Pimperne’s biggest
Priory Field
Playing field
2.0 ha (5 acres)0.1 km of path
3 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1 mi westfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Chris Downer · CC BY-SA 2.0C+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Pimperne · parks, paths & countryside
Pimperne is inside the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs National Landscape
25 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 1.9 for every square kilometre. 72% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Pimperne grades C+ for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
1.9 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
72%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
25 km
1.9 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
89%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs National Landscape
Outdoors grade
Pimperne grades C+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Pimperne, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
C+
Better than 44% of UK towns23rd of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space1.9 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
43out of
100
100
A park within a walk72%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
34out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape89%of the land within 5 km
98out of
100
100
Footpaths1.9 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
26out 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
Pimperne is 23rd of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 2,700 to 2,900 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
Pimperne1.9
Towns its size2.2
Dorset towns3.2
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Pimperne1.9
Towns its size1.7
Dorset towns1.9
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Pimperne72%
Towns its size76%
Dorset towns77%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Pimperne stands out most for park space per resident: only 24 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 39 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lindford Hampshire | A+ | 17.1 | 100% | 4.7 | 42% |
| 2 | Hadston Northumberland | A+ | 5.8 | 100% | 2 | 1% |
| 3 | Bruton Somerset | A | 9.3 | 100% | 2.5 | 1% |
| 4 | Penmaenmawr Clwyd | A | 1.7 | 78% | 3.4 | 39% |
| 5 | Hartshill Warwickshire | A | 19 | 100% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 6 | Martlesham Heath Suffolk | A− | 3.5 | 68% | 4.6 | 25% |
| 7 | Congresbury Somerset | A− | 8.5 | 67% | 3.5 | 10% |
| 8 | Jacksdale and Westwood Nottinghamshire | A− | 2.7 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 9 | Holywell Green and Stainland West Yorkshire | A− | 4 | 89% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 10 | Perranporth Cornwall | B+ | 1.3 | 75% | 3.4 | 4% |
| 11 | Hertford Heath Hertfordshire | B+ | 1.6 | 100% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 12 | Buckfastleigh Devon | B+ | 2.9 | 89% | 1.3 | 53% |
| 13 | Mundesley Norfolk | B | 1.8 | 79% | 1.5 | 24% |
| 14 | Broadway Worcestershire | B | 2 | 65% | 3.6 | 56% |
| 15 | Charlbury Oxfordshire | B | 3.1 | 66% | 2.4 | 65% |
| 16 | Boverton South Glamorgan | B | 4.3 | 52% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 17 | Ormesby St Margaret Norfolk | B | 2.1 | 79% | 0.8 | 21% |
| 18 | Sutton-in-Craven North Yorkshire | B | 1.8 | 100% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 19 | Tollesbury Essex | B− | 2 | 85% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 20 | Chalgrove Oxfordshire | B− | 4.1 | 85% | 1.2 | 4% |
| 21 | Alltwen West Glamorgan | B− | 4.2 | 100% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 22 | Denby Dale West Yorkshire | B− | 0.7 | 100% | 4 | 0% |
| 23 | Pimperne Dorset | C+ | 1.9 | 72% | 1.9 | 89% |
| 24 | Shevington Moor Greater Manchester | C+ | 2.1 | 90% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 25 | Great Totham Essex | C+ | 2.8 | 100% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 26 | Hambrook and Nutbourne West Sussex | C+ | 1.2 | 28% | 2 | 69% |
| 27 | Rhostyllen Clwyd | C+ | 1.1 | 68% | 3.7 | 10% |
| 28 | Bluntisham and Colne Cambridgeshire | C+ | 2.3 | 88% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 29 | Lostock Gralam Cheshire | C | 1.2 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 30 | Catterick North Yorkshire | C | 3.6 | 89% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 31 | Asfordby Leicestershire | C | 4 | 57% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 32 | Badsey Worcestershire | C | 2.8 | 54% | 1.9 | 5% |
| 33 | Woolton Hill and Highclere Hampshire | C | 1.2 | 60% | 2.3 | 70% |
| 34 | Kidwelly Dyfed | C | 2.8 | 56% | 1 | 0% |
| 35 | Buckden Cambridgeshire | C | 2.9 | 85% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 36 | Swavesey Cambridgeshire | C− | 1.8 | 80% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 37 | Cheswick Green West Midlands | C− | 1 | 77% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 38 | Tuxford Nottinghamshire | C− | 1.4 | 100% | 1 | 0% |
| 39 | Mere Wiltshire | C− | 1.6 | 34% | 1.5 | 54% |
| 40 | Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen West Glamorgan | C− | 1.1 | 80% | 0.8 | 26% |
| 41 | Tarvin Cheshire | C− | 1.2 | 90% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 42 | Clifton Bedfordshire | C− | 1.7 | 64% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 43 | Kirkbymoorside North Yorkshire | C− | 0.4 | 55% | 1.9 | 37% |
| 44 | Thorngumbald East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 1.3 | 69% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 45 | Willington Derbyshire | D | 1.8 | 67% | 2 | 0% |
