Photo: David Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0Parks and walks in Scole
51% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. 18 km of footpaths run through the village and the kilometre around it, 2.5 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Scole add up to 2.1 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Scole grades C− for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Scole grades C− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Scole, 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.
Scole is 44th of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,000 to 1,100 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against villages its size, Scole stands out most for path per km²: only 23 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 42 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grove Dorset | A+ | 6 | 100% | 8.7 | 0% |
| 2 | Lizard Cornwall | A+ | 2.3 | 100% | 3.3 | 30% |
| 3 | Uplyme Devon | A+ | 2.4 | 100% | 3 | 61% |
| 4 | Winchelsea Beach East Sussex | A+ | 4.9 | 100% | 1.9 | 45% |
| 5 | East Challow Oxfordshire | A+ | 4.9 | 100% | 3.6 | 44% |
| 6 | Cemaes Gwynedd | A+ | 5 | 100% | 1.3 | 14% |
| 7 | Abingworth West Sussex | A | 6.1 | 100% | 2.7 | 27% |
| 8 | Bellingham Northumberland | A | 8.6 | 100% | 1.8 | 57% |
| 9 | Aberaeron Dyfed | A | 6.1 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 10 | Shorne Kent | A | 28.3 | 23% | 3.4 | 24% |
| 11 | Misterton Somerset | A | 2.5 | 100% | 2.9 | 35% |
| 12 | Godshill Isle of Wight | A | 2.1 | 100% | 2.7 | 53% |
| 13 | Chedgrave Norfolk | A− | 3 | 100% | 1.7 | 26% |
| 14 | Ardleigh Essex | A− | 3.2 | 100% | 1.5 | 21% |
| 15 | Hyde Heath Buckinghamshire | B+ | 5.4 | 68% | 2.1 | 81% |
| 16 | Llangynidr Powys | B+ | 2.4 | 65% | 3.2 | 100% |
| 17 | Loddiswell Devon | B+ | 2.1 | 100% | 1.3 | 53% |
| 18 | Thornwood Common Essex | B+ | 6.1 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 19 | Clyst Honiton Devon | B+ | 8 | 83% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 20 | Morchard Bishop Devon | B | 2.6 | 100% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 21 | Thornton Leicestershire | B | 13.7 | 50% | 4.9 | 0% |
| 22 | Llanymynech Shropshire | B | 2 | 100% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 23 | Minley Hampshire | B− | 5.7 | 0% | 6.5 | 0% |
| 24 | High Shincliffe County Durham | B− | 0.5 | 100% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 25 | King's Bromley Staffordshire | B− | 3.4 | 100% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 26 | Derry Hill and Studley Wiltshire | C+ | 1.2 | 100% | 1.7 | 1% |
| 27 | St Newlyn East Cornwall | C+ | 3 | 100% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 28 | Little Waltham Essex | C+ | 2.3 | 63% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 29 | Warmington Northamptonshire | C | 1.6 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 30 | Bempton East Riding of Yorkshire | C | 0.6 | 100% | 0.2 | 0% |
| 31 | Little Melton Norfolk | C | 4.2 | 72% | 2 | 0% |
| 32 | Hilton Cambridgeshire | C | 6.8 | 70% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 33 | Upper Bucklebury Berkshire | C | 0.1 | 0% | 4 | 48% |
| 34 | Clifton Lancashire | C | 1.8 | 100% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 35 | Elswick Lancashire | C | 1.8 | 100% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 36 | Freethorpe Norfolk | C− | 2.3 | 26% | 0.7 | 61% |
| 37 | Ansley Warwickshire | C− | 1.8 | 64% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 38 | Ewyas Harold Herefordshire | C− | 2.1 | 55% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 39 | Hoylandswaine South Yorkshire | C− | 1.4 | 60% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 40 | Marchwiel Clwyd | C− | 1.1 | 100% | 1 | 0% |
| 41 | Castle Hedingham Essex | C− | 1.7 | 52% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 42 | Swarthmoor Cumbria | C− | 0.2 | 79% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 43 | Surfleet Lincolnshire | C− | 4.2 | 0% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 44 | Scole Norfolk | C− | 2.1 | 51% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 45 | Loxwood West Sussex | D | 0 | 0% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 46 | New Quay Dyfed | D | 1.2 | 30% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 47 | Sutton St James Lincolnshire | D | 0.1 | 100% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 48 | Skidby East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 2.8 | 56% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 49 | Marshland St James Norfolk | D | 3.5 | 0% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 50 | Northop Clwyd | D | 1.6 | 70% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 51 | Hevingham Norfolk | D | 1.8 | 0% | 2 | 0% |
| 52 | Waltham on the Wolds Leicestershire | D | 2 | 23% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 53 | Horsham St Faith Norfolk | D | 0.9 | 52% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 54 | Henham Essex | D | 0 | 0% | 3 | 0% |
| 55 | Sutton Norfolk | D− | 0 | 0% | 1 | 29% |
| 56 | Methwold Norfolk | D− | 1.8 | 61% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 57 | Wawne East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 1 | 0% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 58 | Foulsham Norfolk | D− | 1.4 | 29% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 59 | Wainfleet St Mary Lincolnshire | D− | 0.1 | 0% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 60 | Ranby Nottinghamshire | D− | 0 | 0% | 0.8 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Scole’s built-up area.
5 in 10 Scole 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 500 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
The Broads National Park is 12 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.
The Broads National Park covers 302 km² and has been a National Park since 1989.
3 waymarked walks pass through or near Scole
18 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Scole and the kilometre around it, 2.5 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
3 regional routes pass through, including the Angles Way, Boudicca Way and The Mid Suffolk Footpath.
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 Scole: May to July and 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) | 8.2 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.7 | 16.8 | 16.3 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.7 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 53 | 46 | 44 | 35 | 45 | 50 | 49 | 68 | 48 | 65 | 66 | 56 |
April is the driest month (35 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 68 mm of rain falls in August, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 42 nights a year. The climate in Scole →
2 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
Scole 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
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 2
Plus 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scole | C− | 2.1 | 51% | 0% |
| Diss 1.9 mi | C | 1.5 | 80% | 0% |
| Dickleburgh 2.4 mi | C+ | 1.9 | 100% | 0% |
| Eye 3.1 mi | C | 2.0 | 66% | 0% |
| Roydon (South Norfolk) 3.1 mi | B− | 4.3 | 50% | 0% |
| Stradbroke 6.0 mi | B− | 3.0 | 100% | 0% |
| Harleston 6.5 mi | D− | 0.2 | 42% | 0% |
Stradbroke, 6 miles away, grades B−, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Roydon (South Norfolk) has at least twice Scole’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Scole
Is Scole near a National Park?
Yes. the Broads National Park begins 12 mi north-east of the village’s edge. It covers 302 km² and has been a National Park since 1989.
What are the best walks near Scole?
3 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the Angles Way, Boudicca Way and The Mid Suffolk Footpath.
What is the nearest beach to Scole?
Honolulu Beach, 20 mi from the edge of the village, then The Beach (22 mi). Scole itself is inland.
How many people in Scole live near a park?
51% 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 Scole?
May to July and September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Scole good for walking?
About average for paths: 2.5 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 45% 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 Scole’s overall grade.
Where Scole’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.