Photo: Chris Gunns · CC BY-SA 2.0Stoke is on the coast, on the King Charles III England Coast Path
The sea makes up 49% of the area within 5 km. The Chichester Harbour National Landscape reaches the edge of Stoke. Parks and playing fields in Stoke add up to 0.3 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Stoke grades C for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors village is Stoke?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Stoke’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by protected countryside on the doorstep. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Stoke grades C for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Stoke, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
100
100
100
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.
Stoke is 39th of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,200 to 1,300 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Stoke falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 51 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Box Wiltshire | A+ | 3.8 | 100% | 3.9 | 56% |
| 2 | Huncoat Lancashire | A+ | 10.1 | 100% | 4.9 | 1% |
| 3 | Clanfield Hampshire | A+ | 6.1 | 100% | 2.9 | 78% |
| 4 | Aldington Kent | A+ | 4.6 | 100% | 3.8 | 11% |
| 5 | Otterbourne Hampshire | A | 2.9 | 100% | 3.2 | 25% |
| 6 | Box Hill Surrey | A | 35.9 | 12% | 6 | 39% |
| 7 | Cliffs End Kent | A | 6.9 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 8 | Chew Magna Somerset | A | 2.4 | 100% | 3 | 15% |
| 9 | Millhouse Green South Yorkshire | A | 1.9 | 100% | 3.6 | 18% |
| 10 | Harlech Gwynedd | A− | 1.9 | 36% | 3.5 | 67% |
| 11 | Bradpole Dorset | A− | 0.9 | 100% | 3.3 | 95% |
| 12 | South Heath Buckinghamshire | A− | 20.4 | 0% | 3 | 85% |
| 13 | Exton Devon | A− | 2.2 | 100% | 0.6 | 7% |
| 14 | Westfield East Sussex | B+ | 1.9 | 100% | 1.9 | 83% |
| 15 | Tregarth Gwynedd | B+ | 1.5 | 100% | 2.9 | 23% |
| 16 | New Brancepeth County Durham | B+ | 2.6 | 100% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 17 | Baddesley Ensor Warwickshire | B+ | 18.3 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 18 | Bierton Buckinghamshire | B+ | 5.8 | 70% | 7.7 | 0% |
| 19 | Farningham Kent | B+ | 1.7 | 100% | 2 | 33% |
| 20 | Billy Row County Durham | B | 2.3 | 100% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 21 | Horton Kirby Kent | B | 5.9 | 78% | 1.7 | 21% |
| 22 | Bunbury Cheshire | B | 2.6 | 100% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 23 | Talgarth Powys | B | 5.7 | 71% | 1.5 | 52% |
| 24 | Kilgetty Dyfed | B | 1 | 100% | 0.9 | 18% |
| 25 | Minster Lovell Oxfordshire | B | 3.6 | 79% | 1.5 | 37% |
| 26 | Sutton Benger Wiltshire | B | 2.7 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 27 | Beer Devon | B | 1.6 | 50% | 2.2 | 43% |
| 28 | Eckington Worcestershire | B | 4.1 | 72% | 1.9 | 23% |
| 29 | Codmore Hill West Sussex | B− | 3.5 | 0% | 2.7 | 46% |
| 30 | Potten End Hertfordshire | B− | 2.4 | 73% | 2.2 | 44% |
| 31 | Wyton Cambridgeshire | B− | 4.9 | 100% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 32 | Marlpit Hill Kent | B− | 2.5 | 0% | 2.9 | 35% |
| 33 | Sutton Common Suffolk | C+ | 0.8 | 51% | 3.9 | 85% |
| 34 | Gaerwen Gwynedd | C+ | 1.5 | 100% | 0.4 | 7% |
| 35 | Weobley Herefordshire | C+ | 1.6 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 36 | Ashill Norfolk | C+ | 3.7 | 82% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 37 | Bradfield Essex | C | 1.4 | 27% | 1.5 | 35% |
| 38 | Biddulph Moor Staffordshire | C | 8.4 | 43% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 39 | Stoke Hampshire | C | 0.3 | 0% | 2 | 32% |
| 40 | Silkstone Common South Yorkshire | C | 1.5 | 63% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 41 | Ponthir Gwent | C | 2.9 | 78% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 42 | Coedhirwaun West Glamorgan | C | 2 | 100% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 43 | Foxton Cambridgeshire | C | 2.3 | 84% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 44 | Hanwood Shropshire | C− | 1.9 | 19% | 2.6 | 3% |
| 45 | Spratton Northamptonshire | C− | 2.3 | 85% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Weeley Essex | C− | 7.5 | 0% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 47 | Aldbrough East Riding of Yorkshire | C− | 2.1 | 26% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 48 | Blyth Nottinghamshire | D | 2.5 | 76% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 49 | Burton on the Wolds Leicestershire | D | 2.5 | 31% | 2 | 0% |
| 50 | Yardley Gobion Northamptonshire | D | 1.2 | 47% | 3 | 0% |
