Bedale’s biggest
Dobsons Field
Playing field · 70 m outside town
4.1 ha (10 acres)
6 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Bedale
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Chris Heaton · CC BY-SA 2.0COutdoors Grade
Outdoors in Bedale · parks, paths & countryside
78% of Bedale’s residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
The Nidderdale National Landscape begins 4.6 mi from the town’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Bedale add up to 3.6 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. 13 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 1.4 for every square kilometre. Bedale grades C for the outdoors: #37 of 54 in North Yorkshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
3.6 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
78%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
13 km
1.4 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Nidderdale starts 4.6 mi out, past the 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Bedale?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Room to roam3.6 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 77% of UK towns.Countryside close byThe Nidderdale National Landscape starts 4.6 mi south-west.Few mapped footpaths1.4 km of path per km²; the typical UK town has 3.0.
Bedale’s strongest suit is plenty of park space, followed by the Nidderdale National Landscape close by. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Outdoors grade
Bedale grades C for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Bedale, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
C
Better than 28% of UK towns#37 of 54 in North Yorkshire · 36th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space3.6 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
78out of
100
100
A park within a walk78%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
43out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · Nidderdale begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths1.4 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
15out of
100
100
The sea0%of the area within 5 km · Inland
42out of
100
100
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.
Towns its size
Bedale is 36th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 3,100 to 3,500 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Outdoors score: the share of UK towns each one beats
Footpath, km per km²
Bedale1.4
Towns its size2.4
North Yorkshire towns2.0
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Bedale3.6
Towns its size1.7
North Yorkshire towns1.7
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Bedale78%
Towns its size74%
North Yorkshire towns80%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Bedale stands out most for park space per resident: only 8 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 48 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bakewell Derbyshire | A | 5.5 | 91% | 2.7 | 98% |
| 2 | Bignall End Staffordshire | A | 9.1 | 100% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 3 | Broadwell and Coalway Gloucestershire | A | 2.8 | 72% | 5.5 | 38% |
| 4 | Moira Leicestershire | A | 15.5 | 86% | 5.1 | 0% |
| 5 | Neyland Dyfed | A− | 3 | 93% | 1.2 | 13% |
| 6 | Birdwell South Yorkshire | A− | 3.6 | 90% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 7 | North Petherton Somerset | B+ | 3.8 | 91% | 2.3 | 5% |
| 8 | Addingham West Yorkshire | B+ | 1.8 | 93% | 3 | 32% |
| 9 | Newlyn Cornwall | B+ | 1.5 | 67% | 3.2 | 24% |
| 10 | St Agnes Cornwall | B+ | 1 | 81% | 3 | 5% |
| 11 | Mickletown West Yorkshire | B+ | 3.3 | 93% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 12 | Elton Cheshire | B | 1.9 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 13 | Madeley Staffordshire | B | 3.8 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 14 | Walton West Yorkshire | B | 12.3 | 78% | 3 | 0% |
| 15 | Treeton South Yorkshire | B | 4.4 | 63% | 5.3 | 0% |
| 16 | Fishbourne West Sussex | B | 1.9 | 38% | 2.5 | 47% |
| 17 | Westerham Kent | B | 1.9 | 61% | 3.5 | 66% |
| 18 | Fernhill Heath Worcestershire | B | 3.2 | 88% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 19 | Caddington Bedfordshire | B | 1.3 | 81% | 3.6 | 33% |
| 20 | Hemingford Grey Cambridgeshire | B | 1.9 | 100% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 21 | Ringmer East Sussex | B− | 1.9 | 91% | 1.8 | 37% |
| 22 | Istead Rise Kent | B− | 1.9 | 82% | 2.7 | 15% |
| 23 | Pangbourne Berkshire | B− | 2.9 | 61% | 2 | 85% |
| 24 | Dunton Green Kent | B− | 1 | 82% | 2.7 | 69% |
| 25 | Stalham Norfolk | B− | 1.9 | 85% | 2 | 23% |
| 26 | Healing Lincolnshire | B− | 2 | 78% | 1.3 | 1% |
| 27 | Highley Shropshire | C+ | 3.4 | 73% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 28 | Pegswood Northumberland | C+ | 1.3 | 100% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 29 | Milborne Port Somerset | C+ | 1.6 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 30 | Leadgate County Durham | C+ | 1.5 | 91% | 1.9 | 1% |
| 31 | West Bergholt Essex | C | 1.5 | 82% | 1.8 | 9% |
| 32 | Marlow Bottom Buckinghamshire | C | 0.5 | 40% | 3.4 | 50% |
| 33 | Ashburton Devon | C | 1.7 | 74% | 1 | 60% |
| 34 | Somersham Cambridgeshire | C | 2.7 | 81% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 35 | Earls Colne Essex | C | 1.4 | 91% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 36 | Bedale North Yorkshire | C | 3.6 | 78% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 37 | Adderbury and Twyford Oxfordshire | C | 1.7 | 89% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 38 | Laceby Lincolnshire | C | 1.6 | 64% | 2.1 | 18% |
| 39 | Eastchurch Kent | C | 1.9 | 72% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 40 | Sapcote Leicestershire | C− | 2.4 | 67% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 41 | Appleby-in-Westmorland Cumbria | C− | 1.2 | 63% | 2.1 | 24% |
