Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0Almost everyone in Crossways lives within a 5-minute walk of a park
The Dorset National Landscape begins 1.6 mi from the village’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Crossways add up to 0.5 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Footpaths add up to 23 km in the village and the kilometre around it, 1.8 for every square kilometre. Crossways grades C+ for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors village is Crossways?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Crossways’ strongest suit is parks close to every home, followed by the Dorset National Landscape close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Crossways grades C+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Crossways, 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.
Crossways is 31st of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 2,400 to 2,600 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against villages its size, Crossways stands out most for homes near a park: none of the other 59 has more. It falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 59 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rawnsley Staffordshire | A+ | 17.7 | 100% | 3.7 | 36% |
| 2 | Shalford Surrey | A+ | 14.9 | 89% | 4.8 | 47% |
| 3 | Silloth Cumbria | A+ | 7.3 | 100% | 1.4 | 17% |
| 4 | Eton Berkshire | A | 22.9 | 100% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 5 | Lyndhurst Hampshire | A | 3.6 | 73% | 4.3 | 100% |
| 6 | Rowhedge Essex | A | 1.6 | 100% | 6.4 | 0% |
| 7 | Chopwell Tyne and Wear | A | 7.5 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 8 | Longford Gloucestershire | A | 11.9 | 100% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 9 | Little Clacton Essex | A− | 3.6 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 10 | Awsworth Nottinghamshire | A− | 2.4 | 100% | 5.6 | 0% |
| 11 | South Anston South Yorkshire | A− | 3.5 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 12 | Stewartby Bedfordshire | A− | 21 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 13 | Saundersfoot Dyfed | A− | 10.2 | 69% | 0.9 | 19% |
| 14 | Higher Folds Greater Manchester | A− | 2.8 | 90% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 15 | Sway Hampshire | B+ | 2.9 | 38% | 4 | 74% |
| 16 | Thornley County Durham | B+ | 3.2 | 100% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 17 | Witton Gilbert County Durham | B+ | 2.1 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 18 | Henlow Bedfordshire | B | 2.4 | 100% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 19 | Farndon Nottinghamshire | B | 3.8 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 20 | Oakley Bedfordshire | B | 3.2 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 21 | Alresford Essex | B− | 1.3 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 22 | Watlington Oxfordshire | B− | 2.3 | 67% | 2.4 | 55% |
| 23 | Redlynch and Woodfalls Wiltshire | B− | 2.1 | 34% | 3.1 | 59% |
| 24 | Pannal North Yorkshire | B− | 3.7 | 77% | 3 | 0% |
| 25 | Coundon and Leeholme County Durham | B− | 4.4 | 100% | 1 | 0% |
| 26 | Brewood Staffordshire | B− | 3 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 27 | Kelvedon Hatch Essex | B− | 7.3 | 77% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 28 | Timsbury Somerset | B− | 2.7 | 68% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 29 | Bishop's Itchington Warwickshire | C+ | 1.5 | 100% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 30 | Llanrwst Clwyd | C+ | 2.2 | 75% | 1.6 | 45% |
| 31 | Crossways Dorset | C+ | 0.5 | 100% | 1.8 | 22% |
| 32 | Shepley West Yorkshire | C+ | 1.6 | 87% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 33 | Hendreforgan Mid Glamorgan | C+ | 2.7 | 100% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 34 | Widdrington Station Northumberland | C+ | 1 | 88% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 35 | Caton Lancashire | C+ | 1.2 | 72% | 2.2 | 67% |
| 36 | Steeple Claydon Buckinghamshire | C+ | 1.5 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 37 | Whittington Staffordshire | C | 7.5 | 77% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 38 | Great Houghton South Yorkshire | C | 1.8 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 39 | Tycroes Dyfed | C | 3.5 | 80% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 40 | Laleham Surrey | C | 9.8 | 34% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 41 | Ash (Dover) Kent | C | 2.3 | 72% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 42 | Eggborough North Yorkshire | C− | 1.5 | 100% | 1 | 0% |
| 43 | Willaston (Cheshire West and Chester) Cheshire | C− | 4.2 | 60% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 44 | Upper Heyford Oxfordshire | C− | 1.1 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 45 | Loggerheads Staffordshire | C− | 1.2 | 86% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 46 | Cwm Gwent | C− | 2 | 12% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 47 | Cliffe Kent | C− | 1.1 | 55% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 48 | Maulden Bedfordshire | D | 0.9 | 55% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 49 | East Harling Norfolk | D | 1.7 | 85% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 50 | Lampeter Dyfed | D | 1.5 | 88% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 51 | Long Crendon Buckinghamshire | D | 1.4 | 86% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 52 | Llanhilleth Gwent | D | 1.3 | 71% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 53 | Mawsley Village Northamptonshire | D | 1.5 | 71% | 2 | 0% |
| 54 | Broughton Lancashire | D | 1.7 | 45% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 55 | Long Itchington Warwickshire | D | 2.1 | 45% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 56 | Clophill Bedfordshire | D | 0.7 | 41% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 57 | Silverstone Northamptonshire | D | 1.1 | 0% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 58 | Nafferton East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 1.3 | 56% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 59 | Holme upon Spalding Moor East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 1.5 | 41% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Shipdham Norfolk | D− | 1 | 59% | 0.8 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Crossways’ built-up area.
How close Crossways’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).
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 8 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 312 residents.
The Dorset National Landscape is 1.6 mi away
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.
Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs
22% of the land within 5 km of Crossways is National Park or National Landscape, more than 79% of UK towns.
2 waymarked walks pass through or near Crossways
23 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Crossways and the kilometre around it, 1.8 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 Jubilee Trail (Dorset).
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 Crossways: 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 | 10.0 | 11.7 | 13.7 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.9 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 121 | 75 | 66 | 63 | 56 | 54 | 54 | 67 | 70 | 111 | 121 | 113 |
June is the driest month (54 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 121 mm of rain falls in January, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 36 nights a year. The climate in Crossways →
8 playgrounds and the nearest beaches
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
Crossways 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 8
Plus 8 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Dog parks 1
Campsites 1
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crossways | C+ | 0.5 | 100% | 22% |
| Puddletown 3.6 mi | D | 0.2 | 0% | 15% |
| Wool 4.5 mi | C+ | 2.3 | 51% | 33% |
| Dorchester 5.1 mi | B | 1.6 | 78% | 53% |
| Milborne St Andrew 6.0 mi | B | 3.3 | 71% | 33% |
| Bere Regis 6.1 mi | A | 39.2 | 100% | 0% |
| Charminster 6.2 mi | D | 0.3 | 0% | 56% |
Bere Regis, 6.1 miles away, grades A, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Wool, Dorchester and Milborne St Andrew have at least twice Crossways’ green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Crossways
Is Crossways near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Dorset National Landscape, 1.6 mi south of the village’s edge. It covers 1,129 km² and was designated in 1959.
What are the best walks near Crossways?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the Jubilee Trail (Dorset) and Frome Valley Way.
What is the nearest beach to Crossways?
Ringstead Beach, 4.0 mi from the edge of the village, then Castle Cove (7.9 mi). Crossways itself is inland.
How many people in Crossways 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 Crossways?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Crossways good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.8 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 25% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 5% (0.5 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 Crossways’ overall grade.
Where Crossways’ 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.