Lydney’s biggest
Bathurst Park
Park or garden
6.7 ha (16 acres)0.9 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.9 km of path
9 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Lydney
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0C+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Lydney · parks, paths & countryside
Lydney is on the coast
The sea makes up 17% of the area within 5 km. The Wye Valley National Landscape begins 3.5 mi from the town’s edge. 52% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Lydney grades C+ for the outdoors: #46 of 48 in Gloucestershire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
2.1 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
52%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
48 km
2.5 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Wye Valley starts 3.5 mi out, past the 5 km
The sea
17%
of the area within 5 km
A coastal town
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Lydney?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
On the coast17% of the area within 5 km is sea.Countryside both waysWye Valley starts 3.5 mi west, Cotswolds 5.1 mi east.Parks can be a walk away48% of residents live more than 400 m from a park or playing field.
Lydney’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by two protected landscapes close by. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Outdoors grade
Lydney grades C+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Lydney, 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 36% of UK towns#46 of 48 in Gloucestershire · 47th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space2.1 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
48out of
100
100
A park within a walk52%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
15out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · Wye Valley begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths2.5 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
45out of
100
100
The sea17%of the area within 5 km
88out 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
Lydney is 47th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 9,100 to 10,200 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
Lydney2.5
Towns its size3.1
Gloucestershire towns3.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Lydney2.1
Towns its size2.5
Gloucestershire towns2.4
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Lydney52%
Towns its size86%
Gloucestershire towns84%
All UK towns83%
Lydney falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 55 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caldicot Gwent | A+ | 4.2 | 92% | 3 | 2% |
| 2 | Brynteg Clwyd | A | 8.5 | 100% | 2.8 | 7% |
| 3 | Ilfracombe Devon | A | 2 | 86% | 3 | 28% |
| 4 | Bordon Hampshire | A | 8.6 | 54% | 6.7 | 49% |
| 5 | Linthwaite and Slaithwaite West Yorkshire | A | 2.2 | 97% | 4.8 | 12% |
| 6 | New Mills Derbyshire | A | 2.4 | 84% | 5.1 | 34% |
| 7 | Beccles Suffolk | A | 4.5 | 87% | 3.2 | 20% |
| 8 | South Merstham Surrey | A | 3.7 | 84% | 3.7 | 20% |
| 9 | Nuthall and Watnall Nottinghamshire | A | 6.3 | 97% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 10 | Bradford-on-Avon Wiltshire | A | 2.8 | 88% | 3.7 | 21% |
| 11 | Greasby Merseyside | A | 5.9 | 74% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 12 | Southborough Kent | A− | 2.8 | 94% | 2.5 | 57% |
| 13 | Whiteley Hampshire | A− | 3 | 52% | 4.4 | 2% |
| 14 | Thurmaston Leicestershire | A− | 10.4 | 89% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 15 | Esher Surrey | A− | 6.9 | 86% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 16 | Shelf and Northowram West Yorkshire | A− | 5.3 | 88% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 17 | Kings Hill Kent | A− | 2.4 | 100% | 2.8 | 7% |
| 18 | Padiham Lancashire | A− | 1.5 | 95% | 4.5 | 18% |
| 19 | Shaftesbury Dorset | A− | 2.8 | 92% | 2.3 | 44% |
| 20 | Bingham Nottinghamshire | A− | 3.4 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 21 | Aveley Essex | A− | 3.4 | 84% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 22 | Irthlingborough Northamptonshire | A− | 4.7 | 94% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 23 | Yarm North Yorkshire | A− | 3.3 | 96% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 24 | Corfe Mullen Dorset | B+ | 3.1 | 72% | 3.5 | 13% |
| 25 | Woodbridge Suffolk | B+ | 1.7 | 80% | 3.9 | 30% |
| 26 | Sandiacre Derbyshire | B+ | 2.6 | 94% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 27 | Shildon County Durham | B | 2.8 | 93% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 28 | Pontllanfraith Gwent | B | 3.7 | 93% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 29 | Hemsworth West Yorkshire | B | 3.6 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 30 | Ludlow Shropshire | B | 2.3 | 92% | 2.1 | 16% |
| 31 | North Wingfield and Holmewood Derbyshire | B | 2.7 | 84% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 32 | Queensbury West Yorkshire | B | 2.6 | 91% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 33 | Tiptree Essex | B | 2.7 | 90% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 34 | Immingham Lincolnshire | B | 2 | 100% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 35 | Perton Staffordshire | B | 2.4 | 93% | 3 | 0% |
| 36 | Pembroke Dock Dyfed | B− | 1.7 | 80% | 1.1 | 25% |
