Ashingdon’s biggest
King George's Field
Playing field
7.0 ha (17 acres)
10 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Ashingdon
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Lonpicman · CC BY-SA 3.0C−Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Ashingdon · parks, paths & countryside
Parks and walks in Ashingdon
A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 61% of residents. Parks and playing fields in Ashingdon add up to 1.3 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. 29 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 2.2 for every square kilometre. Ashingdon grades C− for the outdoors: #74 of 81 in Essex. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
1.3 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
61%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
29 km
2.2 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Kent Downs National Landscape
The sea
6%
of the area within 5 km
Outdoors grade
Ashingdon grades C− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Ashingdon, 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 21% of UK towns#74 of 81 in Essex · 48th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space1.3 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
22out of
100
100
A park within a walk61%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
21out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · None within 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths2.2 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
35out of
100
100
The sea6%of the area within 5 km
84out 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
Ashingdon is 48th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 6,200 to 6,800 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
Ashingdon2.2
Towns its size3.0
Essex towns2.7
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Ashingdon1.3
Towns its size2.1
Essex towns2.4
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Ashingdon61%
Towns its size81%
Essex towns84%
All UK towns83%
Ashingdon falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 46 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netley Hampshire | A+ | 16.3 | 100% | 4.1 | 4% |
| 2 | Stone Kent | A+ | 3.1 | 100% | 6.2 | 0% |
| 3 | Filey North Yorkshire | A | 5.9 | 89% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 4 | Chalford Gloucestershire | A | 1.6 | 96% | 4.7 | 94% |
| 5 | Wingerworth Derbyshire | A | 9 | 86% | 4 | 0% |
| 6 | Shotton Clwyd | A | 4.5 | 100% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 7 | Bedwas Gwent | A | 4.4 | 100% | 4 | 0% |
| 8 | Broad Blunsdon Wiltshire | A− | 5.2 | 93% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 9 | St Blazey Cornwall | A− | 2.4 | 78% | 2.8 | 17% |
| 10 | Marston Moretaine Bedfordshire | A− | 17.4 | 88% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 11 | Olney Buckinghamshire | A− | 6.3 | 100% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 12 | Alcester Warwickshire | A− | 4.1 | 100% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 13 | Ackworth Moor Top West Yorkshire | A− | 4.6 | 91% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 14 | Whitfield Kent | A− | 2.3 | 79% | 2.5 | 32% |
| 15 | Paulton Somerset | A− | 2.1 | 96% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 16 | Whitworth Lancashire | B+ | 2.5 | 96% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 17 | Broadbridge Heath West Sussex | B+ | 1.6 | 95% | 4.3 | 3% |
| 18 | Lightwater Surrey | B+ | 9.2 | 72% | 5.6 | 0% |
| 19 | Milford and Witley Surrey | B+ | 2.6 | 54% | 3.7 | 78% |
| 20 | Cawston Warwickshire | B+ | 3.6 | 98% | 3 | 0% |
| 21 | North Anston South Yorkshire | B+ | 2.6 | 100% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 22 | Cleator Moor Cumbria | B+ | 3.5 | 91% | 1.9 | 11% |
| 23 | Little Chalfont Buckinghamshire | B+ | 1.5 | 83% | 3.6 | 45% |
| 24 | Groby Leicestershire | B+ | 2.1 | 96% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 25 | Peasedown St John Somerset | B+ | 1.5 | 88% | 4 | 9% |
| 26 | Hindhead Surrey | B | 1.7 | 37% | 5.9 | 66% |
| 27 | Braunton Devon | B | 1.6 | 78% | 2.1 | 24% |
| 28 | Galleywood Essex | B | 10.3 | 61% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 29 | Hartford Cheshire | B | 2.2 | 95% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 30 | Oundle Northamptonshire | B− | 2.4 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 31 | Rishton Lancashire | B− | 2.2 | 94% | 3 | 0% |
| 32 | Yapton West Sussex | B− | 1.8 | 63% | 2 | 15% |
| 33 | Upton West Yorkshire | B− | 2.2 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 34 | Crigglestone and Durkar West Yorkshire | B− | 4.4 | 45% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 35 | Ushaw Moor and Bearpark County Durham | C+ | 1.6 | 82% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 36 | Chiswell Green Hertfordshire | C+ | 4 | 54% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 37 | Denmead Hampshire | C+ | 1.4 | 72% | 2.8 | 35% |
| 38 | Tetbury Gloucestershire | C+ | 1.2 | 66% | 2.6 | 88% |
| 39 | Malton North Yorkshire | C+ | 2.3 | 43% | 2.4 | 24% |
| 40 | Rawdon West Yorkshire | C+ | 1.7 | 67% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 41 | Bolton-le-Sands Lancashire | C+ | 1.1 | 58% | 1.6 | 23% |