| 42 | Bishopthorpe North Yorkshire | C− | 3.2 | 51% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 43 | Yarnton Oxfordshire | C− | 0.4 | 69% | 3 | 0% |
| 44 | Farnsfield Nottinghamshire | C− | 2 | 63% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 45 | Purton Wiltshire | C− | 0.8 | 60% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 46 | Rendlesham Suffolk | C− | 0.8 | 52% | 1.6 | 59% |
| 47 | Astwood Bank Worcestershire | C− | 0.9 | 79% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 48 | Talbot Green Mid Glamorgan | D | 0.7 | 66% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 49 | Messingham Lincolnshire | D | 3.4 | 46% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 50 | Eglwys-Brewis South Glamorgan | D | 0.3 | 0% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 51 | Iver Buckinghamshire | D | 1.3 | 60% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 52 | Tarporley Cheshire | D | 1 | 69% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 53 | Eccleshall Staffordshire | D | 1.1 | 74% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 54 | Heckington Lincolnshire | D | 1.4 | 68% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 55 | New Tredegar Gwent | D− | 1.4 | 68% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 56 | Headcorn Kent | D− | 1.6 | 48% | 1 | 0% |
| 57 | Dunnington North Yorkshire | D− | 0.8 | 44% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 58 | Upper Tean Staffordshire | D− | 0.6 | 60% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 59 | Donington Lincolnshire | D− | 0.8 | 54% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Bawtry South Yorkshire | D− | 0.5 | 49% | 1 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Bedale’s built-up area.
Green space: parks, gardens, playing fields and play spaces, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · Contains OS data © Crown copyright · Natural England / NRW
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Bedale
The biggest is Dobsons Field, 4.1 ha (10 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
How close Bedale’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 (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (78%)Further (22%)
Bedale78%
Towns its size74%
North Yorkshire towns80%
All UK towns83%
About 700 people live further than that. 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 470 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Nidderdale National Landscape is 4.6 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.
National ParkNational LandscapeThe 5 km the grade counts
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Bedale scores 0% on it even though the Nidderdale National Landscape is 4.6 mi away. Yorkshire Dales National Park covers 2,185 km² and has been a National Park since 1954.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Footpaths in and around Bedale
13 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Bedale and the kilometre around it, 1.4 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Bedale; 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.
When to get out
The best walking months in Bedale: 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) | 7.9 | 9.6 | 11.7 | 14.0 | 16.0 | 17.2 | 16.7 | 14.9 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.4 | 7.3 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 57 | 48 | 42 | 47 | 44 | 60 | 57 | 65 | 58 | 65 | 66 | 62 |
March is the driest month (42 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 21 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 66 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 53 nights a year. The climate in Bedale →
Things to do
7 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
Bedale is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Pebble Beach9.1 mi from Bedale’s edge
DirectionsYork Beach30 mi from Bedale’s edge
DirectionsCoatham Sands30 mi from Bedale’s edge
DirectionsMarske Sands31 mi from Bedale’s edge
DirectionsSaltburn Sands32 mi from Bedale’s edge
DirectionsGood to know
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
Playgrounds 7
Aiskew Park and Recreation Field0.3 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 6 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 2
Bedale Camping & Caravan Park0.0 mi from town
DirectionsBedale Camping & Caravan Park (C&CC CS)0.1 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.
AiskewLeeming BarLeemingMashamCatterickRomanbyBedale
ABCDOutdoors Grade
Masham, 5.3 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Bedale
What is the biggest park in Bedale?
Dobsons Field, 4.1 ha (10 acres), just outside the built-up area. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Bedale near a National Park?
Yes. Yorkshire Dales National Park begins 6.6 mi west of the town’s edge. It covers 2,185 km² and has been a National Park since 1954. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the Nidderdale National Landscape, 4.6 mi away.
What is the nearest beach to Bedale?
Pebble Beach, 9.1 mi from the edge of the town, then York Beach (30 mi). Bedale itself is inland.
How many people in Bedale live near a park?
78% 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 Bedale?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Bedale good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.4 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 15% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 78% (3.6 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 Bedale’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Bedale’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.