Photo: Michael Ford · CC BY-SA 2.031% of the land within 5 km of Four Marks is National Park or National Landscape
The South Downs National Park reaches the edge of Four Marks. Parks and playing fields in Four Marks add up to 0.9 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 46% of residents. Four Marks grades C for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors town is Four Marks?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Four Marks’ strongest suit is protected countryside on the doorstep. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Four Marks grades C for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Four Marks, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
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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.
Four Marks is 40th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 5,300 to 5,900 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against towns its size, Four Marks stands out most for path per km²: only 18 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 54 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ventnor Isle of Wight | A+ | 4.5 | 61% | 3.7 | 25% |
| 2 | Deepcar South Yorkshire | A | 1.8 | 100% | 6.4 | 21% |
| 3 | Haworth West Yorkshire | A | 4.1 | 100% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 4 | Millom Cumbria | A | 2 | 82% | 3.2 | 13% |
| 5 | St Ives Cornwall | A | 0.8 | 89% | 3.5 | 24% |
| 6 | Nailsworth Gloucestershire | A− | 1.3 | 86% | 5.9 | 88% |
| 7 | Barnard Castle County Durham | A− | 2.2 | 100% | 3.4 | 1% |
| 8 | Brotton North Yorkshire | A− | 1.4 | 89% | 3 | 2% |
| 9 | Steyning West Sussex | A− | 1.6 | 86% | 3.7 | 58% |
| 10 | Blaenavon Gwent | A− | 1.8 | 100% | 2.3 | 39% |
| 11 | Henfield West Sussex | A− | 3.8 | 51% | 4.4 | 17% |
| 12 | Merley Dorset | B+ | 3.9 | 64% | 4.1 | 6% |
| 13 | Carlton in Lindrick Nottinghamshire | B+ | 9 | 95% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 14 | Kingsbridge Devon | B+ | 1.5 | 91% | 1.6 | 67% |
| 15 | Aston Clinton Buckinghamshire | B+ | 3.1 | 61% | 3.8 | 29% |
| 16 | Marchwood Hampshire | B+ | 2 | 87% | 1.3 | 38% |
| 17 | Cottam Lancashire | B+ | 6.4 | 92% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 18 | Creswell Derbyshire | B+ | 2.7 | 100% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 19 | Willington County Durham | B+ | 4.7 | 95% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 20 | Garstang Lancashire | B | 2.4 | 89% | 2.3 | 15% |
| 21 | Askern South Yorkshire | B | 8.5 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 22 | East Tilbury Essex | B | 2.3 | 92% | 2 | 0% |
| 23 | Brixworth Northamptonshire | B | 3.8 | 94% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 24 | Shinfield Berkshire | B | 1.6 | 100% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 25 | Hemsby Norfolk | B | 2.5 | 51% | 1.4 | 22% |
| 26 | Bidford-on-Avon Warwickshire | B | 3.4 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 27 | Llandrindod Wells Powys | B− | 4.5 | 88% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 28 | Haddenham Buckinghamshire | B− | 3.1 | 86% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 29 | Hullbridge Essex | C+ | 5.7 | 59% | 3 | 0% |
| 30 | Aylesham Kent | C+ | 0.3 | 76% | 3.4 | 33% |
| 31 | Broseley Shropshire | C+ | 1.2 | 74% | 3.4 | 8% |
| 32 | Quorndon Leicestershire | C+ | 2.7 | 81% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 33 | Rainford Merseyside | C+ | 2.3 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 34 | Crawley Down West Sussex | C+ | 1.2 | 80% | 2.2 | 40% |
| 35 | Pontyclun Mid Glamorgan | C | 2.4 | 79% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 36 | Ruthin Clwyd | C | 2.7 | 51% | 1.5 | 31% |
| 37 | Egremont Cumbria | C | 1.1 | 63% | 1.8 | 11% |
| 38 | Wadebridge Cornwall | C | 1.8 | 74% | 1.8 | 17% |
| 39 | Bracebridge Heath Lincolnshire | C | 1.1 | 81% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 40 | Four Marks Hampshire | C | 0.9 | 46% | 3 | 31% |
| 41 | Coningsby and Tattershall Lincolnshire | C | 2.7 | 79% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 42 | Durrington Wiltshire | C | 1.1 | 90% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 43 | Undy and Magor Gwent | C | 0.9 | 86% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 44 | Red Lodge Suffolk | C | 1.5 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 45 | Ramsey Cambridgeshire | C | 2.5 | 72% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 46 | Welshpool Powys | C− | 2.6 | 82% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 47 | Ludgershall Wiltshire | C− | 0.7 | 72% | 1.9 | 32% |
