Sandwich’s biggest
Gazen Salts Recreation Ground
Playing field
5.0 ha (12 acres)0.3 km of path
7 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.5 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Colin Park · CC BY-SA 2.0C+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Sandwich · parks, paths & countryside
Parks and walks in Sandwich
The Kent Downs National Landscape begins 5.6 mi from the town’s edge. The sea makes up 21% of the area within 5 km. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 51% of residents. Sandwich grades C+ for the outdoors: #64 of 87 in Kent. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
2.1 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
51%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
42 km
2.5 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 5.6 mi out, past the 5 km
The sea
21%
of the area within 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Sandwich?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Countryside close byThe Kent Downs National Landscape starts 5.6 mi south.On a National TrailThe King Charles III England Coast Path passes through.Historic parksThe Salutation, Sandwich is a registered historic park (Grade II).Parks can be a walk away49% of residents live more than 400 m from a park or playing field.
Sandwich’s strongest suit is the Kent Downs National Landscape close by, followed by the King Charles III England Coast Path. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Outdoors grade
Sandwich grades C+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Sandwich, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
C+
Better than 37% of UK towns#64 of 87 in Kent · 34th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space2.1 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
50out of
100
100
A park within a walk51%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
14out 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
Footpaths2.5 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
45out of
100
100
The sea21%of the area within 5 km
90out 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.
Towns its size
Sandwich is 34th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 4,100 to 4,400 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
Sandwich2.5
Towns its size2.5
Kent towns2.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Sandwich2.1
Towns its size1.7
Kent towns2.3
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Sandwich51%
Towns its size80%
Kent towns78%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Sandwich stands out most for park space per resident: only 22 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 51 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Malling Kent | A+ | 8.7 | 100% | 3.4 | 21% |
| 2 | Telscombe Cliffs East Sussex | A+ | 3 | 58% | 5.1 | 42% |
| 3 | Great Denham Bedfordshire | A | 14.7 | 100% | 5.3 | 0% |
| 4 | Southbourne West Sussex | A | 1.3 | 92% | 3.3 | 64% |
| 5 | Denaby Main South Yorkshire | A | 10.4 | 100% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 6 | Milton Cambridgeshire | A | 10.4 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 7 | Overton Hampshire | A | 3.7 | 92% | 2.5 | 45% |
| 8 | Loftus North Yorkshire | A− | 1.9 | 90% | 2 | 31% |
| 9 | Arborfield Garrison Berkshire | A− | 10.4 | 95% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 10 | Stokenchurch Buckinghamshire | A− | 2.3 | 90% | 2.6 | 86% |
| 11 | Hunstanton Norfolk | A− | 3.7 | 71% | 1.4 | 31% |
| 12 | Fairford Gloucestershire | A− | 3.4 | 100% | 1.8 | 17% |
| 13 | Lofthouse and Robin Hood West Yorkshire | B+ | 3.4 | 93% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 14 | Ratby Leicestershire | B+ | 1.7 | 100% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 15 | Bramley and Wonersh Surrey | B+ | 1.7 | 77% | 3.5 | 59% |
| 16 | Clayton West and Scissett West Yorkshire | B | 1.4 | 100% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 17 | Winchcombe Gloucestershire | B | 2.2 | 60% | 3 | 81% |
| 18 | Brampton Cumbria | B | 2 | 92% | 2.2 | 9% |
| 19 | Bourton-on-the-Water Gloucestershire | B | 0.9 | 79% | 3.3 | 100% |
| 20 | Penrhyn Bay Clwyd | B− | 0.6 | 68% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 21 | Woodford Halse Northamptonshire | B− | 3.6 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 22 | Topsham Devon | B− | 1.9 | 76% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 23 | Easington Lane Tyne and Wear | B− | 0.9 | 100% | 4 | 0% |
| 24 | Wilton Wiltshire | B− | 1.4 | 94% | 1.6 | 45% |
| 25 | Tibshelf Derbyshire | B− | 1.4 | 94% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 26 | Ferndale Mid Glamorgan | B− | 3.6 | 88% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 27 | Woburn Sands Buckinghamshire | C+ | 1.1 | 94% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 28 | Milford on Sea Hampshire | C+ | 1.2 | 50% | 2.1 | 21% |
| 29 | Kessingland Suffolk | C+ | 0.9 | 70% | 1.9 | 19% |
| 30 | Old Tupton Derbyshire | C+ | 2.3 | 73% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 31 | Eaton Bray and Edlesborough Bedfordshire | C+ | 2.6 | 72% | 1.7 | 29% |
| 32 | Thorpe Hesley South Yorkshire | C+ | 1.8 | 80% | 4 | 0% |
| 33 | Backwell Somerset | C+ | 2.3 | 57% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 34 | Sandwich Kent | C+ | 2.1 | 51% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 35 | Sible Hedingham Essex | C+ | 0.9 | 100% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 36 | Holmfield West Yorkshire | C+ | 2.8 | 74% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 37 | Knebworth Hertfordshire | C+ | 1.5 | 81% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 38 | Warton (Fylde) Lancashire | C | 1.3 | 92% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 39 | Brundall Norfolk | C | 1.6 | 62% | 2.3 | 20% |
| 40 | Meopham Kent | C | 1.3 | 53% | 2.5 | 35% |
| 41 | Uppingham Rutland | C | 2.2 | 89% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 42 | Branston Lincolnshire | C | 2.1 | 86% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 43 | Long Lawford Warwickshire | C | 1.2 | 91% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 44 | Llangennech Dyfed | C | 1.6 | 82% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 45 | Nelson Gwent | C | 2.1 | 88% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 46 | Cuffley Hertfordshire | C− | 13.6 | 19% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 47 | Ellesmere Shropshire | C− | 12.5 | 54% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 48 | Chudleigh Devon | C− | 0.3 | 83% | 1.4 | 15% |
