Loanhead’s biggest
Loanhead Memorial Park
Park or garden
2.9 ha (7 acres)1.0 km of path
15 minto walk all 1 km of path
4 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Loanhead
1 listed
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: M J Richardson · CC BY-SA 2.0–Not graded
Outdoors in Loanhead · parks, paths & countryside
Parks and walks in Loanhead
86 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 5.6 for every square kilometre. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 66% of residents. Parks and playing fields in Loanhead add up to 1.6 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical town in England and Wales has 2.1. Loanhead has no Outdoors Grade: Scottish towns aren’t graded on the outdoors yet.
Green space
1.6 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical town in England and Wales 2.1
Near a park
66%
of residents within 400 m
Typical town in England and Wales 83%
Footpaths
86 km
5.6 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical town in England and Wales 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Upper Tweeddale National Scenic Area
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Loanhead?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Historic parksMavisbank is a historic garden or designed landscape.Parks can be a walk away34% of residents live more than 400 m from a park or playing field.
Loanhead’s strongest suit is its historic parks. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Loanhead’s locality.
Green space: parks, gardens, playing fields and play spaces, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · Contains OS data © Crown copyright · Scottish Government, NatureScot
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Loanhead
The biggest is Loanhead Memorial Park, 2.9 ha (7 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Burghlee Park
Playing field
5.8 ha (14 acres)0.3 km of path
8 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Loanhead
Directionsto the nearest entrance
King Georges Field
Playing field
1.2 ha (3 acres)
2 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Loanhead
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
7 in 10 Loanhead 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 (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (66%)Further (34%)
Loanhead66%
Midlothian towns95%
Towns in England and Wales83%
About 2,400 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 35 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 200 residents.
National Parks & National Scenic Areas
The Upper Tweeddale National Scenic Area is 14 mi away
Protected landscapes within 30 km, by direction and distance from the edge of the locality; circle size shows each one’s area. National Scenic Areas are Scotland’s finest landscapes, chosen by NatureScot.
National ParkNational Scenic AreaThe 5 km the grade counts
National Scenic Area
Upper Tweeddale
14 mi south128 km²since 1980
Footpaths & waymarked walks
4 waymarked walks pass through or near Loanhead
86 km of footpaths, tracks and core paths are mapped in Loanhead and the kilometre around it, 5.6 km for every square kilometre (the typical town in England and Wales has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
RegionalLocal
Midlothian Core Paths10.8 km
North Esk Way8.2 km
Burdiehouse Burn Valley Park2.5 km
Pentland Way (Alternative)0.6 km
Close to home, the North Esk Way has 8 km of local walk within 2 km of the town. The regional route here is the Midlothian Core Paths.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Scotland has no rights-of-way register: everyone has a right of responsible access to most land, so tracks and councils’ core paths count. Paths are only as complete as the map in each area.
History along the way
A historic garden or designed landscape in Loanhead
Historic Environment Scotland’s Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, and the listed buildings and scheduled monuments that stand inside Loanhead’s named parks.
Registered · Grade Mavisbank3.5 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 Environment Scotland designations.
When to get out
The best walking months in Loanhead: June, July and 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) | 7.6 | 9.5 | 11.6 | 14.1 | 16.3 | 17.5 | 17.0 | 15.0 | 12.6 | 10.3 | 8.1 | 7.0 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 82 | 59 | 67 | 53 | 54 | 77 | 62 | 80 | 63 | 92 | 72 | 78 |
April is the driest month (53 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 92 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 52 nights a year. The climate in Loanhead →
Things to do
2 viewpoints, 35 playgrounds and the nearest beaches
Mapped within 2 km of the town in OpenStreetMap. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
The nearest beaches
Loanhead is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Joppa Shore4.7 mi from Loanhead’s edge
DirectionsPortobello Beach4.7 mi from Loanhead’s edge
DirectionsFisherrow Sands4.8 mi from Loanhead’s edge
DirectionsMusselburgh Sands5.9 mi from Loanhead’s edge
DirectionsEast Sands of Leith6.1 mi from Loanhead’s edge
DirectionsGood to know
Check the water before you swim. SEPA 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.
Waterfalls 3
Plus 3 waterfalls without a name on the map.
Nature reserves 3
Straiton Pond Local Nature Reserve7.1 ha · 0.1 mi from town
DirectionsErraid Wood4.6 ha · 0.9 mi from town
DirectionsBurdiehouse Burn Valley Park Local Nature Reserve29 ha · 1.0 mi from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 2
Plus 2 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 35
Southhouse Square0.7 mi from town
DirectionsKing's Park1.1 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 33 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 2
Morton Hall camping caravaning1.2 mi from town
DirectionsMortonhall Caravan and Camping Park1.2 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.
BonnyriggDanderhallPenicuikDalkeithMayfieldEdinburghLoanhead
ABCDOutdoors Grade
Danderhall and Dalkeith have at least twice Loanhead’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Loanhead
What is the biggest park in Loanhead?
Loanhead Memorial Park, 2.9 ha (7 acres), with 1 km of path. Burghlee Park (5.8 ha) is second. 3 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Loanhead near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Upper Tweeddale National Scenic Area, 14 mi south of the town’s edge. It covers 128 km² and was designated in 1980.
What are the best walks near Loanhead?
4 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Midlothian Core Paths, North Esk Way and Burdiehouse Burn Valley Park.
What is the nearest beach to Loanhead?
Joppa Shore, 4.7 mi from the edge of the town, then Portobello Beach (4.7 mi). Loanhead itself is inland.
How many people in Loanhead live near a park?
66% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical town in England and Wales is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Loanhead?
June, July and September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Which parks in Loanhead are historic?
Mavisbank (Grade ) is on Historic Environment Scotland’s Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes.
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 Scenic Area within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Loanhead’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Loanhead’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 Scenic Areas: Scottish Government and NatureScot boundaries (Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, Cairngorms; the 40 National Scenic Areas), clipped to land, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Footpaths, tracks, core paths, walking routes, beaches and things to do: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License (ODbL), via Geofabrik’s Scotland extract, October 2026.
- Historic gardens, listed buildings and monuments: Historic Environment Scotland designations, 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: NRS Scotland’s Census 2022 output areas.
- Grade: Scottish towns have no Outdoors Grade yet.
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.