Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Nick Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0The sea makes up 35% of the area within 5 km. Parks and playing fields in Capel-le-Ferne add up to 21.8 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. The Kent Downs National Landscape reaches the edge of Capel-le-Ferne. Capel-le-Ferne grades A+ for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Capel-le-Ferne’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by plenty of park space.
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Capel-le-Ferne, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
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.
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,900 to 2,100 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against villages its size, Capel-le-Ferne stands out most for park space per resident: none of the other 59 has more.
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westbourne West Sussex | A+ | 9.6 | 100% | 4.1 | 57% |
| 2 | Capel-le-Ferne Kent | A+ | 21.8 | 88% | 4 | 52% |
| 3 | Colyton Devon | A+ | 3.5 | 100% | 2.2 | 79% |
| 4 | Ditchingham Norfolk | A+ | 17.2 | 100% | 2.9 | 13% |
| 5 | Bournmoor County Durham | A | 11 | 100% | 4 | 0% |
| 6 | Upper Rissington Gloucestershire | A | 6.2 | 100% | 1.2 | 100% |
| 7 | Churchill Somerset | A | 2.8 | 84% | 3.9 | 39% |
| 8 | Wrington Somerset | A | 3.2 | 100% | 2.6 | 20% |
| 9 | Machen Gwent | A | 3.5 | 100% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 10 | Y Bala Gwynedd | A | 4 | 100% | 1.4 | 67% |
| 11 | Ickleford Hertfordshire | A− | 3.7 | 82% | 3.7 | 11% |
| 12 | South Nutfield Surrey | A− | 2.5 | 100% | 2.7 | 11% |
| 13 | Little Haywood Staffordshire | A− | 1.3 | 100% | 3.3 | 34% |
| 14 | Kirkby Lonsdale Cumbria | B+ | 9.2 | 74% | 2.2 | 40% |
| 15 | Pontesbury Shropshire | B+ | 3.1 | 63% | 3.8 | 28% |
| 16 | Polesworth Warwickshire | B+ | 13.5 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 17 | Wingates Greater Manchester | B+ | 2.6 | 100% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 18 | Ingoldmells Lincolnshire | B+ | 2.8 | 83% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 19 | Southgate West Glamorgan | B+ | 1.1 | 21% | 3.7 | 56% |
| 20 | Martlesham Suffolk | B | 2.1 | 69% | 3.8 | 24% |
| 21 | Wrotham Kent | B | 1.6 | 100% | 1.6 | 49% |
| 22 | Welsh Bicknor Gloucestershire | B | 2.7 | 31% | 3.3 | 45% |
| 23 | Beare Green Surrey | B | 1.6 | 70% | 3.9 | 30% |
| 24 | Wheaton Aston Staffordshire | B− | 2.6 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 25 | Dilton Marsh Wiltshire | B− | 2.1 | 67% | 3.5 | 4% |
| 26 | Hutton Cranswick East Riding of Yorkshire | B− | 5 | 100% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 27 | Wooler Northumberland | B− | 3.3 | 81% | 0.8 | 26% |
| 28 | Barmouth Gwynedd | B− | 0.5 | 60% | 2 | 53% |
| 29 | Northleach Gloucestershire | B− | 1.5 | 68% | 2.6 | 100% |
| 30 | Leeswood Clwyd | C+ | 4 | 83% | 0.7 | 2% |
| 31 | Audley Staffordshire | C+ | 3.4 | 83% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 32 | Axbridge Somerset | C+ | 1.3 | 72% | 2.8 | 51% |
| 33 | Landkey Devon | C+ | 2.5 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 34 | Stratton Cornwall | C+ | 0.8 | 23% | 3 | 8% |
| 35 | Whitchurch Somerset | C+ | 2.3 | 47% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 36 | High Spen Tyne and Wear | C+ | 3.3 | 74% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 37 | Hatton Warwickshire | C | 1.6 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 38 | Ramsden Heath Essex | C | 2.3 | 82% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 39 | Presteigne Powys | C | 3.2 | 61% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 40 | West Haddon Northamptonshire | C | 2.3 | 100% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 41 | Sleights North Yorkshire | C | 0.9 | 30% | 1.5 | 80% |
| 42 | Longrock Cornwall | C | 0.7 | 60% | 1.2 | 26% |
| 43 | Barrow Suffolk | C− | 1.1 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 44 | Chivenor and Wrafton Devon | C− | 0.6 | 0% | 1.7 | 17% |
| 45 | Black Notley Essex | C− | 1.6 | 36% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 46 | Pool-in-Wharfedale West Yorkshire | C− | 2.1 | 44% | 1.6 | 7% |
| 47 | Ashwell Hertfordshire | C− | 3 | 52% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 48 | Stocksfield Northumberland | C− | 2.2 | 40% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 49 | Briston Norfolk | D | 2.7 | 69% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 50 | Broughton Northamptonshire | D | 2.7 | 70% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 51 | Cookley Worcestershire | D | 2.3 | 52% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 52 | Hutton Rudby North Yorkshire | D | 1.6 | 35% | 1.1 | 13% |
| 53 | Morda Shropshire | D | 0.7 | 84% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 54 | Greylees Lincolnshire | D | 1.5 | 79% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 55 | Shawbury Shropshire | D− | 2.2 | 30% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 56 | Wheldrake North Yorkshire | D− | 1.4 | 72% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 57 | Tollerton Nottinghamshire | D− | 0.6 | 19% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 58 | Rossett Clwyd | D− | 0.3 | 55% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 59 | Goostrey Cheshire | D− | 0.3 | 42% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 60 | Bottisham Cambridgeshire | D− | 0 | 0% | 1.3 | 0% |
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Capel-le-Ferne’s built-up area.
The biggest is East Cliff and Warren Country Park, 91 ha (225 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
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 200 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 13 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 151 residents.
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.
52% of the land within 5 km of Capel-le-Ferne is National Park or National Landscape, more than 92% of UK towns.
45 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Capel-le-Ferne and the kilometre around it, 4.0 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 European walking route E9, Rye to Dover, a national route, passes Capel-le-Ferne. The regional route here is the Saxon Shore Way.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
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 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 84 | 66 | 51 | 51 | 54 | 56 | 57 | 66 | 67 | 104 | 105 | 101 |
March is the driest month (51 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 105 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 29 nights a year. The climate in Capel-le-Ferne →
35% of the area within 5 km of Capel-le-Ferne is sea. 29 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.
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.
Plus 4 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Plus 1 waterfall without a name on the map.
Plus 13 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Plus 1 campsite without a name on the map.
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
Capel-le-Ferne grades higher for the outdoors than every neighbour in the table.
East Cliff and Warren Country Park, 91 ha (225 acres), with 9.6 km of path. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the village or within 400 m of it.
It covers 879 km² and was designated in 1968.
4 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the European walking route E9, Rye to Dover, North Downs Way (Eastern) and Saxon Shore Way. East Cliff and Warren Country Park alone has 9.6 km of path.
88% 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%.
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
For paths, yes: 4.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 81% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 99% (21.8 ha per 1,000 residents).
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 Capel-le-Ferne’s overall grade.
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.