Photo: Clem Rutter, Rochester, Kent. · CC BY 2.5Parks and walks in Wateringbury
The Kent Downs National Landscape begins 3.4 mi from the village’s edge. 73% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Footpaths add up to 24 km in the village and the kilometre around it, 2.1 for every square kilometre. Wateringbury grades C− for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Wateringbury grades C− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Wateringbury, 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.
Wateringbury is 42nd of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 2,200 to 2,300 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against villages its size, Wateringbury stands out most for park space per resident: only 25 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 34 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brockham Surrey | A+ | 7.4 | 94% | 4.4 | 38% |
| 2 | Limpsfield Surrey | A+ | 2.9 | 100% | 3.7 | 41% |
| 3 | Tanyfron Clwyd | A | 7.4 | 100% | 2.6 | 13% |
| 4 | Elstead Surrey | A | 2.5 | 100% | 2.6 | 82% |
| 5 | Berry Hill Gloucestershire | A | 2.9 | 79% | 4.7 | 55% |
| 6 | Westcott Surrey | A | 1.8 | 86% | 5.5 | 78% |
| 7 | Hapton Lancashire | A | 2.6 | 87% | 6.1 | 2% |
| 8 | Severn Beach Gloucestershire | A− | 5.8 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 9 | Harlington Bedfordshire | A− | 2.7 | 100% | 2.7 | 16% |
| 10 | Great Horkesley Essex | A− | 4.7 | 78% | 3.3 | 25% |
| 11 | Arnside Cumbria | A− | 1.3 | 65% | 4.1 | 75% |
| 12 | Merlin's Bridge Dyfed | A− | 3.3 | 100% | 2 | 11% |
| 13 | Berrow and Brean Somerset | A− | 3.6 | 75% | 1.7 | 1% |
| 14 | Clare Suffolk | A− | 7.7 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 15 | Newstead Nottinghamshire | B+ | 2.6 | 100% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 16 | Acle Norfolk | B+ | 1.6 | 89% | 3.1 | 43% |
| 17 | Tisbury Wiltshire | B+ | 1.5 | 86% | 2.9 | 100% |
| 18 | Woodford Greater Manchester | B+ | 5.9 | 80% | 2.3 | 5% |
| 19 | Steventon Oxfordshire | B+ | 2 | 100% | 2 | 17% |
| 20 | Bowness-on-Windermere Cumbria | B | 1.7 | 76% | 2.8 | 100% |
| 21 | Crick Northamptonshire | B | 3.8 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 22 | Mayfield East Sussex | B− | 3.3 | 61% | 1.9 | 99% |
| 23 | Loddon Norfolk | B− | 2.4 | 77% | 2.5 | 18% |
| 24 | Park Street and Frogmore Hertfordshire | B− | 4.5 | 63% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 25 | Bickershaw Greater Manchester | B− | 5 | 13% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 26 | Lechlade-on-Thames Gloucestershire | B− | 6.7 | 66% | 1.5 | 6% |
| 27 | Bere Alston Devon | C+ | 1.4 | 64% | 1.3 | 93% |
| 28 | Delph Greater Manchester | C+ | 0.7 | 72% | 3.9 | 17% |
| 29 | Hermitage Berkshire | C+ | 0.6 | 58% | 3.4 | 82% |
| 30 | Boughton under Blean Kent | C+ | 2.7 | 24% | 2.5 | 18% |
| 31 | Cold Ash Berkshire | C+ | 1.5 | 7% | 3.1 | 60% |
| 32 | Berkeley Gloucestershire | C+ | 0.9 | 49% | 2.6 | 3% |
| 33 | Farndon Cheshire | C+ | 1.2 | 82% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 34 | East Bergholt Suffolk | C | 1.9 | 26% | 2.4 | 46% |
| 35 | Bishopsteignton Devon | C | 3 | 62% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 36 | Wickham Market Suffolk | C | 2.5 | 64% | 1.7 | 7% |
| 37 | Caistor Lincolnshire | C | 2.8 | 39% | 1.3 | 33% |
| 38 | Hawkesbury Warwickshire | C | 1 | 78% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 39 | Tatworth Somerset | C | 1.3 | 71% | 1.7 | 44% |
| 40 | Whaddon Wiltshire | C | 2.6 | 55% | 1.3 | 10% |
| 41 | Eye Suffolk | C | 2 | 66% | 3 | 0% |
| 42 | Wateringbury Kent | C− | 2.4 | 73% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 43 | Stoke Prior Worcestershire | C− | 2.6 | 67% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 44 | Coleford Somerset | C− | 1.2 | 51% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 45 | Coltishall and Horstead Norfolk | C− | 2.1 | 57% | 1.3 | 8% |
| 46 | Meriden West Midlands | C− | 1.8 | 70% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 47 | Woldingham Surrey | C− | 0.2 | 25% | 3.1 | 20% |
