Clitheroe’s biggest
Brungerley Park
Park or garden
12 ha (31 acres)3.3 km of path
45 minto walk all 3.3 km of path
17 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.6 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Colin Park · CC BY-SA 2.0AOutdoors Grade
Outdoors in Clitheroe · parks, paths & countryside
59% of the land within 5 km of Clitheroe is National Park or National Landscape
The Forest Of Bowland National Landscape begins 0.4 mi from the town’s edge. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 98% of residents. Parks and playing fields in Clitheroe add up to 3.0 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Clitheroe grades A for the outdoors: #4 of 65 in Lancashire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
3.0 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
98%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
67 km
3.1 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
59%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Forest Of Bowland National Landscape
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Clitheroe?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Protected countryside59% of the land within 5 km is Forest Of Bowland National Landscape.A park on every doorstep98% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.Historic parksClitheroe Castle is a registered historic park (Grade II).
Clitheroe’s strongest suit is protected countryside on the doorstep, followed by parks close to every home.
Outdoors grade
Clitheroe grades A for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Clitheroe, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
A
Better than 93% of UK towns#4 of 65 in Lancashire · 3rd of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space3.0 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
69out of
100
100
A park within a walk98%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
78out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape59%of the land within 5 km
94out of
100
100
Footpaths3.1 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
63out 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
Clitheroe is 3rd of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 15,700 to 17,600 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
Clitheroe3.1
Towns its size3.3
Lancashire towns3.0
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Clitheroe3.0
Towns its size2.3
Lancashire towns2.0
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Clitheroe98%
Towns its size84%
Lancashire towns85%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Clitheroe stands out most for park space per resident: only 19 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prestatyn Clwyd | A+ | 3.3 | 92% | 2.9 | 14% |
| 2 | Dorking Surrey | A | 4.4 | 75% | 7 | 57% |
| 3 | Clitheroe Lancashire | A | 3 | 98% | 3.1 | 59% |
| 4 | Hadfield Derbyshire | A | 2.4 | 91% | 4.5 | 36% |
| 5 | Shiney Row and Penshaw Tyne and Wear | A | 9.6 | 98% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 6 | Bishop's Cleeve Gloucestershire | A | 1.9 | 100% | 3.9 | 35% |
| 7 | Connah's Quay Clwyd | A | 5.8 | 97% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 8 | Bedlington Northumberland | A | 5.1 | 94% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 9 | Bredbury and Woodley Greater Manchester | A | 4.8 | 94% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 10 | Lewes East Sussex | A | 1.9 | 83% | 4.6 | 75% |
| 11 | Porthcawl Mid Glamorgan | A− | 3.5 | 82% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 12 | Euxton Lancashire | A− | 3.7 | 98% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 13 | Worcester Park and Stoneleigh Surrey | B+ | 7.3 | 76% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 14 | South Woodham Ferrers Essex | B+ | 7.8 | 93% | 3 | 0% |
| 15 | Wath upon Dearne South Yorkshire | B+ | 5.5 | 85% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 16 | Weybridge Surrey | B+ | 3.9 | 80% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 17 | Wombwell South Yorkshire | B+ | 2.4 | 92% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 18 | Burnham-on-Sea Somerset | B+ | 2.1 | 79% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 19 | Swanley Kent | B+ | 1.8 | 78% | 4.2 | 20% |
| 20 | Swinton South Yorkshire | B+ | 3 | 97% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 21 | Liversedge West Yorkshire | B+ | 2 | 98% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 22 | Tyldesley Greater Manchester | B | 2.3 | 97% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 23 | Brackley Northamptonshire | B | 2.7 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 24 | Haydock Merseyside | B | 6.8 | 86% | 2.7 | 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 | Haslingden Lancashire | B | 1.8 | 89% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 29 | Cobham Surrey | B | 3.1 | 49% | 4 | 1% |
| 30 | Wimborne Minster Dorset | B | 2.7 | 51% | 3.6 | 17% |
| 31 | Penrith Cumbria | B | 1.6 | 91% | 2.9 | 9% |
| 32 | Bangor Gwynedd | B | 0.9 | 79% | 2.7 | 11% |
| 33 | Wymondham Norfolk | B | 2.8 | 97% | 2.6 | 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 | Knaresborough North Yorkshire | B− | 2.3 | 87% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 39 | Baildon West Yorkshire | B− | 2 | 71% | 7.5 | 0% |
| 40 | Heysham Lancashire | B− | 1.4 | 83% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 41 | Ramsbottom Greater Manchester | C+ | 2.1 | 74% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 42 | South Normanton and Pinxton Derbyshire | C+ | 1.7 | 90% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 43 | Elland West Yorkshire | C+ | 2 | 69% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 44 | Royston Hertfordshire | C+ | 1.3 | 83% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 45 | Aldridge West Midlands | C+ | 3 | 83% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 46 | Bodmin Cornwall | C+ | 1.1 | 87% | 2.4 | 3% |
| 47 | Longfield, New Ash Green and Hartley Kent | C | 1.2 | 54% | 3.3 | 21% |
| 48 | Streetly West Midlands | C | 7.5 | 58% | 2 | 0% |
| 49 | Bourne Lincolnshire | C | 1.3 | 70% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 50 | Ripon North Yorkshire | C | 1 | 75% | 2.4 | 17% |
| 51 | Nailsea Somerset | C | 1.1 | 65% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 52 | Tonypandy Mid Glamorgan | C | 1.5 | 85% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 53 | Maltby South Yorkshire | C− | 1.8 | 78% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 54 | Hale Greater Manchester | C− | 2.4 | 50% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 55 | Stone Staffordshire | C− | 1.5 | 86% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 56 | North Hykeham Lincolnshire | C− | 2.4 | 60% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 57 | Saffron Walden Essex | C− | 1.1 | 63% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 58 | Louth Lincolnshire | C− | 0.6 | 76% | 1.3 | 47% |
| 59 | Oswestry Shropshire | C− | 1.3 | 88% | 2 | 0% |
| 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 Clitheroe’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 Clitheroe
The biggest is Brungerley Park, 12 ha (31 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
All 4 named parks by size: 19 ha (46 acres) and 5 km of path
Parks & gardens 18 haPlay spaces 0.1 ha
The two biggest, Brungerley Park and Primrose Nature Reserve, are 91% of the named green space and carry 4 km of path between them.
