Caerphilly’s biggest
Caerphilly Common
Park or garden
59 ha (146 acres)7.4 km of path
1 h 40 minto walk all 7.4 km of path
83 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1 mi south-eastfrom the centre
2 hills and peaks
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0BOutdoors Grade
Outdoors in Caerphilly · parks, paths & countryside
82% of Caerphilly’s residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
121 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 3.8 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Caerphilly add up to 2.6 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Caerphilly grades B for the outdoors: #19 of 38 in Gwent. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
2.6 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
82%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
121 km
3.8 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Brecon Beacons National Park
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Caerphilly?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
A town of footpaths3.8 km of path per km², more than 77% of UK towns. The typical town has 3.0.On a National TrailThe Cambrian Way passes through.
Caerphilly’s strongest suit is dense footpaths, followed by the Cambrian Way.
Outdoors grade
Caerphilly grades B for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Caerphilly, 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 55% of UK towns#19 of 38 in Gwent · 38th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space2.6 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
62out of
100
100
A park within a walk82%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
52out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · None within 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths3.8 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
77out 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
Caerphilly is 38th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 30,100 to 36,200 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
Caerphilly3.8
Towns its size3.8
Gwent towns2.7
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Caerphilly2.6
Towns its size2.2
Gwent towns2.5
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Caerphilly82%
Towns its size84%
Gwent towns85%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Caerphilly stands out most for park space per resident: only 22 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Locks Heath Hampshire | A+ | 3.5 | 91% | 3.7 | 4% |
| 2 | Great Malvern Worcestershire | A+ | 3.9 | 90% | 6 | 38% |
| 3 | Hyde Greater Manchester | A | 4.3 | 91% | 3.9 | 1% |
| 4 | Epsom Surrey | A | 5.7 | 80% | 4.8 | 2% |
| 5 | Burgess Hill West Sussex | A | 2.4 | 87% | 5 | 27% |
| 6 | Skelmersdale Lancashire | A | 7.8 | 91% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 7 | Witney Oxfordshire | A | 2.5 | 88% | 4.6 | 19% |
| 8 | Prestwich Greater Manchester | A | 9 | 94% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 9 | Redhill Surrey | A− | 2.2 | 91% | 4.3 | 14% |
| 10 | Rustington West Sussex | A− | 2.1 | 78% | 2.7 | 25% |
| 11 | Chandler's Ford Hampshire | A− | 2.7 | 80% | 5.3 | 6% |
| 12 | Dunstable Bedfordshire | A− | 2 | 78% | 8 | 29% |
| 13 | Caversham Berkshire | A− | 2.5 | 77% | 4.3 | 32% |
| 14 | Accrington Lancashire | A− | 2.6 | 79% | 5.6 | 0% |
| 15 | Nelson Lancashire | A− | 1.8 | 85% | 5.2 | 15% |
| 16 | St Neots Cambridgeshire | A− | 3.5 | 91% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 17 | Didcot Oxfordshire | A− | 1.6 | 88% | 3.8 | 39% |
| 18 | Exmouth Devon | A− | 1.4 | 82% | 2.6 | 21% |
| 19 | Waterlooville Hampshire | B+ | 1 | 66% | 5.2 | 18% |
| 20 | Chippenham Wiltshire | B+ | 2.8 | 76% | 3.9 | 7% |
| 21 | Harpenden Hertfordshire | B+ | 3.5 | 84% | 2.9 | 2% |
| 22 | Fulwood Lancashire | B+ | 3.5 | 87% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 23 | Swadlincote Derbyshire | B+ | 4.1 | 84% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 24 | Chichester West Sussex | B+ | 1.6 | 89% | 3 | 40% |
| 25 | Lichfield Staffordshire | B+ | 2.7 | 82% | 3.1 | 2% |
| 26 | Brierley Hill West Midlands | B+ | 3.1 | 82% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 27 | Pudsey West Yorkshire | B+ | 1.9 | 94% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 28 | Hucknall Nottinghamshire | B+ | 3 | 87% | 4 | 0% |
| 29 | Hitchin Hertfordshire | B+ | 1.5 | 83% | 4.4 | 10% |
| 30 | Windsor Berkshire | B | 5.5 | 83% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 31 | Brighouse West Yorkshire | B | 2.5 | 91% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 32 | Wigston Leicestershire | B | 2.9 | 88% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 33 | Billingham County Durham | B | 4.7 | 86% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 34 | Denton Greater Manchester | B | 2.4 | 88% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 35 | Loughton Essex | B | 2.9 | 74% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 36 | Letchworth Hertfordshire | B | 2.2 | 85% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 37 | Abingdon-on-Thames Oxfordshire | B | 2.1 | 91% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 38 | Caerphilly Gwent | B | 2.6 | 82% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 39 | Morecambe Lancashire | B− | 0.8 | 84% | 2.2 | 2% |
| 40 | Radcliffe Greater Manchester | B− | 1.7 | 86% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 41 | Tonbridge Kent | B− | 2.1 | 65% | 2.6 | 38% |
| 42 | Whitstable Kent | B− | 1.5 | 84% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 43 | Billericay Essex | C+ | 4.1 | 70% | 3 | 0% |
| 44 | Winsford Cheshire | C+ | 1.3 | 92% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 45 | Pontefract West Yorkshire | C+ | 2.6 | 84% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 46 | New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater Surrey | C+ | 2.2 | 69% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 47 | Morley West Yorkshire | C+ | 1.2 | 87% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 48 | Horndean Hampshire | C+ | 0.9 | 57% | 3.3 | 53% |
| 49 | Bedworth Warwickshire | C | 1.5 | 87% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 50 | Barnstaple Devon | C | 1.6 | 92% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 51 | Rayleigh Essex | C | 2 | 71% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 52 | Beverley East Riding of Yorkshire | C | 0.7 | 92% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 53 | Sedgley West Midlands | C | 1.5 | 65% | 4 | 0% |
| 54 | Bridlington East Riding of Yorkshire | C | 0.8 | 80% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 55 | Bilston West Midlands | C− | 1.5 | 76% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 56 | Rushden Northamptonshire | C− | 1.5 | 84% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 57 | Bromsgrove Worcestershire | C− | 1.4 | 75% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 58 | Port Talbot West Glamorgan | C− | 1.3 | 68% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 59 | Spalding Lincolnshire | D | 1.1 | 85% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 60 | Pontypridd Mid Glamorgan | D | 1.5 | 70% | 1.9 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Caerphilly’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 Caerphilly
The biggest is Caerphilly Common, 59 ha (146 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
All 4 named parks by size: 70 ha (173 acres) and 9 km of path
Parks & gardens 60 haPlaying fields 10.0 ha
The two biggest, Caerphilly Common and Parc Morgan Jones, are 92% of the named green space and carry 8 km of path between them.