| 46 | Brierley South Yorkshire | D | 0.7 | 82% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 47 | Catterall Lancashire | D | 1 | 47% | 1.9 | 9% |
| 48 | Croston Lancashire | D | 0.6 | 78% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 49 | Harbury Warwickshire | D | 1.6 | 73% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 50 | Larkhill Wiltshire | D | 1.1 | 68% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 51 | Ambrosden Oxfordshire | D | 1 | 78% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 52 | Sherburn County Durham | D | 0.2 | 0% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 53 | Berinsfield Oxfordshire | D | 0.1 | 0% | 2.1 | 11% |
| 54 | Terrington St Clement Norfolk | D | 1.5 | 53% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 55 | Seghill Northumberland | D | 0.2 | 41% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 56 | Repton Derbyshire | D | 0.8 | 36% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 57 | East Ayton and West Ayton North Yorkshire | D | 0.1 | 0% | 1.2 | 33% |
| 58 | West Winch Norfolk | D | 1.5 | 73% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 59 | Pickmere Cheshire | D− | 0.4 | 71% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 60 | Greetham Rutland | D− | 0.9 | 30% | 0.8 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Pimperne’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 Pimperne
The biggest is Priory Field, 2.0 ha (5 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
7 in 10 Pimperne 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).
Within 400 m (72%)Further (28%)
Pimperne72%
Towns its size76%
Dorset towns77%
All UK towns83%
About 800 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 9 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 308 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
National Parks and National Landscapes around Pimperne
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
Pimperne is inside it986 km²since 198380% of the land within 5 km
Official site89% of the land within 5 km of Pimperne is National Park or National Landscape, more than 97% of UK towns. New Forest National Park covers 567 km² and has been a National Park since 2006.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Pimperne
25 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Pimperne and the kilometre around it, 1.9 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
Regional
Jubilee Trail (Dorset)4.9 km
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.
When to get out
The best walking months in Pimperne: 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) | 8 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 104 | 71 | 69 | 64 | 55 | 54 | 59 | 69 | 71 | 112 | 116 | 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 116 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 48 nights a year. The climate in Pimperne →
Things to do
9 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
Pimperne is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Lake North Beach11 mi from Pimperne’s edge
DirectionsShipstal Beach13 mi from Pimperne’s edge
DirectionsBranksome Chine Beach14 mi from Pimperne’s edge
DirectionsBranksome Dene Chine Beach14 mi from Pimperne’s edge
DirectionsAlum Chine Beach14 mi from Pimperne’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.
Every named place, with directions
Playgrounds 9
Plus 9 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 22
Dick Gilam Orange Exhibitor Camping0.5 mi from town
DirectionsRed 2 Exhibitor Camping0.5 mi from town
DirectionsWhite 2 Camping0.5 mi from town
DirectionsRed 2 Camping0.6 mi from town
DirectionsWhite 1 Camping0.6 mi from town
DirectionsYellow 2 Campsite0.7 mi from town
DirectionsRed 1 Exhibitor Campsite0.8 mi from town
DirectionsYellow 1 Campsite0.9 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 14 campsites more.
Next door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
Blandford ForumCharlton MarshallSturminster MarshallShillingstoneChild OkefordWimborne MinsterPimperne
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pimperne | C+ | 1.9 | 72% | 89% |
| Blandford Forum 2.1 mi | B+ | 2.1 | 90% | 72% |
| Charlton Marshall 2.9 mi | C | 0.5 | 78% | 50% |
| Sturminster Marshall 5.6 mi | B | 2.0 | 100% | 30% |
| Shillingstone 5.8 mi | B+ | 2.8 | 67% | 51% |
| Child Okeford 6.0 mi | C+ | 1.7 | 45% | 42% |
| Wimborne Minster 8.0 mi | B | 2.7 | 51% | 17% |
Blandford Forum, 2.1 miles away, grades B+, the best next door: 90% of its residents live within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Pimperne
What is the biggest park in Pimperne?
Priory Field, 2.0 ha (5 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Pimperne near a National Park?
Yes. New Forest National Park begins 14 mi 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, at the edge of the town.
What are the best walks near Pimperne?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the Jubilee Trail (Dorset).
What is the nearest beach to Pimperne?
Lake North Beach, 11 mi from the edge of the town, then Shipstal Beach (13 mi). Pimperne itself is inland.
How many people in Pimperne live near a park?
72% 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 Pimperne?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Pimperne good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.9 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 26% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 43% (1.9 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 Pimperne’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Pimperne’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.