| 49 | Epworth Lincolnshire | C− | 1.6 | 75% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 50 | Doddington and Wimblington Cambridgeshire | C− | 2.5 | 73% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 51 | Great Ayton North Yorkshire | C− | 0.2 | 48% | 2.2 | 31% |
| 52 | West Kingsdown Kent | D | 0.8 | 28% | 1.6 | 52% |
| 53 | North Weald Bassett Essex | D | 1.4 | 67% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 54 | Shepperton Green Surrey | D | 1.4 | 73% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 55 | Blidworth Nottinghamshire | D | 0.5 | 23% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 56 | Kegworth Leicestershire | D | 0.4 | 54% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 57 | Llantrisant Mid Glamorgan | D− | 0.6 | 42% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 58 | Wheatley Oxfordshire | D− | 0.2 | 34% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 59 | Warboys Cambridgeshire | D− | 0.4 | 67% | 1 | 0% |
| 60 | Pinchbeck Lincolnshire | D− | 1 | 49% | 1 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Sandwich’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 Sandwich
The biggest is Gazen Salts Recreation Ground, 5.0 ha (12 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
The Butts Recreation Ground
Playing field
3.2 ha (8 acres)
4 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Sandwich
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
5 in 10 Sandwich 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 (51%)Further (49%)
Sandwich51%
Towns its size80%
Kent towns78%
All UK towns83%
About 2,100 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 5 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 852 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Kent Downs National Landscape is 5.6 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 Sandwich scores 0% on it even though the Kent Downs National Landscape is 5.6 mi away.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Sandwich is on the King Charles III England Coast Path
42 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Sandwich and the kilometre around it, 2.5 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
NationalRegional
King Charles III England Coast Path: Folkestone to Ramsgate14.4 km
Stour Valley Walk9.7 km
Saxon Shore Way9.1 km
The King Charles III England Coast Path, a national route, passes Sandwich. 2 regional routes pass through, including the Stour Valley Walk and Saxon Shore Way.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
History along the way
A registered historic park in Sandwich
Historic England’s register of parks and gardens, and the listed buildings and scheduled monuments that stand inside Sandwich’s named parks.
Registered · Grade IIThe Salutation1.4 ha
A listed building or monument counts when it sits inside the park’s OS Open Greenspace outline (to about 15 m), so a few at the boundary are included. Historic England, National Heritage List for England.
When to get out
The best walking months in Sandwich: 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) | 8.3 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.6 | 16.6 | 16.1 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 54 | 47 | 38 | 40 | 48 | 49 | 48 | 51 | 52 | 84 | 76 | 72 |
March is the driest month (38 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 84 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 25 nights a year. The climate in Sandwich →
The coast
Sandwich is near the sea
21% of the area within 5 km of Sandwich is sea.
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.
Things to do
5 playgrounds
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.
Every named place, with directions
Nature reserves 3
Gazen Salts Nature Reserve6.0 ha · 0.1 mi from town
DirectionsMonk's Wall Nature Reserve30 ha · 0.1 mi from town
DirectionsSandwich & Pegwell Bay NNR77 ha · 1.1 mi from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 5
Poulders Parkin town
DirectionsSandwich Quay Playgroundin town
DirectionsPlus 3 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 4
Plus 4 campsites 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.
EastryAsh (Dover)Cliffs EndDealMinster (Thanet)WinghamSandwich
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandwich | C+ | 2.1 | 51% | 0% |
| Eastry 2.1 mi | D | 2.0 | 77% | 0% |
| Ash (Dover) 2.5 mi | C | 2.3 | 72% | 0% |
| Cliffs End 4.1 mi | A | 6.9 | 100% | 0% |
| Deal 4.6 mi | B+ | 1.0 | 86% | 6% |
| Minster (Thanet) 4.8 mi | C | 2.3 | 64% | 0% |
| Wingham 5.2 mi | C− | 2.2 | 53% | 0% |
Cliffs End, 4.1 miles away, grades A, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Cliffs End has at least twice Sandwich’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Sandwich
What is the biggest park in Sandwich?
Gazen Salts Recreation Ground, 5.0 ha (12 acres). The Butts Recreation Ground (3.2 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Sandwich near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Kent Downs National Landscape, 5.6 mi south of the town’s edge. It covers 879 km² and was designated in 1968.
What are the best walks near Sandwich?
3 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the King Charles III England Coast Path: Folkestone to Ramsgate, Stour Valley Walk and Saxon Shore Way.
How many people in Sandwich live near a park?
51% 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 Sandwich?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Which parks in Sandwich are historic?
The Salutation (Grade II) is on Historic England’s register of parks and gardens.
Is Sandwich good for walking?
About average for paths: 2.5 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 45% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 50% (2.1 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 Sandwich’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Sandwich’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.