Photo: Michael Garlick · CC BY-SA 2.0Parks and walks in Headcorn
The High Weald National Landscape and the Kent Downs National Landscape both begin about 5 miles from the town’s edge. Footpaths add up to 11 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 1.0 for every square kilometre. 48% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Headcorn grades D− for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors town is Headcorn?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Headcorn’s strongest suit is two protected landscapes close by. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Headcorn grades D− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Headcorn, 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.
How Headcorn compares with UK towns of 3,100 to 3,500
The 60 UK towns and cities of 3,100 to 3,500 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Headcorn falls furthest behind on path per km², where 55 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bakewell Derbyshire | A | 5.5 | 91% | 2.7 | 98% |
| 2 | Bignall End Staffordshire | A | 9.1 | 100% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 3 | Broadwell and Coalway Gloucestershire | A | 2.8 | 72% | 5.5 | 38% |
| 4 | Moira Leicestershire | A | 15.5 | 86% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 5 | Neyland Dyfed | A− | 3 | 93% | 1.2 | 13% |
| 6 | Birdwell South Yorkshire | A− | 3.6 | 90% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 7 | North Petherton Somerset | B+ | 3.8 | 91% | 2.3 | 5% |
| 8 | Addingham West Yorkshire | B+ | 1.8 | 93% | 3 | 32% |
| 9 | Newlyn Cornwall | B+ | 1.5 | 67% | 3.2 | 24% |
| 10 | St Agnes Cornwall | B+ | 1 | 81% | 3 | 5% |
| 11 | Mickletown West Yorkshire | B+ | 3.3 | 93% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 12 | Elton Cheshire | B | 1.9 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 13 | Madeley Staffordshire | B | 3.8 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 14 | Walton West Yorkshire | B | 12.3 | 78% | 3 | 0% |
| 15 | Treeton South Yorkshire | B | 4.4 | 63% | 5.3 | 0% |
| 16 | Fishbourne West Sussex | B | 1.9 | 38% | 2.5 | 47% |
| 17 | Westerham Kent | B | 1.9 | 61% | 3.5 | 66% |
| 18 | Fernhill Heath Worcestershire | B | 3.2 | 88% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 19 | Caddington Bedfordshire | B | 1.3 | 81% | 3.6 | 33% |
| 20 | Hemingford Grey Cambridgeshire | B | 1.9 | 100% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 21 | Ringmer East Sussex | B− | 1.9 | 91% | 1.8 | 37% |
| 22 | Istead Rise Kent | B− | 1.9 | 82% | 2.7 | 15% |
| 23 | Pangbourne Berkshire | B− | 2.9 | 61% | 2 | 85% |
| 24 | Dunton Green Kent | B− | 1 | 82% | 2.7 | 69% |
| 25 | Stalham Norfolk | B− | 1.9 | 85% | 2 | 23% |
| 26 | Healing Lincolnshire | B− | 2 | 78% | 1.3 | 1% |
| 27 | Highley Shropshire | C+ | 3.4 | 73% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 28 | Pegswood Northumberland | C+ | 1.3 | 100% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 29 | Milborne Port Somerset | C+ | 1.6 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 30 | Leadgate County Durham | C+ | 1.5 | 91% | 1.9 | 1% |
| 31 | Marlow Bottom Buckinghamshire | C | 0.5 | 40% | 3.4 | 50% |
| 32 | Ashburton Devon | C | 1.7 | 74% | 1 | 60% |
| 33 | Somersham Cambridgeshire | C | 2.7 | 81% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 34 | Earls Colne Essex | C | 1.4 | 91% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 35 | Bedale North Yorkshire | C | 3.6 | 78% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 36 | Adderbury and Twyford Oxfordshire | C | 1.7 | 89% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 37 | Laceby Lincolnshire | C | 1.6 | 64% | 2.1 | 18% |
| 38 | Eastchurch Kent | C | 1.9 | 72% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 39 | Sapcote Leicestershire | C− | 2.4 | 67% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 40 | Appleby-in-Westmorland Cumbria | C− | 1.2 | 63% | 2.1 | 24% |
| 41 | Bishopthorpe North Yorkshire | C− | 3.2 | 51% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 42 | Yarnton Oxfordshire | C− | 0.4 | 69% | 3 | 0% |
| 43 | Farnsfield Nottinghamshire | C− | 2 | 63% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 44 | Purton Wiltshire | C− | 0.8 | 60% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 45 | Rendlesham Suffolk | C− | 0.8 | 52% | 1.6 | 59% |
| 46 | Astwood Bank Worcestershire | C− | 0.9 | 79% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 47 | Talbot Green Mid Glamorgan | D | 0.7 | 66% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 48 | Wadhurst East Sussex | D | 0.9 | 19% | 1.2 | 100% |
| 49 | Messingham Lincolnshire | D | 3.4 | 46% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 50 | Eglwys-Brewis South Glamorgan | D | 0.3 | 0% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 51 | Iver Buckinghamshire | D | 1.3 | 60% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 52 | Tarporley Cheshire | D | 1 | 69% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 53 | Eccleshall Staffordshire | D | 1.1 | 74% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 54 | Heckington Lincolnshire | D | 1.4 | 68% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 55 | New Tredegar Gwent | D− | 1.4 | 68% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 56 | Headcorn Kent | D− | 1.6 | 48% | 1 | 0% |
| 57 | Dunnington North Yorkshire | D− | 0.8 | 44% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 58 | Upper Tean Staffordshire | D− | 0.6 | 60% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 59 | Donington Lincolnshire | D− | 0.8 | 54% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Bawtry South Yorkshire | D− | 0.5 | 49% | 1 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Headcorn’s built-up area.
5 in 10 Headcorn 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 1,700 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 3 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 1,098 residents.
High Weald and Kent Downs both start about 5 miles from Headcorn
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.
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Headcorn scores 0% on it even though the High Weald National Landscape is 4.4 mi away.
Footpaths in and around Headcorn
11 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Headcorn and the kilometre around it, 1.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Headcorn; its footpaths are on the map above.
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 Headcorn: 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) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 68 | 51 | 42 | 45 | 51 | 49 | 43 | 56 | 51 | 80 | 78 | 77 |
March is the driest month (42 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 80 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 47 nights a year. The climate in Headcorn →
3 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
Headcorn 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.
Every named place, with directions
Campsites 4
Plus 4 campsites 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headcorn | D− | 1.6 | 48% | 0% |
| Staplehurst 3.3 mi | D | 1.3 | 70% | 1% |
| Sutton Valence 3.4 mi | C+ | 5.6 | 71% | 1% |
| Biddenden 3.8 mi | A− | 4.2 | 100% | 20% |
| Kingswood 4.0 mi | B− | 3.8 | 23% | 11% |
| Lenham and Harrietsham 5.6 mi | B− | 1.4 | 88% | 47% |
| Marden 5.9 mi | C | 1.8 | 71% | 3% |
Biddenden, 3.8 miles away, grades A−, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Sutton Valence, Biddenden and Kingswood have at least twice Headcorn’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Headcorn
Is Headcorn near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the High Weald National Landscape, 4.4 mi south of the town’s edge. It covers 1,462 km² and was designated in 1983.
What is the nearest beach to Headcorn?
The Beach, 4.9 mi from the edge of the town, then Camber Sands (17 mi). Headcorn itself is inland.
How many people in Headcorn live near a park?
48% 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 Headcorn?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Headcorn good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 7% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 30% (1.6 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 Headcorn’s overall grade.
Where Headcorn’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.