Stalbridge’s biggest
Stalbridge Nature Reserve
Park or garden
2.2 ha (5 acres)
3 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Stalbridge
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Neil Owen · CC BY-SA 2.0B−Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Stalbridge · parks, paths & countryside
Almost everyone in Stalbridge lives within a 5-minute walk of a park
The Dorset National Landscape begins 5.5 mi from the village’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Stalbridge add up to 3.3 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Footpaths add up to 16 km in the village and the kilometre around it, 1.8 for every square kilometre. Stalbridge grades B− for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
3.3 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
16 km
1.8 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Dorset starts 5.5 mi out, past the 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors village is Stalbridge?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.Countryside close byThe Dorset National Landscape starts 5.5 mi south-east.
Stalbridge’s strongest suit is parks close to every home, followed by the Dorset National Landscape close by.
Outdoors grade
Stalbridge grades B− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Stalbridge, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
B−
Better than 54% of UK towns15th of 60 UK villages its size
Public green space3.3 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
74out of
100
100
A park within a walk100%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
89out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · Dorset begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths1.8 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
25out 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.
Villages its size
Stalbridge is 15th of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 2,300 to 2,500 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
Stalbridge1.8
Villages its size2.1
Dorset towns3.2
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Stalbridge3.3
Villages its size1.9
Dorset towns1.9
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Stalbridge100%
Villages its size87%
Dorset towns77%
All UK towns83%
Against villages its size, Stalbridge stands out most for park space per resident: only 10 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 36 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reydon Suffolk | A+ | 3.5 | 93% | 3.6 | 49% |
| 2 | Aldeburgh Suffolk | A | 2.3 | 88% | 2.3 | 41% |
| 3 | St Margaret's at Cliffe Kent | A | 2.3 | 90% | 2.4 | 15% |
| 4 | Upton upon Severn Worcestershire | A− | 4.9 | 90% | 2.8 | 2% |
| 5 | Colerne Wiltshire | A− | 3.1 | 86% | 2.4 | 84% |
| 6 | Picket Piece Hampshire | A− | 3.9 | 100% | 1.3 | 33% |
| 7 | Tanfield Lea County Durham | A− | 3.8 | 89% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 8 | Cannington Somerset | A− | 2.8 | 88% | 3.2 | 3% |
| 9 | Y Felinheli Gwynedd | B+ | 4.9 | 65% | 1.9 | 10% |
| 10 | Kington Herefordshire | B+ | 3.9 | 89% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 11 | Cotford St Luke Somerset | B+ | 2.2 | 100% | 2.2 | 6% |
| 12 | Nant-y-moel Mid Glamorgan | B | 7 | 100% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 13 | Chattenden Kent | B | 1.4 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 14 | Middlestown and Overton West Yorkshire | B− | 1.5 | 100% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 15 | Stalbridge Dorset | B− | 3.3 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 16 | Narberth Dyfed | B− | 1.9 | 100% | 1.6 | 4% |
| 17 | Creech St Michael Somerset | B− | 1.2 | 88% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 18 | Upper Halliford Surrey | B− | 5.1 | 44% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 19 | Bassingbourn Cambridgeshire | B− | 3.8 | 85% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 20 | Riccall North Yorkshire | B− | 2.9 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 21 | Wiveliscombe Somerset | B− | 2.3 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 22 | Ashurst Hampshire | B− | 0.9 | 65% | 3.6 | 72% |
| 23 | St Dennis Cornwall | C+ | 2.4 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 24 | Osbaldwick North Yorkshire | C+ | 1.9 | 70% | 5 | 0% |
| 25 | Padstow Cornwall | C+ | 0.6 | 33% | 2.5 | 37% |
| 26 | Pentyrch South Glamorgan | C+ | 2.6 | 50% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 27 | Bramford Suffolk | C+ | 3.2 | 76% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 28 | Shelley Essex | C+ | 0.7 | 100% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 29 | Mickleton Gloucestershire | C+ | 2.2 | 52% | 2.1 | 45% |
| 30 | Witchford Cambridgeshire | C+ | 1.9 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 31 | Coven Staffordshire | C+ | 3.6 | 87% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 32 | Lingwood Norfolk | C+ | 1.2 | 73% | 2.6 | 26% |
| 33 | Pontycymer Mid Glamorgan | C | 2.2 | 100% | 1 | 0% |
| 34 | Stanton Suffolk | C | 2.6 | 87% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 35 | Woolavington Somerset | C | 1.6 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 36 | Dearham Cumbria | C | 0.6 | 72% | 1.4 | 6% |
| 37 | South Milford North Yorkshire | C | 1.7 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 38 | West Rainton County Durham | C | 2.1 | 73% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 39 | Bletchingley Surrey | C | 0.5 | 10% | 3.9 | 18% |