| 48 | Hatfield Woodhouse South Yorkshire | C− | 0.6 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 49 | St Osyth Essex | C− | 1.5 | 54% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 50 | Scholes (Leeds) West Yorkshire | D | 0 | 0% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 51 | Comberton Cambridgeshire | D | 1.6 | 71% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 52 | Duxford Cambridgeshire | D | 1.7 | 78% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 53 | Bicknacre Essex | D | 1 | 56% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 54 | Kineton Warwickshire | D | 0.2 | 0% | 1.8 | 5% |
| 55 | Great Barford Bedfordshire | D− | 1.4 | 45% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 56 | Leconfield East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 1.6 | 51% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 57 | Bettws Mid Glamorgan | D− | 0.7 | 71% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 58 | Mattishall Norfolk | D− | 1.4 | 58% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 59 | Isleham Cambridgeshire | D− | 0.2 | 71% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Puriton Somerset | D− | 0.1 | 0% | 1.4 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Wateringbury’s built-up area.
7 in 10 Wateringbury 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 600 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 14 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 161 residents.
Kent Downs and High Weald both start about 5 miles from Wateringbury
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 Wateringbury scores 0% on it even though the Kent Downs National Landscape is 3.4 mi away.
4 waymarked walks pass through or near Wateringbury
24 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Wateringbury and the kilometre around it, 2.1 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
2 regional routes pass through, including the Medway Valley Walk and Greensand Way.
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 Wateringbury: 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 | 16.1 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 70 | 54 | 46 | 49 | 49 | 50 | 45 | 60 | 54 | 79 | 80 | 75 |
July is the driest month (45 mm) and the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 80 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 45 nights a year. The climate in Wateringbury →
14 playgrounds and the nearest beaches
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.
The nearest beaches
Wateringbury is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the village.
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
Nature reserves 1
Plus 1 nature reserve without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 14
Plus 14 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 3
Plus 1 campsite without a name on the map.
Slipways 1
Plus 1 slipway 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wateringbury | C− | 2.4 | 73% | 0% |
| Kings Hill 1.4 mi | A− | 2.4 | 100% | 7% |
| Yalding 2.0 mi | C− | 7.1 | 21% | 0% |
| West Malling 3.1 mi | A+ | 8.7 | 100% | 21% |
| East Peckham 3.2 mi | B− | 14.5 | 66% | 1% |
| Larkfield 3.4 mi | A− | 5.6 | 75% | 27% |
| Coxheath 3.8 mi | D | 1.2 | 48% | 0% |
West Malling, 3.1 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Yalding, West Malling and East Peckham have at least twice Wateringbury’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Wateringbury
Is Wateringbury near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Kent Downs National Landscape, 3.4 mi north of the village’s edge. It covers 879 km² and was designated in 1968.
What are the best walks near Wateringbury?
4 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the Medway Valley Walk, Greensand Way and Scenic Green Trail Section 1.
What is the nearest beach to Wateringbury?
The Beach, 8.6 mi from the edge of the village, then Northfleet Beach (15 mi). Wateringbury itself is inland.
How many people in Wateringbury live near a park?
73% 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 Wateringbury?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Wateringbury good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 2.1 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 35% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 57% (2.4 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 Wateringbury’s overall grade.
Where Wateringbury’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.