Harthill’s biggest
Polkemmet Country Park
Park or garden · 270 m outside town
68 ha (169 acres)9.0 km of path
2 hto walk all 9 km of path
96 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.1 mi eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Richard Webb · CC BY-SA 2.0–Not graded
Outdoors in Harthill · parks, paths & countryside
Almost everyone in Harthill lives within a 5-minute walk of a park
Parks and playing fields in Harthill add up to 5.5 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical town in England and Wales has 2.1. 16 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 1.8 for every square kilometre. Harthill has no Outdoors Grade: Scottish towns aren’t graded on the outdoors yet.
Green space
5.5 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical town in England and Wales 2.1
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical town in England and Wales 83%
Footpaths
16 km
1.8 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
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Harthill’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 Harthill
The biggest is Polkemmet Country Park, 68 ha (169 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
How close Harthill’s homes are to 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 (100%)Further (0%)
Harthill100%
North Lanarkshire towns85%
Towns in England and Wales83%
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 7 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 373 residents.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Footpaths in and around Harthill
16 km of footpaths, tracks and core paths are mapped in Harthill and the kilometre around it, 1.8 km for every square kilometre (the typical town in England and Wales has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Harthill; its footpaths are on the map above.
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.
When to get out
The best walking months in Harthill: June 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) | 7.6 | 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 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 117 | 97 | 88 | 61 | 70 | 72 | 89 | 100 | 85 | 121 | 106 | 110 |
April is the driest month (61 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 121 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 66 nights a year. The climate in Harthill →
Things to do
7 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
Harthill is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Sandy Cove (Old Picnic Spot)16 mi from Harthill’s edge
DirectionsSandy Bays16 mi from Harthill’s edge
DirectionsDrum Sands18 mi from Harthill’s edge
DirectionsNetherlee Stone Beach20 mi from Harthill’s edge
DirectionsRoyston Beach21 mi from Harthill’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
Hills and peaks 2
Greenrigg Bing1.0 mi from town
DirectionsHassock Rigg1.2 mi from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 7
Miners Play Park0.6 mi from town
DirectionsHeartlands Swing Park1.1 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 5 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Next door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
WhitburnFauldhouseArmadaleShottsBlackburnBathgateHarthill
ABCDOutdoors Grade
None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Harthill
What is the biggest park in Harthill?
Polkemmet Country Park, 68 ha (169 acres), with 9 km of path, just outside the locality. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Harthill near a National Park?
No National Park or National Scenic Area is within 30 km (about 19 miles) of Harthill.
What is the nearest beach to Harthill?
Sandy Cove (Old Picnic Spot), 16 mi from the edge of the town, then Sandy Bays (16 mi). Harthill itself is inland.
How many people in Harthill live near a park?
100% 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 Harthill?
June to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
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 Harthill’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Harthill’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.