| 37 | Yaxley Cambridgeshire | B− | 2.6 | 90% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 38 | Caernarfon Gwynedd | B− | 1.7 | 83% | 1.4 | 14% |
| 39 | Horbury West Yorkshire | B− | 2.5 | 75% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 40 | Mildenhall Suffolk | B− | 2.1 | 91% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 41 | Radstock Somerset | B− | 1.1 | 93% | 2.9 | 1% |
| 42 | Knottingley West Yorkshire | B− | 2.7 | 88% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 43 | Whitchurch Shropshire | B− | 2.7 | 86% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 44 | Mold Clwyd | C+ | 1.9 | 86% | 1.6 | 17% |
| 45 | Brandon County Durham | C+ | 2.2 | 72% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 46 | Crook County Durham | C+ | 1.5 | 85% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 47 | Lydney Gloucestershire | C+ | 2.1 | 52% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 48 | Diss Norfolk | C | 1.5 | 80% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 49 | Milnrow Greater Manchester | C | 2.9 | 58% | 3 | 0% |
| 50 | Barnham West Sussex | C | 1.3 | 70% | 2.3 | 32% |
| 51 | Shepton Mallet Somerset | C | 1.2 | 70% | 2.8 | 1% |
| 52 | Totnes Devon | C | 0.4 | 65% | 3.3 | 11% |
| 53 | Catshill Worcestershire | C | 1.4 | 82% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 54 | Polegate East Sussex | C− | 0.8 | 64% | 2.2 | 24% |
| 55 | Broughton Astley Leicestershire | D | 1 | 82% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 56 | Brandon Suffolk | D | 0.8 | 39% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 57 | Littleport Cambridgeshire | D | 1 | 71% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 58 | Pocklington East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 1.6 | 65% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 59 | Pheasey West Midlands | D− | 0.9 | 40% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 60 | Ponteland Northumberland | D− | 1.1 | 36% | 1.4 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Lydney’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 Lydney
The biggest is Bathurst Park, 6.7 ha (16 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Lydney Recreation Trust Ground
Playing field
8.8 ha (22 acres)0.6 km of path
5 minto walk all 0.6 km of path
12 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Lydney
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
5 in 10 Lydney 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 (52%)Further (48%)
Lydney52%
Towns its size86%
Gloucestershire towns84%
All UK towns83%
About 4,600 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 9 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 1,073 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
Wye Valley and Cotswolds both start about 5 miles from Lydney
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
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Lydney scores 0% on it even though the Wye Valley National Landscape is 3.5 mi away.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Lydney
48 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Lydney and the kilometre around it, 2.5 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
Regional
Severn Way (3) Worcester to Bristol1.8 km
The regional route here is the Severn Way (3) Worcester to Bristol.
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 Lydney: 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 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 86 | 77 | 65 | 55 | 54 | 59 | 68 | 82 | 66 | 102 | 102 | 106 |
May is the driest month (54 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 106 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 36 nights a year. The climate in Lydney →
The coast
The coast and beaches near Lydney
17% of the area within 5 km of Lydney 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
4 viewpoints and 9 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
Viewpoints 4
Plus 4 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 3
Plus 3 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 9
Plus 9 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 1
Lydney Slip0.2 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.
Yorkley and WhitecroftBreamSharpnessBlakeneyBerkeleyRuspidgeLydney
ABCDOutdoors Grade
Yorkley and Whitecroft, 2.1 miles away, grades A, the best next door: 74% of its residents live within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Lydney
What is the biggest park in Lydney?
Bathurst Park, 6.7 ha (16 acres), with 0.9 km of path. Lydney Recreation Trust Ground (8.8 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Lydney near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Wye Valley National Landscape, 3.5 mi west of the town’s edge. It covers 655 km² and was designated in 1971.
What are the best walks near Lydney?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the Severn Way (3) Worcester to Bristol.
How many people in Lydney live near a park?
52% 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 Lydney?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Lydney good for walking?
About average for paths: 2.5 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 45% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 48% (2.1 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 Lydney’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Lydney’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.