Photo: Geographer · CC BY-SA 2.0Parks and walks in Hethersett
The Broads National Park begins 4.3 mi from the town’s edge. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 65% of residents. Footpaths add up to 41 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 2.9 for every square kilometre. Hethersett grades C for the outdoors: #35 of 51 in Norfolk. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors town is Hethersett?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Hethersett’s strongest suit is the Broads National Park close by. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Hethersett grades C for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Hethersett, 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.
Hethersett is 51st of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 6,700 to 7,300 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Hethersett falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 46 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheringham Norfolk | A+ | 11.6 | 74% | 3.4 | 32% |
| 2 | Acrefair and Cefn-mawr Clwyd | A | 6.5 | 96% | 2.9 | 36% |
| 3 | Stocksbridge South Yorkshire | A | 2.2 | 100% | 4.4 | 30% |
| 4 | Anstey Leicestershire | A | 12.9 | 100% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 5 | Liphook Hampshire | A | 3.1 | 86% | 3.8 | 64% |
| 6 | Bishop's Waltham Hampshire | A | 2.6 | 93% | 3.4 | 55% |
| 7 | East Boldon and West Boldon Tyne and Wear | A | 3.4 | 96% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 8 | Ibstock Leicestershire | A | 8.5 | 96% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 9 | Bourne End Buckinghamshire | A | 2.9 | 87% | 4 | 19% |
| 10 | Barton on Sea Hampshire | A | 4.9 | 50% | 2.8 | 22% |
| 11 | Gwersyllt Clwyd | A | 14.6 | 96% | 2.5 | 2% |
| 12 | Ashley Heath Dorset | A | 24.2 | 68% | 4 | 15% |
| 13 | Darfield South Yorkshire | A | 4 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 14 | Easington County Durham | A− | 5 | 94% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 15 | Walton-on-the-Naze Essex | A− | 3.2 | 96% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 16 | Horden County Durham | A− | 2.1 | 82% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 17 | Shiremoor Tyne and Wear | A− | 2.5 | 76% | 5.3 | 0% |
| 18 | Torpoint Cornwall | A− | 2.2 | 84% | 1.6 | 26% |
| 19 | Blackwater Hampshire | B+ | 10.6 | 74% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 20 | Chinnor Oxfordshire | B+ | 1.5 | 88% | 3.7 | 37% |
| 21 | Kiveton Park South Yorkshire | B+ | 2.8 | 100% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 22 | Fence Houses Tyne and Wear | B+ | 3.8 | 81% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 23 | Skelton (Redcar and Cleveland) North Yorkshire | B+ | 1.7 | 82% | 2.2 | 9% |
| 24 | Burley in Wharfedale West Yorkshire | B | 1.6 | 81% | 3.5 | 35% |
| 25 | Malmesbury Wiltshire | B | 2 | 86% | 2.5 | 26% |
| 26 | Wroughton Wiltshire | B | 1.1 | 78% | 3.9 | 52% |
| 27 | Chapel-en-le-Frith Derbyshire | B− | 1 | 75% | 3.8 | 58% |
| 28 | Woodville Derbyshire | B− | 3.7 | 78% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 29 | Barrow upon Soar Leicestershire | B− | 2.7 | 89% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 30 | Balsall Common West Midlands | B− | 3.7 | 81% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 31 | Cranfield Bedfordshire | B− | 2.3 | 72% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 32 | Borrowash Derbyshire | B− | 2.8 | 85% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 33 | Bollington Cheshire | B− | 1.3 | 56% | 4.1 | 31% |
| 34 | Blackheath West Midlands | C+ | 2.5 | 57% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 35 | Allerton Bywater West Yorkshire | C+ | 2.1 | 78% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 36 | North Baddesley Hampshire | C+ | 1.7 | 91% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 37 | Chipping Norton Oxfordshire | C+ | 1.5 | 67% | 2.4 | 73% |
| 38 | Poringland Norfolk | C+ | 1.3 | 91% | 2.1 | 5% |
| 39 | Murton County Durham | C+ | 2.1 | 54% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 40 | West Mersea Essex | C+ | 1.9 | 69% | 2 | 0% |
| 41 | Thrapston Northamptonshire | C | 1.2 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 42 | Radcliffe on Trent Nottinghamshire | C | 2.5 | 76% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 43 | Hattersley Greater Manchester | C | 0.9 | 52% | 3.9 | 7% |
