Photo: Neil Owen · CC BY-SA 2.0Parks and walks in Marnhull
The Dorset National Landscape and the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs National Landscape both begin about 5 miles from the village’s edge. 41% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Parks and playing fields in Marnhull add up to 1.8 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Marnhull grades C− for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors village is Marnhull?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Marnhull’s strongest suit is two protected landscapes close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Marnhull grades C− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Marnhull, 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.
Marnhull is 43rd of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,400 to 1,500 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against villages its size, Marnhull stands out most for path per km²: only 12 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 45 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Runton and Beeston Regis Norfolk | A+ | 25 | 100% | 4.8 | 34% |
| 2 | Sandridge Hertfordshire | A+ | 18.8 | 100% | 6.4 | 0% |
| 3 | Charlton Down Dorset | A | 4 | 100% | 2.3 | 58% |
| 4 | Newburn Tyne and Wear | A | 12.1 | 100% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 5 | Penrhyndeudraeth Gwynedd | A | 2.5 | 100% | 1 | 68% |
| 6 | Balcombe West Sussex | A | 2.9 | 100% | 2.2 | 90% |
| 7 | Three Crosses West Glamorgan | A | 2.4 | 100% | 1.3 | 39% |
| 8 | Sedbergh Cumbria | A | 1.9 | 83% | 5 | 92% |
| 9 | Heath and Reach Bedfordshire | A− | 3.3 | 100% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 10 | Llandovery Dyfed | A− | 13.3 | 100% | 1 | 22% |
| 11 | Denham Buckinghamshire | A− | 5.7 | 100% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 12 | Knowle Hampshire | A− | 2 | 100% | 3.1 | 7% |
| 13 | Twyford Hampshire | A− | 6.8 | 49% | 3.3 | 44% |
| 14 | Little Kingshill Buckinghamshire | A− | 6.5 | 50% | 2.9 | 90% |
| 15 | Holme Cumbria | A− | 2.8 | 100% | 1.8 | 25% |
| 16 | Burnhope County Durham | B+ | 3.1 | 100% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 17 | Horspath Oxfordshire | B | 14 | 54% | 5 | 0% |
| 18 | Staveley Cumbria | B | 1.7 | 85% | 2.5 | 89% |
| 19 | Hellifield North Yorkshire | B | 1.3 | 100% | 2.2 | 38% |
| 20 | Alconbury Cambridgeshire | B | 5.1 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 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 | Netherne on-the-Hill Surrey | B− | 1.6 | 40% | 5.9 | 19% |
| 24 | Gosfield Essex | C+ | 3.7 | 85% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 25 | Nether Stowey Somerset | C+ | 1.9 | 18% | 3 | 39% |
| 26 | Pirton Hertfordshire | C+ | 2.4 | 57% | 2.3 | 24% |
| 27 | Sutton Valence Kent | C+ | 5.6 | 71% | 1 | 1% |
| 28 | Killinghall North Yorkshire | C+ | 1 | 100% | 1.6 | 7% |
| 29 | Lavendon Buckinghamshire | C | 1.5 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 30 | Castor and Ailsworth Cambridgeshire | C | 3.4 | 41% | 3 | 0% |
| 31 | Ryhall Rutland | C | 1.9 | 100% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 32 | Connor Downs Cornwall | C | 0.5 | 79% | 0.7 | 8% |
| 33 | Newborough Cambridgeshire | C | 2.1 | 100% | 0.1 | 0% |
| 34 | Eythorne Kent | C | 0.5 | 79% | 2.5 | 9% |
| 35 | Ticehurst East Sussex | C | 1.4 | 75% | 0.8 | 100% |
| 36 | Brabourne Lees Kent | C | 0.9 | 0% | 3.2 | 34% |
| 37 | Patrington East Riding of Yorkshire | C− | 3.6 | 79% | 0.4 | 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 | Ruishton Somerset | C− | 0.6 | 60% | 2.7 | 4% |
| 42 | Denbury Devon | C− | 2.8 | 24% | 0.7 | 3% |
| 43 | Marnhull Dorset | C− | 1.8 | 41% | 3 | 0% |
| 44 | Pontyberem Dyfed | C− | 4.7 | 58% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 45 | East Rainton Tyne and Wear | D | 1.4 | 34% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Hook East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 1.1 | 19% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 47 | North Somercotes Lincolnshire | D | 1.7 | 44% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 48 | Pontyates Dyfed | D | 4.6 | 39% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 49 | Keadby Lincolnshire | D | 1.7 | 84% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 50 | Flore Northamptonshire | D | 1.6 | 62% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 51 | Westonzoyland Somerset | D | 3.1 | 30% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 52 | Copplestone Devon | D | 1.1 | 88% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 53 | Blakedown Worcestershire | D | 0.8 | 79% | 2 | 0% |
| 54 | Gosberton Lincolnshire | D | 1.1 | 86% | 0.1 | 0% |
| 55 | Four Crosses Powys | D− | 1.9 | 53% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 56 | Sturton by Stow Lincolnshire | D− | 1.7 | 41% | 1 | 0% |
| 57 | Markham Gwent | D− | 0.1 | 0% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 58 | Guilden Sutton Cheshire | D− | 0.3 | 56% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 59 | Shadwell West Yorkshire | D− | 0.3 | 25% | 2 | 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 Marnhull’s built-up area.
4 in 10 Marnhull 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 900 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Dorset and Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs both start about 5 miles from Marnhull
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.
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Marnhull scores 0% on it even though the Dorset National Landscape is 4.5 mi away.
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Marnhull
39 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Marnhull 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 village.
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.
The best walking months in Marnhull: 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 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 85 | 62 | 57 | 58 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 65 | 57 | 92 | 98 | 92 |
May is the driest month (50 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 98 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. The climate in Marnhull →
Viewpoints, hills and nature near Marnhull
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
Marnhull 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
Hills and peaks 2
Plus 2 hills and peaks without a name on the map.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marnhull | C− | 1.8 | 41% | 0% |
| Stalbridge 2.8 mi | B− | 3.3 | 100% | 0% |
| Sturminster Newton 2.9 mi | B | 1.4 | 85% | 5% |
| Henstridge 3.5 mi | D | 1.8 | 47% | 0% |
| Templecombe 4.8 mi | C+ | 2.0 | 100% | 0% |
| Gillingham 5.0 mi | B | 1.9 | 91% | 3% |
| Child Okeford 5.1 mi | C+ | 1.7 | 45% | 42% |
Gillingham, 5 miles away, grades B, the best next door: 91% of its residents live within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Marnhull
Is Marnhull near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Dorset National Landscape, 4.5 mi south-east of the village’s edge. It covers 1,129 km² and was designated in 1959.
What are the best walks near Marnhull?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the village, including the Stour Valley Way.
What is the nearest beach to Marnhull?
Lake North Beach, 21 mi from the edge of the village, then Shipstal Beach (22 mi). Marnhull itself is inland.
How many people in Marnhull live near a park?
41% 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 Marnhull?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Marnhull good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 61% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 39% (1.8 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 Marnhull’s overall grade.
Where Marnhull’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.