Brightons’ biggest
Gray Buchanan Park
Park or garden · 330 m outside town
17 ha (42 acres)2.8 km of path
40 minto walk all 2.8 km of path
24 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.5 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: John Lord · CC BY-SA 2.0–Not graded
Outdoors in Brightons · parks, paths & countryside
86% of Brightons’ residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Footpaths add up to 52 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 4.8 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Brightons add up to 5.9 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical town in England and Wales has 2.1. Brightons has no Outdoors Grade: Scottish towns aren’t graded on the outdoors yet.
Green space
5.9 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical town in England and Wales 2.1
Near a park
86%
of residents within 400 m
Typical town in England and Wales 83%
Footpaths
52 km
4.8 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical town in England and Wales 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Brightons’ locality.
Green space: parks, gardens, playing fields and play spaces, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · Contains OS data © Crown copyright · Scottish Government, NatureScot
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Brightons
The biggest is Gray Buchanan Park, 17 ha (42 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
All 4 named parks by size: 26 ha (65 acres) and 4 km of path
Parks & gardens 17 haPlaying fields 9.2 ha
The two biggest, Gray Buchanan Park and Laurie Park, are 82% of the named green space and carry 4 km of path between them.
Laurie Park
Playing field
4.4 ha (11 acres)1.3 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.3 km of path
6 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Brightons
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Bailliefields Cricket Ground
Playing field
3.2 ha (8 acres)
5 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Brightons
Directionsto the nearest entrance
King George's Field
Playing field · 170 m outside town
1.6 ha (4 acres)
2 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.8 mi north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
How close Brightons’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 (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (86%)Further (14%)
Brightons86%
Falkirk towns94%
Towns in England and Wales83%
About 600 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 50 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 81 residents.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Brightons is on the John Muir Way
52 km of footpaths, tracks and core paths are mapped in Brightons and the kilometre around it, 4.8 km for every square kilometre (the typical town in England and Wales has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
NationalOther waymarked
John Muir Way (Falkirk to Linlithgow)7.6 km
Forth & Clyde/Union Canal Towpath6.8 km
blue1.5 km
red1.3 km
yellow1.3 km
The John Muir Way, a national route, passes Brightons.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Scotland has no rights-of-way register: everyone has a right of responsible access to most land, so tracks and councils’ core paths count. Paths are only as complete as the map in each area.
When to get out
The best walking months in Brightons: June 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) | 7.6 | 9.5 | 11.6 | 14.1 | 16.3 | 17.6 | 17.0 | 15.1 | 12.6 | 10.3 | 8.1 | 7.0 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 9 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 108 | 106 | 88 | 59 | 66 | 84 | 89 | 99 | 83 | 122 | 111 | 123 |
April is the driest month (59 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 123 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 41 nights a year. The climate in Brightons →
Things to do
50 playgrounds and the nearest beaches
Mapped within 2 km of the town in OpenStreetMap. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
The nearest beaches
Brightons is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Drum Sands14 mi from Brightons’ edge
DirectionsBlack Sands16 mi from Brightons’ edge
DirectionsSilver Sands17 mi from Brightons’ edge
DirectionsRoyston Beach18 mi from Brightons’ edge
DirectionsWardie Bay Beach19 mi from Brightons’ edge
DirectionsGood to know
Check the water before you swim. SEPA tests designated bathing waters from May to September and publishes a rating for each beach.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 1
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 3
Plus 3 picnic sites 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.
PolmontReddingMaddistonGrangemouthHallglenFalkirkBrightons
ABCDOutdoors Grade
None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Brightons
What is the biggest park in Brightons?
Gray Buchanan Park, 17 ha (42 acres), with 2.8 km of path, just outside the locality. Laurie Park (4.4 ha) is second. 4 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Brightons near a National Park?
No National Park or National Scenic Area is within 30 km (about 19 miles) of Brightons.
What are the best walks near Brightons?
5 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the John Muir Way (Falkirk to Linlithgow), Forth & Clyde/Union Canal Towpath and blue. Gray Buchanan Park alone has 2.8 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Brightons?
Drum Sands, 14 mi from the edge of the town, then Black Sands (16 mi). Brightons itself is inland.
How many people in Brightons live near a park?
86% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical town in England and Wales is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Brightons?
June to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
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 Scenic Area within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Brightons’ overall grade.
Sources
Where Brightons’ 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 Scenic Areas: Scottish Government and NatureScot boundaries (Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, Cairngorms; the 40 National Scenic Areas), clipped to land, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Footpaths, tracks, core paths, walking routes, beaches and things to do: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License (ODbL), via Geofabrik’s Scotland extract, October 2026.
- Historic gardens, listed buildings and monuments: Historic Environment Scotland designations, 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: NRS Scotland’s Census 2022 output areas.
- Grade: Scottish towns have no Outdoors Grade yet.
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.