Wick’s biggest
Bignold Park
Playing field
9.5 ha (23 acres)0.4 km of path
13 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Wick
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0–Not graded
Outdoors in Wick · parks, paths & countryside
Wick is on the coast
The sea makes up 53% of the area within 5 km. 48 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 1.8 for every square kilometre. 80% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Wick has no Outdoors Grade: Scottish towns aren’t graded on the outdoors yet.
Green space
2.2 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical town in England and Wales 2.1
Near a park
80%
of residents within 400 m
Typical town in England and Wales 83%
Footpaths
48 km
1.8 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical town in England and Wales 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
The sea
53%
of the area within 5 km
A coastal town
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Wick’s locality.
Green space: parks, gardens, playing fields and play spaces, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · Contains OS data © Crown copyright · Scottish Government, NatureScot
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Wick
The biggest is Bignold Park, 9.5 ha (23 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Rosebank Playing Fields
Playing field
0.8 ha (2 acres)
Centralin the middle of Wick
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
8 in 10 Wick 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 (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (80%)Further (20%)
Wick80%
Highland towns82%
Towns in England and Wales83%
About 1,400 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 8 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 863 residents.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
2 waymarked walks pass through or near Wick
48 km of footpaths, tracks and core paths are mapped in Wick and the kilometre around it, 1.8 km for every square kilometre (the typical town in England and Wales has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
Local
John O'Groats Trail (Wick to Keiss)11.9 km
John O'Groats Trail (Whaligoe to Wick)6.9 km
Close to home, the John O'Groats Trail (Wick to Keiss) has 12 km of local walk within 2 km of the town.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Scotland has no rights-of-way register: everyone has a right of responsible access to most land, so tracks and councils’ core paths count. Paths are only as complete as the map in each area.
When to get out
The best walking months in Wick: June 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) | 7.0 | 9.2 | 11.6 | 14.3 | 16.8 | 18.3 | 17.6 | 15.4 | 12.7 | 10.1 | 7.7 | 6.4 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 72 | 60 | 54 | 46 | 48 | 53 | 60 | 67 | 64 | 89 | 85 | 67 |
April is the driest month (46 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 17 °C). Winter days are short, about 6 hours of daylight in December, and 89 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 38 nights a year. The climate in Wick →
The coast
The coast and beaches near Wick
53% of the area within 5 km of Wick is sea. 4 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 0 with a name.
Sea: the area outside the ONS coastline (mean high water). Bathing water quality is published by SEPA; check it before swimming.
Things to do
8 playgrounds
Mapped within 2 km of the town in OpenStreetMap. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 1
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Nature reserves 1
Noss Head Marine Protected Area751 ha · 1.2 mi from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 2
Plus 2 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 8
Plus 8 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Dog parks 1
Newtonhill Dog Park0.9 mi from town
DirectionsCampsites 2
Wick River Campsitein town
DirectionsInformal campsite1.0 mi from town
DirectionsQuestions about the outdoors in Wick
What is the biggest park in Wick?
Bignold Park, 9.5 ha (23 acres). Rosebank Playing Fields (0.8 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Wick near a National Park?
No National Park or National Scenic Area is within 30 km (about 19 miles) of Wick.
What are the best walks near Wick?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the John O'Groats Trail (Wick to Keiss) and John O'Groats Trail (Whaligoe to Wick).
How many people in Wick live near a park?
80% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical town in England and Wales is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Wick?
June to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
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 Scenic Area within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Wick’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Wick’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 Scenic Areas: Scottish Government and NatureScot boundaries (Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, Cairngorms; the 40 National Scenic Areas), clipped to land, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Footpaths, tracks, core paths, walking routes, beaches and things to do: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License (ODbL), via Geofabrik’s Scotland extract, October 2026.
- Historic gardens, listed buildings and monuments: Historic Environment Scotland designations, 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: NRS Scotland’s Census 2022 output areas.
- Grade: Scottish towns have no Outdoors Grade yet.
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.