Orrell has more footpath per square kilometre than nearly 9 in 10 UK towns
Footpaths add up to 134 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 4.3 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Orrell add up to 4.1 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 77% of residents. Orrell grades B+ for the outdoors: #31 of 81 in Greater Manchester. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Orrell’s strongest suit is dense footpaths, followed by plenty of park space.
Outdoors grade
Orrell grades B+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Orrell, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
B+
Better than 65% of UK towns#31 of 81 in Greater Manchester · 34th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space4.1 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
82out of 100
A park within a walk77%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
41out of 100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · None within 5 km
31out of 100
Footpaths4.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
85out of 100
The sea0%of the area within 5 km · Inland
42out of 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
Orrell is 34th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 21,600 to 25,300 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
Orrell4.3
Towns its size3.5
Greater Manchester towns3.9
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Orrell4.1
Towns its size2.5
Greater Manchester towns2.8
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Orrell77%
Towns its size84%
Greater Manchester towns85%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Orrell stands out most for park space per resident: only 13 of the other 59 have more.
The biggest is Beacon Park, 139 ha (344 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
All 9 named parks by size: 192 ha (475 acres) and 23 km of path
Parks & gardens 190 haPlaying fields 2.6 ha
The two biggest, Beacon Park and Rose Hill Park, are 87% of the named green space and carry 19 km of path between them. 5 of the 9 are under 2 ha: small gardens, play spaces and pitches.
8 in 10 Orrell 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 (77%)Further (23%)
Orrell77%
Towns its size84%
Greater Manchester towns85%
All UK towns83%
About 5,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 53 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 442 residents.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Footpaths and waymarked walks in Orrell
134 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Orrell and the kilometre around it, 4.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Orrell; 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 Orrell: 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)
8.0
9.7
11.7
13.9
15.9
17.0
16.5
14.8
12.6
10.4
8.5
7.5
High (°C)
7
8
10
13
16
19
21
20
18
14
10
8
Rain (mm)
89
72
65
60
63
75
80
88
90
109
102
108
April is the driest month (60 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 21 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 109 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 37 nights a year. The climate in Orrell →
Things to do
53 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.
Skelmersdale, 2.7 miles away, grades A, the best next door: 91% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Orrell
What is the biggest park in Orrell?
Beacon Park, 139 ha (344 acres), with 17.3 km of path. Rose Hill Park (28 ha) is second. 9 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Orrell near a National Park?
No National Park or National Landscape is within 30 km (about 19 miles) of Orrell.
What is the nearest beach to Orrell?
Crosby Beach, 13 mi from the edge of the town, then Tranmere Beach (15 mi). Orrell itself is inland.
How many people in Orrell live near a park?
77% 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 Orrell?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Orrell good for walking?
For paths, yes: 4.3 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 85% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 82% (4.1 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 Orrell’s overall grade.
National Parks and National Landscapes: Natural England and Natural Resources Wales boundaries, areas and designation dates, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Church of St Thomas the Martyr · Photo: PC78 · CC BY-SA 4.0