Drybrook’s biggest
Ruardean Hill Recreation Ground
Playing field
2.3 ha (6 acres)
3 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.6 mi south-westfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: David Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0A−Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Drybrook · parks, paths & countryside
Drybrook has more park space per resident than 8 in 10 UK towns
Parks and playing fields in Drybrook add up to 3.9 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. The Wye Valley National Landscape begins 1.1 mi from the town’s edge. 38 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 3.4 for every square kilometre. Drybrook grades A− for the outdoors: #22 of 48 in Gloucestershire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
3.9 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
83%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
38 km
3.4 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
10%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Wye Valley National Landscape
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Drybrook?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Room to roam3.9 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 80% of UK towns.Countryside close byThe Wye Valley National Landscape starts 1.1 mi west.
Drybrook’s strongest suit is plenty of park space, followed by the Wye Valley National Landscape close by.
Outdoors grade
Drybrook grades A− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Drybrook, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
A−
Better than 82% of UK towns#22 of 48 in Gloucestershire · 15th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space3.9 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
81out of
100
100
A park within a walk83%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
53out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape10%of the land within 5 km
71out of
100
100
Footpaths3.4 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
68out 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.
Towns its size
Drybrook is 15th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 2,500 to 2,700 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
Drybrook3.4
Towns its size2.4
Gloucestershire towns3.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Drybrook3.9
Towns its size2.8
Gloucestershire towns2.4
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Drybrook83%
Towns its size86%
Gloucestershire towns84%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Drybrook stands out most for path per km²: only 15 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petworth West Sussex | A+ | 29.6 | 100% | 4.1 | 93% |
| 2 | Tywardreath Cornwall | A+ | 4.6 | 100% | 2.5 | 26% |
| 3 | Ambleside Cumbria | A+ | 6.9 | 92% | 4.6 | 100% |
| 4 | Shalford Surrey | A+ | 14.9 | 89% | 4.8 | 47% |
| 5 | Silloth Cumbria | A+ | 7.3 | 100% | 1.4 | 17% |
| 6 | Hopton on Sea Norfolk | A+ | 6.7 | 100% | 1.6 | 2% |
| 7 | Hellingly East Sussex | A | 6.9 | 90% | 3.7 | 11% |
| 8 | Dolgellau Gwynedd | A | 3.6 | 100% | 1.9 | 100% |
| 9 | Binley Woods Warwickshire | A | 5.5 | 100% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 10 | Maple Cross Hertfordshire | A | 3.1 | 100% | 2.9 | 14% |
| 11 | Hawley Hampshire | A | 6.9 | 92% | 5.8 | 0% |
| 12 | Chopwell Tyne and Wear | A | 7.5 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 13 | Longford Gloucestershire | A | 11.9 | 100% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 14 | Darenth Kent | A− | 1.8 | 100% | 4.3 | 1% |
| 15 | Drybrook Gloucestershire | A− | 3.9 | 83% | 3.4 | 10% |
| 16 | South Anston South Yorkshire | A− | 3.5 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 17 | Stewartby Bedfordshire | A− | 21 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 18 | Saundersfoot Dyfed | A− | 10.2 | 69% | 0.9 | 19% |
| 19 | Langold Nottinghamshire | B+ | 13 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 20 | Porthmadog Gwynedd | B+ | 0.9 | 94% | 2 | 41% |
| 21 | Thornley County Durham | B+ | 3.2 | 100% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 22 | Witton Gilbert County Durham | B+ | 2.1 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 23 | Craven Arms Shropshire | B | 1.3 | 87% | 2.9 | 59% |
| 24 | Prestbury Cheshire | B | 5.6 | 42% | 3.2 | 6% |
| 25 | Barlestone Leicestershire | B | 3 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 26 | Builth Wells Powys | B | 4.9 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 27 | Brynamman Dyfed | B | 1.7 | 100% | 1 | 51% |
| 28 | Pannal North Yorkshire | B− | 3.7 | 77% | 3 | 0% |
| 29 | Coundon and Leeholme County Durham | B− | 4.4 | 100% | 1 | 0% |
| 30 | Brewood Staffordshire | B− | 3 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 31 | Seer Green Buckinghamshire | B− | 1.7 | 38% | 3.8 | 35% |
| 32 | Grimsargh Lancashire | B− | 2.6 | 67% | 2.8 | 2% |
| 33 | Ash Green Warwickshire | B− | 3.4 | 67% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 34 | Bishop's Itchington Warwickshire | C+ | 1.5 | 100% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 35 | Shepley West Yorkshire | C+ | 1.6 | 87% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 36 | Dunchurch Warwickshire | C+ | 7.8 | 68% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 37 | Caton Lancashire | C+ | 1.2 | 72% | 2.2 | 67% |
| 38 | Steeple Claydon Buckinghamshire | C+ | 1.5 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 39 | Stratton Gloucestershire | C | 0.7 | 46% | 3.3 | 70% |
| 40 | Heage Derbyshire | C | 1.9 | 78% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 41 | Watlington Norfolk | C | 2.3 | 100% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 42 | Smallfield Surrey | C | 1.6 | 70% | 2.4 | 1% |