Primrose Nature Reserve
Park or garden
4.4 ha (11 acres)0.8 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.8 km of path
6 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Clitheroe
Nature reserve
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Henthorn Park
Park or garden
1.6 ha (4 acres)0.5 km of path
5 minto walk all 0.5 km of path
2 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.4 mi south-westfrom the centre
Playground
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Hawthorne Place
Play space
0.1 ha (0 acres)
0.5 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
Almost everyone in Clitheroe lives 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 (98%)Further (2%)
Clitheroe98%
Towns its size84%
Lancashire towns85%
All UK towns83%
About 300 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 19 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 875 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
National Parks and National Landscapes around Clitheroe
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
Forest Of Bowland
0.4 mi north-west806 km²since 196459% of the land within 5 km
Official site59% of the land within 5 km of Clitheroe is National Park or National Landscape, more than 94% of UK towns. Yorkshire Dales National Park covers 2,185 km² and has been a National Park since 1954.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Clitheroe
67 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Clitheroe and the kilometre around it, 3.1 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
Regional
Ribble Way11.0 km
The regional route here is the Ribble 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 Clitheroe
Historic England’s register of parks and gardens, and the listed buildings and scheduled monuments that stand inside Clitheroe’s named parks.
Registered · Grade IIClitheroe Castle7.5 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 Clitheroe: 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) | 7.9 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.9 | 17.1 | 16.6 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.4 | 7.4 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 121 | 106 | 91 | 66 | 70 | 84 | 99 | 109 | 108 | 124 | 126 | 150 |
April is the driest month (66 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 150 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 39 nights a year. The climate in Clitheroe →
Things to do
2 viewpoints, 19 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.
2Viewpoints3Hills and peaks3× towns its size1Nature reserves19Playgroundsabout the same as towns its size2Campsites
The nearest beaches
Clitheroe is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Treasure Beach8.5 mi from Clitheroe’s edge
DirectionsCar Park Beach19 mi from Clitheroe’s edge
DirectionsCreek Beach North19 mi from Clitheroe’s edge
DirectionsCreek Beach South19 mi from Clitheroe’s edge
DirectionsStone Beach19 mi from Clitheroe’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.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 2
Plus 2 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 3
Crow Hill0.6 mi from town
DirectionsThe Ridge149 m (489 ft) · 0.7 mi from town
DirectionsWarren Hill1.0 mi from town
DirectionsNature reserves 1
Primrose Nature Reserve3.6 ha · in town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 19
Clitheroe Castle Playgroundin town
DirectionsHenthorn Park Playgroundin town
DirectionsPlus 17 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 2
Clitheroe Camping & Caravanning Club0.0 mi from town
DirectionsEdisford Bridge Farm Camping & Caravan Site0.2 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.
WaddingtonBarrowChatburnWhalleySabdenBillingtonClitheroe
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clitheroe | A | 3.0 | 98% | 59% |
| Waddington 1.4 mi | A | 1.8 | 100% | 60% |
| Barrow 2.2 mi | B | 0.5 | 100% | 27% |
| Chatburn 2.3 mi | A− | 1.7 | 100% | 59% |
| Whalley 3.3 mi | B | 1.2 | 88% | 23% |
| Sabden 3.5 mi | A− | 0.8 | 100% | 38% |
| Billington 4.0 mi | C− | 0.5 | 0% | 14% |
Clitheroe grades higher for the outdoors than every neighbour in the table.
Questions about the outdoors in Clitheroe
What is the biggest park in Clitheroe?
Brungerley Park, 12 ha (31 acres), with 3.3 km of path. Primrose Nature Reserve (4.4 ha) is second. 4 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Clitheroe near a National Park?
Yes. Yorkshire Dales National Park begins 10 mi north-east of the town’s edge. It covers 2,185 km² and has been a National Park since 1954. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the Forest Of Bowland National Landscape, 0.4 mi away.
What are the best walks near Clitheroe?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the Ribble Way. Brungerley Park alone has 3.3 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Clitheroe?
Treasure Beach, 8.5 mi from the edge of the town, then Car Park Beach (19 mi). Clitheroe itself is inland.
How many people in Clitheroe live near a park?
98% 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 Clitheroe?
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 Clitheroe are historic?
Clitheroe Castle (Grade II) is on Historic England’s register of parks and gardens.
Is Clitheroe good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.1 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 63% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 69% (3.0 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 Clitheroe’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Clitheroe’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.