 15 | Long Melford Suffolk | B+ | 6.9 | 87% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 16 | Cheddleton Staffordshire | B+ | 3.5 | 88% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 17 | Chirk Clwyd | B+ | 1.8 | 100% | 2.3 | 15% |
| 18 | Queenborough Kent | B | 1.6 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 19 | Tangmere West Sussex | B | 2.1 | 100% | 1.2 | 36% |
| 20 | Stoke Poges Buckinghamshire | B | 7.7 | 76% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 21 | Pirbright Surrey | B | 2 | 84% | 5.7 | 0% |
| 22 | Grange-over-Sands Cumbria | B | 1.5 | 46% | 2.6 | 40% |
| 23 | Calverley West Yorkshire | B | 1.5 | 92% | 6 | 0% |
| 24 | Little Paxton Cambridgeshire | B− | 2.8 | 87% | 3 | 0% |
| 25 | Tumble Dyfed | B− | 19.5 | 93% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 26 | Glanaman Dyfed | B− | 3.3 | 83% | 0.8 | 29% |
| 27 | Martock Somerset | B− | 2.9 | 85% | 3 | 0% |
| 28 | South Cerney Gloucestershire | B− | 2.5 | 77% | 2.4 | 7% |
| 29 | Lower Stondon Bedfordshire | B− | 2.7 | 73% | 2.2 | 5% |
| 30 | New Romney Kent | C+ | 2.5 | 79% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 31 | Ystradgynlais Powys | C+ | 2.5 | 78% | 1.2 | 36% |
| 32 | Chipping Ongar Essex | C+ | 2.5 | 83% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 33 | Bar Hill Cambridgeshire | C+ | 1.4 | 93% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 34 | Heacham Norfolk | C+ | 1.5 | 53% | 1.1 | 29% |
| 35 | Forest Row East Sussex | C+ | 0.3 | 51% | 3.4 | 94% |
| 36 | Shirland and Stonebroom Derbyshire | C | 3.7 | 43% | 3 | 0% |
| 37 | Kirkburton West Yorkshire | C | 1.4 | 86% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 38 | Silver End Essex | C | 2 | 88% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 39 | Langley Park County Durham | C | 0.8 | 84% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 40 | Cubbington Warwickshire | C | 1.5 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 41 | Tenbury Wells Worcestershire | C | 2.3 | 51% | 2.1 | 3% |
| 42 | Oaklands Hertfordshire | C | 2 | 7% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 43 | Wynyard County Durham | C | 10.7 | 64% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 44 | Great Glen Leicestershire | C | 1.4 | 91% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 45 | Whiston South Yorkshire | C− | 1 | 75% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 46 | Lydd Kent | C− | 1.7 | 66% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 47 | Brookmans Park Hertfordshire | C− | 2.5 | 43% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 48 | Kingston Bagpuize Oxfordshire | C− | 0.8 | 100% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 49 | Swanland East Riding of Yorkshire | C− | 1.1 | 75% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 50 | Sutton Cambridgeshire | D | 1.9 | 82% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 51 | Glyn-neath West Glamorgan | D | 1.3 | 57% | 1.1 | 22% |
| 52 | Crowle Lincolnshire | D | 1.3 | 91% | 1 | 0% |
| 53 | Puckeridge and Standon Hertfordshire | D | 0.9 | 59% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 54 | Doddinghurst Essex | D | 1.6 | 60% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 55 | Sutton Bridge Lincolnshire | D | 1.3 | 79% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 56 | North Ferriby East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 0.6 | 33% | 1 | 0% |
| 57 | Gnosall Staffordshire | D | 1.2 | 42% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 58 | Cricklade Wiltshire | D | 0.3 | 9% | 3 | 0% |
| 59 | Willingham Cambridgeshire | D | 1.4 | 73% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Indian Queens, Fraddon and St Columb Road Cornwall | D− | 0.7 | 27% | 1.6 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Chickerell’s built-up area.
9 in 10 Chickerell 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 500 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 13 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 306 residents.
National Parks and National Landscapes around Chickerell
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
27% of the land within 5 km of Chickerell is National Park or National Landscape, more than 82% of UK towns.
Chickerell is on the South West Coast Path
29 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Chickerell and the kilometre around it, 3.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
The South West Coast Path, a national route, passes Chickerell.
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 Chickerell: 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 | 10.0 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.5 | 16.4 | 16.0 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.9 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 17 | 13 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 88 | 58 | 56 | 53 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 56 | 56 | 88 | 102 | 93 |
June is the driest month (45 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 102 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 18 nights a year. The climate in Chickerell →
The coast and beaches near Chickerell
40% of the area within 5 km of Chickerell is sea. 11 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 2 with a name.
The 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.
3 viewpoints and 13 playgrounds
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.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 3
Plus 3 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 1
Playgrounds 13
Plus 12 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 8
Plus 1 campsite 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chickerell | A | 1.5 | 88% | 27% |
| Weymouth 1.6 mi | A | 2.6 | 55% | 35% |
| Fortuneswell 4.8 mi | A | 1.1 | 100% | 0% |
| Weston 6.0 mi | A+ | 2.5 | 95% | 0% |
| Grove 6.0 mi | A+ | 6.0 | 100% | 0% |
| Dorchester 6.6 mi | B | 1.6 | 78% | 53% |
| Southwell 6.8 mi | A | 0.7 | 100% | 0% |
Grove, 6 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Grove has at least twice Chickerell’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Chickerell
Is Chickerell near a National Park?
It covers 1,129 km² and was designated in 1959.
What are the best walks near Chickerell?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the South West Coast Path (Section 48: Abbotsbury to Ferrybridge).
How many people in Chickerell live near a park?
88% 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 Chickerell?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Chickerell good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 60% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 29% (1.5 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 Chickerell’s overall grade.
Where Chickerell’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.