Swanley’s biggest
Swanley Park
Park or garden
17 ha (43 acres)2.6 km of path
35 minto walk all 2.6 km of path
24 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.4 mi north-eastfrom the centre
Playground
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0B+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Swanley · parks, paths & countryside
Swanley has more footpath per square kilometre than 8 in 10 UK towns
Footpaths add up to 78 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 4.2 for every square kilometre. The Kent Downs National Landscape reaches the edge of Swanley. Parks and playing fields in Swanley add up to 1.8 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Swanley grades B+ for the outdoors: #38 of 87 in Kent. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
1.8 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
78%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
78 km
4.2 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
20%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Kent Downs National Landscape
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Swanley?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
A town of footpaths4.2 km of path per km², more than 83% of UK towns. The typical town has 3.0.Countryside close byThe Kent Downs National Landscape starts 0.0 mi south-east.Less park per person1.8 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1.
Swanley’s strongest suit is dense footpaths, followed by the Kent Downs National Landscape close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Outdoors grade
Swanley grades B+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Swanley, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
B+
Better than 69% of UK towns#38 of 87 in Kent · 20th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space1.8 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
40out of
100
100
A park within a walk78%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
43out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape20%of the land within 5 km
78out of
100
100
Footpaths4.2 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
84out of
100
100
The sea0%of the area within 5 km · Inland
42out 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
Swanley is 20th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 16,100 to 18,400 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
Swanley4.2
Towns its size3.1
Kent towns2.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Swanley1.8
Towns its size2.2
Kent towns2.3
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Swanley78%
Towns its size85%
Kent towns78%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Swanley stands out most for path per km²: only 11 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 37 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cirencester Gloucestershire | A+ | 4.3 | 95% | 4.1 | 48% |
| 2 | Prestatyn Clwyd | A+ | 3.3 | 92% | 2.9 | 14% |
| 3 | Dorking Surrey | A | 4.4 | 75% | 7 | 57% |
| 4 | Clitheroe Lancashire | A | 3 | 98% | 3.1 | 59% |
| 5 | Hadfield Derbyshire | A | 2.4 | 91% | 4.5 | 36% |
| 6 | Brixham Devon | A | 3.1 | 76% | 2.5 | 30% |
| 7 | Shiney Row and Penshaw Tyne and Wear | A | 9.6 | 98% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 8 | Bishop's Cleeve Gloucestershire | A | 1.9 | 100% | 3.9 | 35% |
| 9 | Connah's Quay Clwyd | A | 5.8 | 97% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 10 | Bedlington Northumberland | A | 5.1 | 94% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 11 | Clifton Greater Manchester | A | 10 | 92% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 12 | Abbots Langley and Kings Langley Hertfordshire | A | 3.8 | 88% | 3.6 | 3% |
| 13 | Bredbury and Woodley Greater Manchester | A | 4.8 | 94% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 14 | Euxton Lancashire | A− | 3.7 | 98% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 15 | Alton Hampshire | B+ | 2.6 | 82% | 3 | 27% |
| 16 | Wath upon Dearne South Yorkshire | B+ | 5.5 | 85% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 17 | Glossop Derbyshire | B+ | 1.5 | 78% | 4.2 | 60% |
| 18 | Wombwell South Yorkshire | B+ | 2.4 | 92% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 19 | Burnham-on-Sea Somerset | B+ | 2.1 | 79% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 20 | Swanley Kent | B+ | 1.8 | 78% | 4.2 | 20% |
| 21 | Warminster Wiltshire | B+ | 1.7 | 86% | 3 | 44% |
| 22 | Liversedge West Yorkshire | B+ | 2 | 98% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 23 | Tyldesley Greater Manchester | B | 2.3 | 97% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 24 | Brackley Northamptonshire | B | 2.7 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 25 | Westbury Wiltshire | B | 1.4 | 97% | 3.3 | 1% |
| 26 | Amersham Buckinghamshire | B | 1.8 | 62% | 3.7 | 64% |
| 27 | Patchway Gloucestershire | B | 2.5 | 80% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 28 | Cobham Surrey | B | 3.1 | 49% | 4 | 1% |
| 29 | Wimborne Minster Dorset | B | 2.7 | 51% | 3.6 | 17% |
| 30 | Penrith Cumbria | B | 1.6 | 91% | 2.9 | 9% |
| 31 | Bangor Gwynedd | B | 0.9 | 79% | 2.7 | 11% |
| 32 | Wymondham Norfolk | B | 2.8 | 97% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 33 | Shaw Greater Manchester | B | 1.9 | 96% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 34 | Minster (Swale) Kent | B | 2.5 | 89% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 35 | Bramhall Greater Manchester | B− | 4.7 | 71% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 36 | St Ives Cambridgeshire | B− | 1.7 | 95% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 37 | Biddulph Staffordshire | B− | 3.3 | 86% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 38 | Guisborough North Yorkshire | B− | 1.5 | 80% | 2.6 | 35% |
| 39 | Baildon West Yorkshire | B− | 2 | 71% | 7.5 | 0% |
| 40 | Heysham Lancashire | B− | 1.4 | 83% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 41 | Carterton Oxfordshire | B− | 2.1 | 82% | 2 | 13% |