| 44 | Sawston Cambridgeshire | C | 1.4 | 97% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 45 | Waddington Lincolnshire | C | 2.3 | 87% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 46 | Hagley Worcestershire | C | 1.7 | 90% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 47 | Crewkerne Somerset | C | 0.5 | 66% | 2.8 | 21% |
| 48 | Rhoose South Glamorgan | C | 2 | 43% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 49 | Great Wakering Essex | C | 1.1 | 47% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 50 | Aylsham Norfolk | C | 2.6 | 74% | 2 | 0% |
| 51 | Hethersett Norfolk | C | 2.1 | 65% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 52 | Market Warsop Nottinghamshire | C | 2.1 | 67% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 53 | Hollywood Worcestershire | C− | 2.4 | 54% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 54 | Pickering North Yorkshire | C− | 1.7 | 39% | 1.7 | 19% |
| 55 | Wellesbourne Warwickshire | D | 1.1 | 88% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 56 | Deeping St James Lincolnshire | D | 0.5 | 73% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 57 | Keyworth Nottinghamshire | D− | 1.3 | 58% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 58 | Blythe Bridge and Forsbrook Staffordshire | D− | 1.6 | 49% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 59 | Featherstone Staffordshire | D− | 1.2 | 52% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 60 | Albrighton Shropshire | D− | 0.8 | 32% | 1 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Hethersett’s built-up area.
7 in 10 Hethersett 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 2,400 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 25 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 281 residents.
The Broads National Park is 4.3 mi away
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 Hethersett scores 0% on it even though the Broads National Park is 4.3 mi away. The Broads National Park covers 302 km² and has been a National Park since 1989.
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Hethersett
41 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Hethersett and the kilometre around it, 2.9 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
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 Hethersett: 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) | 8.1 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.7 | 16.8 | 16.4 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.7 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 55 | 48 | 48 | 40 | 47 | 64 | 58 | 64 | 57 | 69 | 69 | 63 |
April is the driest month (40 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 69 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 41 nights a year. The climate in Hethersett →
25 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
Hethersett is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
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
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 25
Plus 25 playgrounds 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hethersett | C | 2.1 | 65% | 0% |
| Little Melton 1.0 mi | C | 4.2 | 72% | 0% |
| Cringleford 2.5 mi | A− | 1.7 | 94% | 0% |
| Wymondham 2.9 mi | B | 2.8 | 97% | 0% |
| Easton 3.5 mi | D− | 1.0 | 0% | 0% |
| Mulbarton 4.1 mi | A− | 7.0 | 100% | 0% |
| Costessey 4.2 mi | C− | 1.8 | 12% | 0% |
Mulbarton, 4.1 miles away, grades A−, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Little Melton and Mulbarton have at least twice Hethersett’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Hethersett
Is Hethersett near a National Park?
Yes. the Broads National Park begins 4.3 mi north-east of the town’s edge. It covers 302 km² and has been a National Park since 1989.
What are the best walks near Hethersett?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the Ladybelt Ice and Ponds.
What is the nearest beach to Hethersett?
Corton Sands, 24 mi from the edge of the town, then Corton Beach (24 mi). Hethersett itself is inland.
How many people in Hethersett live near a park?
65% 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 Hethersett?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Hethersett good for walking?
About average for paths: 2.9 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 57% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 48% (2.1 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 Hethersett’s overall grade.
Where Hethersett’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.