Bean’s biggest
Beacon Wood Country Park
Park or garden
27 ha (67 acres)3.6 km of path
50 minto walk all 3.6 km of path
38 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Bean
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Dr Neil Clifton · CC BY-SA 2.0A−Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Bean · parks, paths & countryside
Bean has more park space per resident than 9 in 10 UK towns
Parks and playing fields in Bean add up to 17.0 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. The Kent Downs National Landscape begins 3.8 mi from the village’s edge. Footpaths add up to 20 km in the village and the kilometre around it, 3.1 for every square kilometre. Bean grades A− for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
17.0 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
72%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
20 km
3.1 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Kent Downs starts 3.8 mi out, past the 5 km
The sea
9%
of the area within 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors village is Bean?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Room to roam17.0 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 98% of UK towns.Countryside close byThe Kent Downs National Landscape starts 3.8 mi south-west.
Bean’s strongest suit is plenty of park space, followed by the Kent Downs National Landscape close by.
Outdoors grade
Bean grades A− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Bean, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
A−
Better than 81% of UK towns7th of 60 UK villages its size
Public green space17.0 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
98out of
100
100
A park within a walk72%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
34out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · Kent Downs begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths3.1 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
62out of
100
100
The sea9%of the area within 5 km
86out 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.
Villages its size
Bean is 7th of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,500 to 1,700 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
Bean3.1
Villages its size2.1
Kent towns2.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Bean17.0
Villages its size2.1
Kent towns2.3
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Bean72%
Villages its size76%
Kent towns78%
All UK towns83%
Against villages its size, Bean stands out most for park space per resident: only 3 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portskewett Gwent | A+ | 10 | 100% | 2.9 | 3% |
| 2 | Melton Suffolk | A+ | 6.5 | 100% | 4.1 | 33% |
| 3 | Llansanffraid Glan Conwy Clwyd | A+ | 10.8 | 100% | 1.6 | 8% |
| 4 | Pen-clawdd West Glamorgan | A | 4 | 100% | 0.5 | 42% |
| 5 | Hale Bank Cheshire | A− | 9.1 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 6 | Shillington Bedfordshire | A− | 3.7 | 83% | 3.2 | 14% |
| 7 | Bean Kent | A− | 17 | 72% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 8 | Woodhouse Eaves Leicestershire | A− | 35.7 | 85% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 9 | Kewstoke Somerset | A− | 1.3 | 74% | 4.3 | 1% |
| 10 | Harrold Bedfordshire | A− | 19.1 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 11 | Hampton Magna Warwickshire | A− | 6.8 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 12 | Sonning Berkshire | A− | 11.1 | 80% | 2.5 | 7% |
| 13 | East Dean and Friston East Sussex | B+ | 1.2 | 18% | 4.6 | 58% |
| 14 | Stithians Cornwall | B+ | 3.2 | 80% | 3.4 | 3% |
| 15 | Staining Lancashire | B+ | 2.6 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 16 | Seal Kent | B+ | 3.3 | 78% | 2.1 | 77% |
| 17 | Littlebourne Kent | B+ | 1.6 | 100% | 3 | 9% |
| 18 | Farcet Cambridgeshire | B+ | 13.8 | 77% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 19 | Great Kingshill Buckinghamshire | B | 2.7 | 55% | 2.9 | 84% |
| 20 | Ardingly West Sussex | B | 1.7 | 53% | 4.1 | 83% |
| 21 | Abridge Essex | B | 3 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 22 | Edgworth Lancashire | B | 3.2 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 23 | Normandy Surrey | B− | 3.2 | 23% | 3.1 | 26% |
| 24 | Sibertswold Kent | B− | 1.9 | 79% | 2.2 | 38% |
| 25 | Onley Northamptonshire | B− | 2.3 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 26 | Whittington Shropshire | B− | 3.7 | 100% | 1 | 0% |
| 27 | West Horndon Essex | C+ | 2.2 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 28 | Bartestree Herefordshire | C+ | 2.1 | 81% | 1.9 | 10% |
| 29 | Everton Hampshire | C+ | 1.3 | 58% | 1.5 | 37% |
| 30 | Templecombe Somerset | C+ | 2 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 31 | Clutton Somerset | C+ | 0.9 | 74% | 3.3 | 11% |
| 32 | New Arley Warwickshire | C+ | 2.4 | 100% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 33 | High Littleton Somerset | C+ | 1 | 58% | 4.9 | 1% |
| 34 | Potterspury Northamptonshire | C | 1.4 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 35 | Acton Suffolk | C | 1.6 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 36 | Blisworth Northamptonshire | C | 2.2 | 81% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 37 | Buxted East Sussex | C | 1.1 | 63% | 2.4 | 52% |
| 38 | Stonesfield Oxfordshire | C | 1.9 | 60% | 1.8 | 38% |
| 39 | Harden West Yorkshire | C | 1.8 | 40% | 5 | 0% |