| 42 | Ramsbottom Greater Manchester | C+ | 2.1 | 74% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 43 | Melksham Wiltshire | C+ | 2.2 | 87% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 44 | Royston Hertfordshire | C+ | 1.3 | 83% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 45 | Adwick le Street South Yorkshire | C+ | 2.8 | 89% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 46 | Bodmin Cornwall | C+ | 1.1 | 87% | 2.4 | 3% |
| 47 | Streetly West Midlands | C | 7.5 | 58% | 2 | 0% |
| 48 | Bourne Lincolnshire | C | 1.3 | 70% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 49 | Ripon North Yorkshire | C | 1 | 75% | 2.4 | 17% |
| 50 | Sleaford Lincolnshire | C | 1.7 | 93% | 2 | 0% |
| 51 | Tonypandy Mid Glamorgan | C | 1.5 | 85% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 52 | Maltby South Yorkshire | C− | 1.8 | 78% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 53 | Hale Greater Manchester | C− | 2.4 | 50% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 54 | Stone Staffordshire | C− | 1.5 | 86% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 55 | North Hykeham Lincolnshire | C− | 2.4 | 60% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 56 | Saffron Walden Essex | C− | 1.1 | 63% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 57 | Louth Lincolnshire | C− | 0.6 | 76% | 1.3 | 47% |
| 58 | Oswestry Shropshire | C− | 1.3 | 88% | 2 | 0% |
| 59 | Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay Staffordshire | C− | 1.5 | 60% | 1.6 | 3% |
| 60 | Carmarthen Dyfed | D | 1.6 | 76% | 1.6 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Swanley’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 Swanley
The biggest is Swanley Park, 17 ha (43 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Hextable Gardens
Park or garden · 240 m outside town
1.4 ha (3 acres)0.5 km of path
2 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.8 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Batholomew Way Park
Park or garden
0.5 ha (1 acres)0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Swanley
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
8 in 10 Swanley 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 (78%)Further (22%)
Swanley78%
Towns its size85%
Kent towns78%
All UK towns83%
About 3,800 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 15 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 1,147 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
National Parks and National Landscapes around Swanley
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
National Landscape
Kent Downs
At the edge south-east879 km²since 196820% of the land within 5 km
Official site20% of the land within 5 km of Swanley is National Park or National Landscape, more than 78% of UK towns.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
3 waymarked walks pass through or near Swanley
78 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Swanley and the kilometre around it, 4.2 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
RegionalLocal
Southwark Cathedral to Otford9.4 km
Darent Valley Path4.0 km
Faesten Dic Path2.5 km
The regional route here is the Southwark Cathedral to Otford.
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 Swanley: 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 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 63 | 48 | 40 | 44 | 49 | 49 | 44 | 55 | 52 | 71 | 68 | 67 |
March is the driest month (40 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 71 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 47 nights a year. The climate in Swanley →
Things to do
15 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
Swanley is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Northfleet Beach6.7 mi from Swanley’s edge
DirectionsDock Beach9.1 mi from Swanley’s edge
DirectionsKelson Beach9.2 mi from Swanley’s edge
DirectionsEgypt Bay Beach16 mi from Swanley’s edge
DirectionsSt Mary's Bay Beach18 mi from Swanley’s edge
DirectionsGood to know
Check the water before you swim. The Environment Agency tests designated bathing waters from May to September and publishes a rating for each beach.
Up high. Broom Hill, at 93 m, is the highest named top within 2 km of Swanley.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 1
Broom Hill93 m (305 ft) · 0.1 mi from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 15
The Barnyard Soft Play0.1 mi from town
DirectionsIn Awe & Wonder0.2 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 13 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 3
Farningham Wood Scout Campsite0.4 mi from town
DirectionsThe Naturist Foundation0.6 mi from town
DirectionsPaxwood1.1 mi from town
DirectionsNext door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
CrockenhillHextableJoyden's WoodFarninghamHawleyEynsfordSwanley
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swanley | B+ | 1.8 | 78% | 20% |
| Crockenhill 1.2 mi | A+ | 5.2 | 100% | 27% |
| Hextable 1.2 mi | A+ | 6.7 | 100% | 9% |
| Joyden's Wood 1.9 mi | A− | 2.7 | 82% | 4% |
| Farningham 2.6 mi | B+ | 1.7 | 100% | 33% |
| Hawley 2.8 mi | D | 0.7 | 24% | 3% |
| Eynsford 2.8 mi | B− | 2.1 | 81% | 46% |
Hextable, 1.2 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Crockenhill and Hextable have at least twice Swanley’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Swanley
What is the biggest park in Swanley?
Swanley Park, 17 ha (43 acres), with 2.6 km of path. Hextable Gardens (1.4 ha) is second. 3 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Swanley near a National Park?
It covers 879 km² and was designated in 1968.
What are the best walks near Swanley?
3 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Southwark Cathedral to Otford, Darent Valley Path and Faesten Dic Path. Swanley Park alone has 2.6 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Swanley?
Northfleet Beach, 6.7 mi from the edge of the town, then Dock Beach (9.1 mi). Swanley itself is inland.
How many people in Swanley live near a park?
78% 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 Swanley?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Swanley good for walking?
For paths, yes: 4.2 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 84% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 40% (1.8 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 Swanley’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Swanley’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.