| 42 | Brampton Cambridgeshire | C | 3.2 | 61% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 43 | Market Deeping Lincolnshire | C | 1.5 | 96% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 44 | Farnham Common and Farnham Royal Buckinghamshire | C | 1 | 55% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 45 | Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes Dyfed | C | 9.7 | 70% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Lydiate Merseyside | C− | 1.5 | 90% | 2 | 0% |
| 47 | Gildersome West Yorkshire | C− | 1.2 | 81% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 48 | Ashingdon Essex | C− | 1.3 | 61% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 49 | Weaverham Cheshire | C− | 0.7 | 81% | 3 | 0% |
| 50 | Culcheth Cheshire | C− | 1.7 | 67% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 51 | Boston Spa West Yorkshire | C− | 1.2 | 86% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 52 | Washingborough and Heighington Lincolnshire | D | 1.8 | 66% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 53 | Wem Shropshire | D | 1.2 | 77% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 54 | Holmes Chapel Cheshire | D | 0.8 | 72% | 2 | 0% |
| 55 | Pontarddulais West Glamorgan | D | 1.9 | 67% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 56 | Coleshill Warwickshire | D | 1.3 | 69% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 57 | Selston Nottinghamshire | D | 0.9 | 61% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 58 | Broughton Clwyd | D− | 0.8 | 80% | 1 | 0% |
| 59 | Abercynon Mid Glamorgan | D− | 1.1 | 55% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 60 | Tadcaster North Yorkshire | D− | 0.6 | 58% | 1.7 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Ashingdon’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 Ashingdon
The biggest is King George's Field, 7.0 ha (17 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
6 in 10 Ashingdon 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 (61%)Further (39%)
Ashingdon61%
Towns its size81%
Essex towns84%
All UK towns83%
About 2,500 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 10 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 649 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Kent Downs National Landscape is 17 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
Footpaths & waymarked walks
2 waymarked walks pass through or near Ashingdon
29 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Ashingdon and the kilometre around it, 2.2 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
Local
Southend Ring2.5 km
Roach Valley Walk2.5 km
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 Ashingdon: 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) | 8.3 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.6 | 16.6 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.7 | 7.8 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 46 | 37 | 32 | 36 | 41 | 44 | 41 | 47 | 44 | 58 | 55 | 51 |
March is the driest month (32 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 58 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 34 nights a year. The climate in Ashingdon →
The coast
Ashingdon is near the sea
6% of the area within 5 km of Ashingdon is sea.
Sea: the area outside the ONS coastline (mean high water). Bathing water quality is published by the Environment Agency (England) and Natural Resources Wales; check it before swimming.
Things to do
10 playgrounds
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.
Every named place, with directions
Nature reserves 3
Magnolia Nature Reserve21 ha · 0.1 mi from town
DirectionsDoggetts Wildlife Area8.0 ha · 0.7 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 1 nature reserve without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 10
Plus 10 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 2
Ark Lane Scout Campsite1.1 mi from town
DirectionsBelchamps Scout Activity Centre1.2 mi from town
DirectionsNext door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
RochfordHockley and HawkwellCanewdonHullbridgeRayleighSouthend-on-SeaAshingdon
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashingdon | C− | 1.3 | 61% | 0% |
| Rochford 1.3 mi | B− | 2.0 | 71% | 0% |
| Hockley and Hawkwell 1.4 mi | C+ | 1.6 | 85% | 0% |
| Canewdon 2.5 mi | B | 2.5 | 100% | 0% |
| Hullbridge 3.5 mi | C+ | 5.7 | 59% | 0% |
| Rayleigh 3.7 mi | C | 2.0 | 71% | 0% |
| Southend-on-Sea 3.9 mi | C+ | 1.5 | 62% | 0% |
Canewdon, 2.5 miles away, grades B, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Hullbridge has at least twice Ashingdon’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Ashingdon
What is the biggest park in Ashingdon?
King George's Field, 7.0 ha (17 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Ashingdon near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Kent Downs National Landscape, 17 mi south-west of the town’s edge. It covers 879 km² and was designated in 1968.
What are the best walks near Ashingdon?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Southend Ring and Roach Valley Walk.
How many people in Ashingdon live near a park?
61% 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 Ashingdon?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Ashingdon good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 2.2 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 35% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 22% (1.3 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 Ashingdon’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Ashingdon’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.