Photo: Deborah Tilley · CC BY-SA 2.0Almost everyone in Merlin's Bridge lives within a 5-minute walk of a park
The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park begins 0.9 mi from the village’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Merlin's Bridge add up to 3.3 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Footpaths add up to 17 km in the village and the kilometre around it, 2.0 for every square kilometre. Merlin's Bridge grades A− for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors village is Merlin's Bridge?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Merlin's Bridge’s strongest suit is parks close to every home, followed by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park close by.
Merlin's Bridge grades A− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Merlin's Bridge, 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.
Merlin's Bridge is 11th of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 2,100 to 2,300 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against villages its size, Merlin's Bridge stands out most for park space per resident: only 12 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brockham Surrey | A+ | 7.4 | 94% | 4.4 | 38% |
| 2 | Limpsfield Surrey | A+ | 2.9 | 100% | 3.7 | 41% |
| 3 | Tanyfron Clwyd | A | 7.4 | 100% | 2.6 | 13% |
| 4 | Berry Hill Gloucestershire | A | 2.9 | 79% | 4.7 | 55% |
| 5 | Elstead Surrey | A | 2.5 | 100% | 2.6 | 82% |
| 6 | Hapton Lancashire | A | 2.6 | 87% | 6.1 | 2% |
| 7 | Severn Beach Gloucestershire | A− | 5.8 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 8 | Great Horkesley Essex | A− | 4.7 | 78% | 3.3 | 25% |
| 9 | Arnside Cumbria | A− | 1.3 | 65% | 4.1 | 75% |
| 10 | Smalley Derbyshire | A− | 2.9 | 100% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 11 | Merlin's Bridge Dyfed | A− | 3.3 | 100% | 2 | 11% |
| 12 | Gilwern Gwent | A− | 1.9 | 100% | 2 | 83% |
| 13 | Berrow and Brean Somerset | A− | 3.6 | 75% | 1.7 | 1% |
| 14 | Newstead Nottinghamshire | B+ | 2.6 | 100% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 15 | Woodcote Oxfordshire | B+ | 1.6 | 84% | 3.5 | 99% |
| 16 | Brimscombe and Thrupp Gloucestershire | B+ | 2.1 | 12% | 5.9 | 89% |
| 17 | Woodford Greater Manchester | B+ | 5.9 | 80% | 2.3 | 5% |
| 18 | Banwell Somerset | B+ | 1.7 | 100% | 2 | 38% |
| 19 | Steventon Oxfordshire | B+ | 2 | 100% | 2 | 17% |
| 20 | Longtown Cumbria | B | 4.3 | 100% | 0.1 | 0% |
| 21 | Crick Northamptonshire | B | 3.8 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 22 | Mayfield East Sussex | B− | 3.3 | 61% | 1.9 | 99% |
| 23 | Loddon Norfolk | B− | 2.4 | 77% | 2.5 | 18% |
| 24 | Park Street and Frogmore Hertfordshire | B− | 4.5 | 63% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 25 | Lechlade-on-Thames Gloucestershire | B− | 6.7 | 66% | 1.5 | 6% |
| 26 | Bere Alston Devon | C+ | 1.4 | 64% | 1.3 | 93% |
| 27 | Swanton Morley Norfolk | C+ | 3.5 | 94% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 28 | Hermitage Berkshire | C+ | 0.6 | 58% | 3.4 | 82% |
| 29 | Hook Norton Oxfordshire | C+ | 2 | 70% | 2 | 28% |
| 30 | Cold Ash Berkshire | C+ | 1.5 | 7% | 3.1 | 60% |
| 31 | Berkeley Gloucestershire | C+ | 0.9 | 49% | 2.6 | 3% |
| 32 | Farndon Cheshire | C+ | 1.2 | 82% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 33 | East Bergholt Suffolk | C | 1.9 | 26% | 2.4 | 46% |
| 34 | Trimsaran Dyfed | C | 2.4 | 31% | 1 | 2% |
| 35 | Wickham Market Suffolk | C | 2.5 | 64% | 1.7 | 7% |
| 36 | Llanidloes Powys | C | 2.4 | 89% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 37 | Barwick in Elmet West Yorkshire | C | 1.5 | 87% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 38 | Eye Suffolk | C | 2 | 66% | 3 | 0% |
| 39 | Wateringbury Kent | C− | 2.4 | 73% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 40 | Great Blakenham Suffolk | C− | 3.6 | 70% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 41 | Stoke Prior Worcestershire | C− | 2.6 | 67% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 42 | Coleford Somerset | C− | 1.2 | 51% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 43 | Coltishall and Horstead Norfolk | C− | 2.1 | 57% | 1.3 | 8% |
| 44 | Meriden West Midlands | C− | 1.8 | 70% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 45 | Woldingham Surrey | C− | 0.2 | 25% | 3.1 | 20% |