| 40 | Earith Cambridgeshire | C | 1.2 | 78% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 41 | Scawby Lincolnshire | C− | 25.7 | 68% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 42 | Wylam Northumberland | C− | 1.1 | 74% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 43 | Higher Walton Lancashire | C− | 2.2 | 61% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 44 | Thorney Cambridgeshire | C− | 3.4 | 74% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 45 | Creunant West Glamorgan | C− | 1.7 | 79% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 46 | Pensilva Cornwall | C− | 1.6 | 60% | 1.3 | 15% |
| 47 | Sywell and Overstone Northamptonshire | D | 3.1 | 62% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 48 | Upper Arncott Oxfordshire | D | 3.1 | 59% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 49 | Thurcaston Leicestershire | D | 1.1 | 33% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 50 | Whittlesford Cambridgeshire | D | 2.3 | 57% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 51 | Moulton Lincolnshire | D | 1.9 | 75% | 0.1 | 0% |
| 52 | Ketton Rutland | D | 2.1 | 56% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 53 | Balsham Cambridgeshire | D | 1.7 | 57% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 54 | St Erme and Trispen Cornwall | D | 0.3 | 69% | 1.2 | 2% |
| 55 | Findern Derbyshire | D | 1.8 | 40% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 56 | Skirlaugh East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 1 | 85% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 57 | Woodborough Nottinghamshire | D− | 1 | 45% | 2 | 0% |
| 58 | Ulceby Lincolnshire | D− | 1.2 | 72% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 59 | Scarcroft West Yorkshire | D− | 0.5 | 15% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 60 | Church Fenton North Yorkshire | D− | 0.3 | 50% | 0.7 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Bean’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 Bean
The biggest is Beacon Wood Country Park, 27 ha (67 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
7 in 10 Bean 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 (72%)Further (28%)
Bean72%
Villages its size76%
Kent towns78%
All UK towns83%
About 500 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 19 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 86 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Kent Downs National Landscape is 3.8 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
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Bean scores 0% on it even though the Kent Downs National Landscape is 3.8 mi away.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Bean
20 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Bean and the kilometre around it, 3.1 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
Regional
1066 Harold's Way5.4 km
The regional route here is the 1066 Harold's Way.
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 Bean: 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) | 8.3 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.6 | 16.6 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 60 | 46 | 39 | 41 | 47 | 48 | 44 | 56 | 53 | 69 | 69 | 62 |
March is the driest month (39 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 69 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 38 nights a year. The climate in Bean →
The coast
Bean is near the sea
9% of the area within 5 km of Bean is sea. 4 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 1 with a name.
Northfleet Beach2.5 mi from town
DirectionsSea: 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.
Things to do
19 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
Picnic sites 2
Plus 2 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 19
Children's Play Area - Christabel Close0.8 mi from town
DirectionsChildren's Play Area - Castle Hill Park1.1 mi from town
DirectionsChildren's Play Area - Glover Close1.1 mi from town
DirectionsChildren's Play Area1.2 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 15 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Next door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
Ebbsfleet ValleyStoneDarenthSwanscombeSouth Darenth and Sutton at HoneNorthfleetBean
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bean | A− | 17.0 | 72% | 0% |
| Ebbsfleet Valley 1.1 mi | A | 9.0 | 77% | 0% |
| Stone 1.3 mi | A+ | 3.1 | 100% | 0% |
| Darenth 1.5 mi | A− | 1.8 | 100% | 1% |
| Swanscombe 1.5 mi | A+ | 3.3 | 90% | 0% |
| South Darenth and Sutton at Hone 2.5 mi | C | 1.8 | 43% | 10% |
| Northfleet 2.6 mi | A | 2.0 | 85% | 4% |
Stone, 1.3 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Bean
What is the biggest park in Bean?
Beacon Wood Country Park, 27 ha (67 acres), with 3.6 km of path. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the village or within 400 m of it.
Is Bean near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Kent Downs National Landscape, 3.8 mi south-west of the village’s edge. It covers 879 km² and was designated in 1968.
What are the best walks near Bean?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the village, including the 1066 Harold's Way. Beacon Wood Country Park alone has 3.6 km of path.
How many people in Bean live near a park?
72% 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 Bean?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Bean good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.1 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 62% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 98% (17.0 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 Bean’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Bean’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.