Parc Morgan Jones
Playing field
5.5 ha (14 acres)1.1 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.1 km of path
8 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Caerphilly
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Aneurin Park
Playing field
4.5 ha (11 acres)0.4 km of path
6 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.7 mi north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Dafydd Williams Park
Park or garden
1.1 ha (3 acres)0.1 km of path
2 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Caerphilly
1 listed
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
How close Caerphilly’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 (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (82%)Further (18%)
Caerphilly82%
Towns its size84%
Gwent towns85%
All UK towns83%
About 6,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 30 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 1,103 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Brecon Beacons National Park is 11 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
11 mi north-east1,350 km²since 1955
Brecon Beacons National Park covers 1,350 km² and has been a National Park since 1955.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Caerphilly is on the Cambrian Way
121 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Caerphilly and the kilometre around it, 3.8 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
NationalRegional
Rhymney Valley Ridgeway Walk13.0 km
Cambrian Way8.7 km
Taff Trail5.2 km
The Cambrian Way, a national route, passes Caerphilly. 2 regional routes pass through, including the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway Walk and Taff Trail.
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 Caerphilly: 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 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 162 | 117 | 105 | 86 | 89 | 86 | 97 | 117 | 106 | 154 | 159 | 171 |
June is the driest month (86 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 21 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 171 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 42 nights a year. The climate in Caerphilly →
Things to do
30 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.
1Viewpoints11Hills and peaks11.9× towns its size30Playgroundsabout the same as towns its size1Dog parks
The nearest beaches
Caerphilly is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
The Bendricks11 mi from Caerphilly’s edge
DirectionsPebble Beach11 mi from Caerphilly’s edge
DirectionsWatch House Beach13 mi from Caerphilly’s edge
DirectionsLadye Bay17 mi from Caerphilly’s edge
DirectionsClevedon Beach17 mi from Caerphilly’s edge
DirectionsGood to know
Check the water before you swim. Natural Resources Wales tests designated bathing waters from May to September and publishes a rating for each beach.
Up high. Twyn Garwa, at 242 m, is the highest named top within 2 km of Caerphilly.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 1
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 11
Twyn Garwa242 m (794 ft) · 0.1 mi from town
DirectionsCaerphilly Mountain271 m (889 ft) · 0.3 mi from town
DirectionsCraig Wen284 m (932 ft) · 0.4 mi from town
DirectionsCraig yr Allt273 m (896 ft) · 0.4 mi from town
DirectionsMynydd Rudry222 m (728 ft) · 0.7 mi from town
DirectionsCefn Onn259 m (850 ft) · 0.7 mi from town
DirectionsWenallt229 m (751 ft) · 0.8 mi from town
DirectionsMynydd Meio322 m (1,056 ft) · 0.9 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 3 hills and peaks more.
Playgrounds 30
Plus 30 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Dog parks 1
Rockwood Dog Training Schoolin town
DirectionsNext door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
BedwasLlanbradachAbertridwr and SenghenyddTaff's WellTrethomasTongwynlaisCaerphilly
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caerphilly | B | 2.6 | 82% | 0% |
| Bedwas 1.7 mi | A | 4.4 | 100% | 0% |
| Llanbradach 2.1 mi | D− | 1.2 | 52% | 0% |
| Abertridwr and Senghenydd 2.4 mi | C− | 1.8 | 87% | 0% |
| Taff's Well 2.8 mi | A− | 2.3 | 100% | 0% |
| Trethomas 2.9 mi | B− | 6.9 | 48% | 0% |
| Tongwynlais 3.3 mi | B+ | 8.6 | 65% | 0% |
Bedwas, 1.7 miles away, grades A, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Trethomas and Tongwynlais have at least twice Caerphilly’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Caerphilly
What is the biggest park in Caerphilly?
Caerphilly Common, 59 ha (146 acres), with 7.4 km of path. Parc Morgan Jones (5.5 ha) is second. 4 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Caerphilly near a National Park?
Yes. Brecon Beacons National Park begins 11 mi north-east of the town’s edge. It covers 1,350 km² and has been a National Park since 1955.
What are the best walks near Caerphilly?
3 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway Walk, Cambrian Way and Taff Trail. Caerphilly Common alone has 7.4 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Caerphilly?
The Bendricks, 11 mi from the edge of the town, then Pebble Beach (11 mi). Caerphilly itself is inland.
How many people in Caerphilly live near a park?
82% 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 Caerphilly?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Caerphilly good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.8 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 77% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 62% (2.6 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 Caerphilly’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Caerphilly’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.