| 46 | Hatfield Woodhouse South Yorkshire | C− | 0.6 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 47 | St Osyth Essex | C− | 1.5 | 54% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 48 | Comberton Cambridgeshire | D | 1.6 | 71% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 49 | Duxford Cambridgeshire | D | 1.7 | 78% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 50 | Morton Lincolnshire | D | 0.2 | 28% | 3 | 0% |
| 51 | Kineton Warwickshire | D | 0.2 | 0% | 1.8 | 5% |
| 52 | Great Barford Bedfordshire | D− | 1.4 | 45% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 53 | Leconfield East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 1.6 | 51% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 54 | Bettws Mid Glamorgan | D− | 0.7 | 71% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 55 | Mattishall Norfolk | D− | 1.4 | 58% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 56 | Misterton Nottinghamshire | D− | 1.4 | 47% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 57 | Billinghay Lincolnshire | D− | 1.8 | 41% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 58 | Shenstone Staffordshire | D− | 1 | 55% | 1 | 0% |
| 59 | Cilfrew West Glamorgan | D− | 0.8 | 44% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 60 | Puriton Somerset | D− | 0.1 | 0% | 1.4 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Merlin's Bridge’s built-up area.
How close Merlin's Bridge’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; 13 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 171 residents.
The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is 0.9 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.
Pembrokeshire Coast
11% of the land within 5 km of Merlin's Bridge is National Park or National Landscape, more than 71% of UK towns. Pembrokeshire Coast National Park covers 615 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
Footpaths in and around Merlin's Bridge
17 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Merlin's Bridge and the kilometre around it, 2.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Merlin's Bridge; 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.
The best walking months in Merlin's Bridge: 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) | 8.3 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.6 | 16.7 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.7 | 7.8 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 128 | 86 | 87 | 71 | 81 | 86 | 80 | 103 | 99 | 144 | 161 | 147 |
April is the driest month (71 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 161 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 33 nights a year. The climate in Merlin's Bridge →
13 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
Merlin's Bridge is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the village.
Check the water before you swim. Natural Resources Wales tests designated bathing waters from May to September and publishes a rating for each beach.
Every named place, with directions
Playgrounds 13
Plus 13 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 1
Plus 1 slipway 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merlin's Bridge | A− | 3.3 | 100% | 11% |
| Haverfordwest 1.0 mi | C− | 1.0 | 85% | 8% |
| Johnston 2.3 mi | D | 1.4 | 55% | 5% |
| Crundale 2.8 mi | D | 1.5 | 57% | 5% |
| Neyland 5.4 mi | A− | 3.0 | 93% | 13% |
| Milford Haven 5.7 mi | C | 0.8 | 70% | 30% |
| Pembroke Dock 6.8 mi | B− | 1.7 | 80% | 25% |
Neyland, 5.4 miles away, grades A−, the best next door: 93% of its residents live within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Merlin's Bridge
Is Merlin's Bridge near a National Park?
Yes. Pembrokeshire Coast National Park begins 0.9 mi east of the village’s edge. It covers 615 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
What is the nearest beach to Merlin's Bridge?
Sandy Haven Beach, 6.5 mi from the edge of the village, then Freshwater West (9.2 mi). Merlin's Bridge itself is inland.
How many people in Merlin's Bridge 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 Merlin's Bridge?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Merlin's Bridge good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 2.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 29% 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 Merlin's Bridge’s overall grade.
Where Merlin's Bridge’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.