Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Bob Harvey · CC BY-SA 2.0Footpaths add up to 86 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 4.6 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Bourne add up to 1.3 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. 70% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Bourne grades C for the outdoors: #15 of 61 in Lincolnshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Bourne’s strongest suit is dense footpaths. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Bourne, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
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.
The 60 UK towns and cities of 16,300 to 18,800 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against towns its size, Bourne stands out most for path per km²: only 7 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 52 of the others do better.
| 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 | Litherland Merseyside | A | 7.3 | 94% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 5 | Clitheroe Lancashire | A | 3 | 98% | 3.1 | 59% |
| 6 | Brixham Devon | A | 3.1 | 76% | 2.5 | 30% |
| 7 | Waltham Abbey Essex | A | 11.9 | 92% | 6.7 | 0% |
| 8 | Shiney Row and Penshaw Tyne and Wear | A | 9.6 | 98% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 9 | Bishop's Cleeve Gloucestershire | A | 1.9 | 100% | 3.9 | 35% |
| 10 | Connah's Quay Clwyd | A | 5.8 | 97% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 11 | Northwich Cheshire | A | 8.8 | 92% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 12 | Clifton Greater Manchester | A | 10 | 92% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 13 | Abbots Langley and Kings Langley Hertfordshire | A | 3.8 | 88% | 3.6 | 3% |
| 14 | Bredbury and Woodley Greater Manchester | A | 4.8 | 94% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 15 | Euxton Lancashire | A− | 3.7 | 98% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 16 | Alton Hampshire | B+ | 2.6 | 82% | 3 | 27% |
| 17 | Wath upon Dearne South Yorkshire | B+ | 5.5 | 85% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 18 | Glossop Derbyshire | B+ | 1.5 | 78% | 4.2 | 60% |
| 19 | Walkden Greater Manchester | B+ | 3.4 | 92% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 20 | Wombwell South Yorkshire | B+ | 2.4 | 92% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 21 | Swanley Kent | B+ | 1.8 | 78% | 4.2 | 20% |
| 22 | Warminster Wiltshire | B+ | 1.7 | 86% | 3 | 44% |
| 23 | Liversedge West Yorkshire | B+ | 2 | 98% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 24 | Westbury Wiltshire | B | 1.4 | 97% | 3.3 | 1% |
| 25 | Amersham Buckinghamshire | B | 1.8 | 62% | 3.7 | 64% |
| 26 | Patchway Gloucestershire | B | 2.5 | 80% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 27 | Cobham Surrey | B | 3.1 | 49% | 4 | 1% |
| 28 | Wimborne Minster Dorset | B | 2.7 | 51% | 3.6 | 17% |
| 29 | Penrith Cumbria | B | 1.6 | 91% | 2.9 | 9% |
| 30 | Bangor Gwynedd | B | 0.9 | 79% | 2.7 | 11% |
| 31 | Wymondham Norfolk | B | 2.8 | 97% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 32 | Shaw Greater Manchester | B | 1.9 | 96% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 33 | Minster (Swale) Kent | B | 2.5 | 89% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 34 | Bramhall Greater Manchester | B− | 4.7 | 71% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 35 | St Ives Cambridgeshire | B− | 1.7 | 95% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 36 | Biddulph Staffordshire | B− | 3.3 | 86% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 37 | Guisborough North Yorkshire | B− | 1.5 | 80% | 2.6 | 35% |
| 38 | Baildon West Yorkshire | B− | 2 | 71% | 7.5 | 0% |
| 39 | Heysham Lancashire | B− | 1.4 | 83% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 40 | Carterton Oxfordshire | B− | 2.1 | 82% | 2 | 13% |
| 41 | Ramsbottom Greater Manchester | C+ | 2.1 | 74% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 42 | Maesteg Mid Glamorgan | C+ | 2 | 94% | 2.5 | 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 | Nantwich Cheshire | C | 2.2 | 86% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 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 | Sleaford Lincolnshire | C | 1.7 | 93% | 2 | 0% |
| 52 | Tonypandy Mid Glamorgan | C | 1.5 | 85% | 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% |
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Bourne’s built-up area.
The biggest is The Well Head Fields, 10 ha (26 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
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 5,200 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 22 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 795 residents.
86 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Bourne and the kilometre around it, 4.6 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Bourne; 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 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) | 8.1 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.8 | 16.8 | 16.4 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.6 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 50 | 39 | 39 | 42 | 45 | 53 | 56 | 56 | 46 | 62 | 57 | 54 |
February is the driest month (39 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 62 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 47 nights a year. The climate in Bourne →
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.
Plus 2 hills and peaks without a name on the map.
Plus 18 playgrounds without a name on the map.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bourne | C | 1.3 | 70% | 0% |
| Thurlby 2.0 mi | D | 1.3 | 54% | 0% |
| Morton 2.4 mi | D | 0.2 | 28% | 0% |
| Baston 3.9 mi | C− | 2.3 | 78% | 0% |
| Langtoft 5.1 mi | C+ | 2.8 | 100% | 0% |
| Market Deeping 6.5 mi | C | 1.5 | 96% | 0% |
| Corby Glen 6.5 mi | D− | 2.0 | 0% | 0% |
Langtoft, 5.1 miles away, grades C+, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Langtoft has at least twice Bourne’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
The Well Head Fields, 10 ha (26 acres), with 3.2 km of path. Linear Park (4.7 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
No National Park or National Landscape is within 30 km (about 19 miles) of Bourne.
70% 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%.
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
For paths, yes: 4.6 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 89% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 22% (1.3 ha per 1,000 residents).
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 Bourne’s overall grade.
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.