| 48 | Pembury Kent | C− | 1.1 | 45% | 2 | 58% |
| 49 | Ingatestone Essex | C− | 3.2 | 56% | 2 | 0% |
| 50 | Abertridwr and Senghenydd Gwent | C− | 1.8 | 87% | 1 | 0% |
| 51 | Takeley and Little Canfield Essex | D | 1 | 45% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 52 | Withernsea East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 0.9 | 60% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 53 | Thornton West Yorkshire | D | 0.4 | 54% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 54 | Pontardawe West Glamorgan | D | 2.3 | 60% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 55 | Brigg Lincolnshire | D | 1.7 | 65% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 56 | Treherbert Mid Glamorgan | D | 1.2 | 73% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 57 | Ruskington Lincolnshire | D | 1.3 | 70% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 58 | Bulkington Warwickshire | D | 0.9 | 76% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 59 | Eye Cambridgeshire | D | 1.4 | 77% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 60 | Kirton Lincolnshire | D− | 0.6 | 58% | 0.5 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Four Marks’ built-up area.
5 in 10 Four Marks 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).
About 3,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 5 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 1,123 residents.
National Parks and National Landscapes around Four Marks
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.
31% of the land within 5 km of Four Marks is National Park or National Landscape, more than 84% of UK towns. South Downs National Park covers 1,653 km² and has been a National Park since 2010.
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Four Marks
54 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Four Marks and the kilometre around it, 3.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
The regional route here is the St Swithun's Way.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
The best walking months in Four Marks: 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) | 8.4 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 19 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 109 | 67 | 65 | 62 | 50 | 72 | 57 | 73 | 77 | 95 | 100 | 104 |
May is the driest month (50 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 109 mm of rain falls in January, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 55 nights a year. The climate in Four Marks →
5 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
Four Marks is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
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. Red Hill, at 219 m, is the highest named top within 2 km of Four Marks.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 4
Plus 1 peak without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 5
Plus 5 playgrounds without a name on the map.
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four Marks | C | 0.9 | 46% | 31% |
| Alton 4.4 mi | B+ | 2.6 | 82% | 27% |
| New Alresford 5.2 mi | B+ | 2.0 | 94% | 38% |
| Holybourne 5.8 mi | A+ | 12.2 | 100% | 23% |
| Whitehill 7.8 mi | A+ | 10.2 | 74% | 58% |
| Bordon 8.3 mi | A | 8.6 | 54% | 49% |
| Liss 8.3 mi | A− | 2.3 | 87% | 98% |
Whitehill, 7.8 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: 74% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Alton, New Alresford and Holybourne have at least twice Four Marks’ green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Four Marks
Is Four Marks near a National Park?
South Downs National Park reaches the edge of Four Marks. It covers 1,653 km² and has been a National Park since 2010.
What are the best walks near Four Marks?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the St Swithun's Way.
What is the nearest beach to Four Marks?
Penguin Beach, 8.9 mi from the edge of the town, then Prinsted Beach (19 mi). Four Marks itself is inland.
How many people in Four Marks live near a park?
46% 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 Four Marks?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Four Marks good for walking?
About average for paths: 3.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 59% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 10% (0.9 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 Four Marks’ overall grade.
Where Four Marks’ 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.