| 40 | Credenhill Herefordshire | C− | 1.5 | 87% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 41 | Wilstead Bedfordshire | C− | 1.7 | 88% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 42 | Marshfield Gwent | C− | 1 | 85% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 43 | Hathern Leicestershire | C− | 1.8 | 50% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 44 | Knowsley Merseyside | C− | 3.1 | 77% | 1 | 0% |
| 45 | Collingham West Yorkshire | C− | 1.4 | 84% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 46 | Reepham Norfolk | C− | 2.3 | 66% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 47 | Stilton Cambridgeshire | C− | 0.8 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 48 | Coates and Eastrea Cambridgeshire | C− | 0.9 | 100% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 49 | Dinnington Tyne and Wear | C− | 1.6 | 89% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 50 | Brown Edge Staffordshire | C− | 1.1 | 88% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 51 | Goxhill Lincolnshire | C− | 1.5 | 69% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 52 | Eastry Kent | D | 2 | 77% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 53 | Netherton (Wakefield) West Yorkshire | D | 0.7 | 27% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 54 | St Stephen Cornwall | D | 1.2 | 88% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 55 | Leyburn North Yorkshire | D | 0.6 | 22% | 2 | 16% |
| 56 | Fishburn County Durham | D | 1.5 | 76% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 57 | Parbold Lancashire | D | 1.5 | 36% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 58 | Burton upon Stather Lincolnshire | D | 1.5 | 75% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 59 | Myerscough Smithy Lancashire | D | 0.5 | 45% | 3 | 0% |
| 60 | Leven East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 1.2 | 64% | 0.7 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Stalbridge’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 Stalbridge
The biggest is Stalbridge Nature Reserve, 2.2 ha (5 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Jarvis Field Recreation Ground
Playing field
0.8 ha (2 acres)0.1 km of path
Centralin the middle of Stalbridge
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
How close Stalbridge’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).
Within 400 m (100%)Further (0%)
Stalbridge100%
Villages its size87%
Dorset towns77%
All UK towns83%
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 3 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 789 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Dorset National Landscape is 5.5 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.
National ParkNational LandscapeThe 5 km the grade counts
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Stalbridge scores 0% on it even though the Dorset National Landscape is 5.5 mi away.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Footpaths in and around Stalbridge
16 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Stalbridge and the kilometre around it, 1.8 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Stalbridge; its footpaths are on the map above.
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 Stalbridge: 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) | 91 | 64 | 57 | 58 | 51 | 50 | 51 | 63 | 58 | 94 | 99 | 93 |
June 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 99 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 44 nights a year. The climate in Stalbridge →
Things to do
3 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
Stalbridge is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the village.
Lake North Beach22 mi from Stalbridge’s edge
DirectionsRingstead Beach22 mi from Stalbridge’s edge
DirectionsHive Beach23 mi from Stalbridge’s edge
DirectionsShipstal Beach23 mi from Stalbridge’s edge
DirectionsEast Beach24 mi from Stalbridge’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 3
Plus 3 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Next door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
HenstridgeMarnhullTemplecombeSturminster NewtonMilborne PortSherborneStalbridge
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stalbridge | B− | 3.3 | 100% | 0% |
| Henstridge 1.4 mi | D | 1.8 | 47% | 0% |
| Marnhull 2.8 mi | C− | 1.8 | 41% | 0% |
| Templecombe 3.3 mi | C+ | 2.0 | 100% | 0% |
| Sturminster Newton 3.8 mi | B | 1.4 | 85% | 5% |
| Milborne Port 4.0 mi | C+ | 1.6 | 100% | 0% |
| Sherborne 6.4 mi | D | 1.2 | 76% | 0% |
Sturminster Newton, 3.8 miles away, grades B, the best next door: 85% of its residents live within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Stalbridge
What is the biggest park in Stalbridge?
Stalbridge Nature Reserve, 2.2 ha (5 acres). Jarvis Field Recreation Ground (0.8 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the village or within 400 m of it.
Is Stalbridge near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Dorset National Landscape, 5.5 mi south-east of the village’s edge. It covers 1,129 km² and was designated in 1959.
What is the nearest beach to Stalbridge?
Lake North Beach, 22 mi from the edge of the village, then Ringstead Beach (22 mi). Stalbridge itself is inland.
How many people in Stalbridge 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 Stalbridge?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Stalbridge 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 74% (3.3 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 Stalbridge’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Stalbridge’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.