| 43 | Llandybie Dyfed | C | 2.6 | 59% | 1.2 | 13% |
| 44 | Laleham Surrey | C | 9.8 | 34% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 45 | Marham Norfolk | C | 3.5 | 85% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Ash (Dover) Kent | C | 2.3 | 72% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 47 | Hatton Derbyshire | C− | 3.3 | 61% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 48 | Costessey Norfolk | C− | 1.8 | 12% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 49 | Loggerheads Staffordshire | C− | 1.2 | 86% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 50 | Cliffe Kent | C− | 1.1 | 55% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 51 | Probus Cornwall | C− | 0.6 | 75% | 1.5 | 15% |
| 52 | Keele Staffordshire | D | 1.1 | 0% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 53 | Fordham Cambridgeshire | D | 2.3 | 35% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 54 | Clophill Bedfordshire | D | 0.7 | 41% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 55 | Silverstone Northamptonshire | D | 1.1 | 0% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 56 | Watton at Stone Hertfordshire | D | 0.8 | 61% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 57 | Holme upon Spalding Moor East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 1.5 | 41% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 58 | Nafferton East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 1.3 | 56% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 59 | Rhos West Glamorgan | D− | 1 | 58% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Cranwell Lincolnshire | D− | 0.5 | 57% | 1.1 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Drybrook’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 Drybrook
The biggest is Ruardean Hill Recreation Ground, 2.3 ha (6 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
8 in 10 Drybrook 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 (83%)Further (17%)
Drybrook83%
Towns its size86%
Gloucestershire towns84%
All UK towns83%
About 400 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 6 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 429 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Wye Valley National Landscape is 1.1 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
National Park
Brecon Beacons
18 mi west1,350 km²since 1955
10% of the land within 5 km of Drybrook is National Park or National Landscape, more than 71% of UK towns. Brecon Beacons National Park covers 1,350 km² and has been a National Park since 1955.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Footpaths in and around Drybrook
38 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Drybrook and the kilometre around it, 3.4 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Drybrook; 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 Drybrook: 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) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 94 | 72 | 64 | 59 | 68 | 61 | 55 | 72 | 64 | 101 | 98 | 108 |
July is the driest month (55 mm) and the warmest (highs of 21 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 108 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 48 nights a year. The climate in Drybrook →
Things to do
6 playgrounds and the nearest beaches
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.
The nearest beaches
Drybrook is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Fossil Beach15 mi from Drybrook’s edge
DirectionsSugar Loaf Beach27 mi from Drybrook’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.
Up high. Ruardean Hill, at 290 m, is the highest named top within 2 km of Drybrook.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 1
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 1
Ruardean Hill290 m (951 ft) · 0.0 mi from town
DirectionsNature reserves 1
Plump Hill Dolomite Quarry0.4 ha · 0.7 mi from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 6
Plus 6 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
Greenway Farm Campsite0.1 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.
MitcheldeanRuardeanCinderfordWelsh BicknorRuspidgeNewnhamDrybrook
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drybrook | A− | 3.9 | 83% | 10% |
| Mitcheldean 1.4 mi | C | 1.5 | 80% | 1% |
| Ruardean 1.5 mi | A | 4.5 | 100% | 29% |
| Cinderford 2.2 mi | B+ | 1.7 | 80% | 4% |
| Welsh Bicknor 2.9 mi | B | 2.7 | 31% | 45% |
| Ruspidge 3.1 mi | C+ | 2.0 | 46% | 0% |
| Newnham 4.4 mi | A | 4.2 | 100% | 0% |
Newnham, 4.4 miles away, grades A, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Drybrook
What is the biggest park in Drybrook?
Ruardean Hill Recreation Ground, 2.3 ha (6 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Drybrook near a National Park?
Yes. Brecon Beacons National Park begins 18 mi west of the town’s edge. It covers 1,350 km² and has been a National Park since 1955. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the Wye Valley National Landscape, 1.1 mi away.
What is the nearest beach to Drybrook?
Fossil Beach, 15 mi from the edge of the town, then Sugar Loaf Beach (27 mi). Drybrook itself is inland.
How many people in Drybrook live near a park?
83% 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 Drybrook?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Drybrook good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.4 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 68% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 81% (3.9 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 Drybrook’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Drybrook’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.