| 51 | East Markham Nottinghamshire | D | 2.2 | 46% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 52 | Southery Norfolk | D | 2 | 61% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 53 | Dishforth North Yorkshire | D | 2.3 | 68% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 54 | Fleet Hargate Lincolnshire | D | 1.7 | 76% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 55 | Saham Toney Norfolk | D | 3 | 18% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 56 | Hadham Cross Hertfordshire | D | 0 | 0% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 57 | Elvington North Yorkshire | D | 2.1 | 0% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 58 | Felton Northumberland | D− | 1.7 | 50% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 59 | Walsham le Willows Suffolk | D− | 0.4 | 0% | 2 | 0% |
| 60 | Helpston Cambridgeshire | D− | 0 | 0% | 1.7 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Stoke’s built-up area.
Few Stoke 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 1,300 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 7 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 181 residents.
Chichester Harbour and South Downs both start about 4 miles from Stoke
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.
Chichester Harbour
32% of the land within 5 km of Stoke 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.
Stoke is on the King Charles III England Coast Path
20 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Stoke and the kilometre around it, 2.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
The King Charles III England Coast Path, a national route, passes Stoke. 4 regional routes pass through, including the The Shipwrights Way, Wayfarers Walk, Solent Way and Sussex Border Path.
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 Stoke: May to September
The village’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 | 13.7 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 8.0 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 21 | 17 | 13 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 82 | 54 | 49 | 47 | 39 | 46 | 40 | 53 | 59 | 87 | 89 | 84 |
May is the driest month (39 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 89 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 22 nights a year. The climate in Stoke →
The coast and beaches near Stoke
49% of the area within 5 km of Stoke is sea. 74 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 6 with a name.
The King Charles III England Coast Path passes the town.
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.
11 viewpoints and 7 playgrounds
Mapped within 2 km of the village in OpenStreetMap, against the typical UK village its size per resident. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 11
Plus 11 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Nature reserves 2
Plus 1 nature reserve without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 7
Plus 7 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
Slipways 3
Plus 1 slipway 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stoke | C | 0.3 | 0% | 32% |
| South Hayling 2.1 mi | C+ | 1.0 | 65% | 26% |
| West Thorney 2.4 mi | C− | 0.4 | 0% | 55% |
| Emsworth 3.1 mi | A | 2.3 | 56% | 51% |
| Havant 3.2 mi | A+ | 3.6 | 84% | 30% |
| Southbourne 3.6 mi | A | 1.3 | 92% | 64% |
| Westbourne 4.0 mi | A+ | 9.6 | 100% | 57% |
Westbourne, 4 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. South Hayling, Emsworth and Havant have at least twice Stoke’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Stoke
Is Stoke near a National Park?
Yes. South Downs National Park begins 3.5 mi north-east of the village’s edge. It covers 1,653 km² and has been a National Park since 2010. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the Chichester Harbour National Landscape, at the edge of the village.
What are the best walks near Stoke?
10 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the King Charles III England Coast Path: South Hayling to East Head, King Charles III England Coast Path: Portsmouth to South Hayling and Langstone Harbour Waterside Route.
How many people in Stoke live near a park?
0% 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 Stoke?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Stoke good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 2.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 30% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 2% (0.3 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 Stoke’s overall grade.
Where Stoke’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.