Photo: Robert Edwards · CC BY-SA 2.0Jaywick is on the coast
The sea makes up 51% of the area within 5 km. Parks and playing fields in Jaywick add up to 1.1 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Footpaths add up to 17 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 1.4 for every square kilometre. Jaywick grades C− for the outdoors: #73 of 81 in Essex. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors town is Jaywick?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Jaywick’s strongest suit is the sea. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Jaywick grades C− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Jaywick, 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.
Jaywick is 48th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 4,900 to 5,300 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Jaywick falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 49 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cookham Berkshire | A+ | 8.3 | 96% | 4.3 | 19% |
| 2 | Pill Somerset | A+ | 5.2 | 100% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 3 | Weston Dorset | A+ | 2.5 | 95% | 7.6 | 0% |
| 4 | Whitehill Hampshire | A+ | 10.2 | 74% | 5.1 | 58% |
| 5 | Hungerford Berkshire | A+ | 9.1 | 85% | 3.2 | 100% |
| 6 | Burry Port Dyfed | A+ | 11.8 | 75% | 2.8 | 17% |
| 7 | Moreton-in-Marsh Gloucestershire | A | 5 | 100% | 1.8 | 55% |
| 8 | Rhymney Gwent | A | 2.9 | 97% | 3.8 | 6% |
| 9 | Meols Merseyside | A | 3.1 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 10 | Holmfirth West Yorkshire | A | 2.2 | 88% | 4.6 | 27% |
| 11 | Fitzwilliam and Kinsley West Yorkshire | A− | 11.5 | 100% | 3 | 0% |
| 12 | Fordingbridge Hampshire | A− | 3.6 | 92% | 2 | 56% |
| 13 | Coleford Gloucestershire | A− | 2.8 | 66% | 4.3 | 48% |
| 14 | Needham Market Suffolk | A− | 7.2 | 88% | 4 | 0% |
| 15 | Overseal and Castle Gresley Derbyshire | A− | 2.5 | 100% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 16 | Northam Devon | A− | 6.8 | 43% | 2 | 16% |
| 17 | Huthwaite Nottinghamshire | B+ | 8.1 | 75% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 18 | Seaton Cumbria | B+ | 2.5 | 87% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 19 | Cranbrook Devon | B+ | 6.4 | 87% | 1.9 | 1% |
| 20 | Hildenborough Kent | B+ | 6.5 | 40% | 2.8 | 46% |
| 21 | Long Ashton Somerset | B+ | 10.2 | 66% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 22 | Fremington Devon | B+ | 1.4 | 88% | 2.1 | 10% |
| 23 | Stone Cross East Sussex | B+ | 1.4 | 86% | 2.3 | 9% |
| 24 | Aspull Greater Manchester | B | 7.6 | 92% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 25 | Easingwold North Yorkshire | B | 4.3 | 86% | 1.5 | 14% |
| 26 | Grimethorpe South Yorkshire | B | 2.5 | 100% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 27 | Market Rasen Lincolnshire | B | 2.6 | 94% | 1.6 | 16% |
| 28 | Sedgefield County Durham | B | 6.2 | 81% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 29 | Redbourn Hertfordshire | B | 2.4 | 70% | 3.2 | 11% |
| 30 | Iver Heath Buckinghamshire | B | 28.9 | 53% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 31 | Virginia Water Surrey | B | 14.5 | 72% | 3 | 0% |
| 32 | Abercarn Gwent | B− | 3 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 33 | Whitburn Tyne and Wear | B− | 2.5 | 46% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 34 | Wotton-under-Edge Gloucestershire | C+ | 0.4 | 32% | 5.4 | 60% |
| 35 | Wool Dorset | C+ | 2.3 | 51% | 2.5 | 33% |
| 36 | Sacriston County Durham | C+ | 2.1 | 72% | 4 | 0% |
| 37 | Steeton West Yorkshire | C+ | 1.3 | 100% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 38 | Moulton Northamptonshire | C+ | 3.3 | 88% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 39 | Barton-le-Clay Bedfordshire | C+ | 1.3 | 43% | 3.2 | 38% |
| 40 | Church Lancashire | C | 1.5 | 79% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 41 | Billinge Merseyside | C | 0.9 | 94% | 3 | 0% |
| 42 | Treharris Mid Glamorgan | C | 2.6 | 72% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 43 | Bungay Suffolk | C | 0.5 | 78% | 2.6 | 12% |
| 44 | Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe Lincolnshire | C | 1.8 | 67% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 45 | Havercroft and Ryhill West Yorkshire | C | 1.6 | 81% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 46 | Odiham Hampshire | C | 1.9 | 72% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 47 | Long Stratton Norfolk | C− | 1 | 89% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 48 | Jaywick Essex | C− | 1.1 | 75% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 49 | Bayston Hill Shropshire | C− | 1.8 | 70% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 50 | Shavington Cheshire | C− | 1.1 | 87% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 51 | Potton Bedfordshire | D | 1.3 | 77% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 52 | Haslington Cheshire | D | 1.8 | 41% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 53 | Gresford Clwyd | D | 1.4 | 76% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 54 | Moorends South Yorkshire | D | 2.2 | 39% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 55 | Lepton West Yorkshire | D− | 0.9 | 36% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 56 | Wingate County Durham | D− | 1 | 64% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 57 | Harleston Norfolk | D− | 0.2 | 42% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 58 | Appley Bridge Greater Manchester | D− | 0.5 | 44% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 59 | Shotton Colliery County Durham | D− | 0.9 | 40% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 60 | Somerton Somerset | D− | 0.6 | 48% | 1 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Jaywick’s built-up area.
7 in 10 Jaywick 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 1,300 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 14 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 363 residents.
The Suffolk Coast & Heaths National Landscape is 9.7 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.
Footpaths in and around Jaywick
17 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Jaywick and the kilometre around it, 1.4 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Jaywick; 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 Jaywick: 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 | 16.7 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.7 | 7.8 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 23 | 22 | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 44 | 36 | 32 | 33 | 41 | 44 | 41 | 47 | 45 | 56 | 55 | 54 |
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 56 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 19 nights a year. The climate in Jaywick →
The coast and beaches near Jaywick
51% of the area within 5 km of Jaywick is sea. 25 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 22 with a name.
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.
14 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 1
Playgrounds 14
Plus 12 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Dog parks 1
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaywick | C− | 1.1 | 75% | 0% |
| St Osyth 2.0 mi | C− | 1.5 | 54% | 0% |
| Clacton-on-Sea 2.1 mi | C | 1.7 | 73% | 0% |
| Point Clear 3.4 mi | D | 0.1 | 0% | 0% |
| Little Clacton 3.5 mi | A− | 3.6 | 100% | 0% |
| Brightlingsea 4.4 mi | A− | 3.0 | 97% | 0% |
| Weeley 5.2 mi | C− | 7.5 | 0% | 0% |
Little Clacton, 3.5 miles away, grades A−, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Little Clacton, Brightlingsea and Weeley have at least twice Jaywick’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Jaywick
Is Jaywick near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Suffolk Coast & Heaths National Landscape, 9.7 mi north of the town’s edge. It covers 443 km² and was designated in 1970.
How many people in Jaywick live near a park?
75% 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 Jaywick?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Jaywick good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.4 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 14% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 14% (1.1 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 Jaywick’s overall grade.
Where Jaywick’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.