Sowerby’s biggest
Thirsk Athletic Sports and Social Club
Playing field · 90 m outside town
3.8 ha (9 acres)
5 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.6 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Gordon Hatton · CC BY-SA 2.0C−Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Sowerby · parks, paths & countryside
77% of Sowerby’s residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
The North York Moors National Park begins 3.8 mi from the town’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Sowerby add up to 1.5 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. 32 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 2.7 for every square kilometre. Sowerby grades C− for the outdoors: #41 of 54 in North Yorkshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
1.5 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
77%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
32 km
2.7 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
North York Moors starts 3.8 mi out, past the 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Sowerby?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Countryside both waysNorth York Moors starts 3.8 mi north-east, Howardian Hills 6.2 mi south-east.Less park per person1.5 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1.
Sowerby’s strongest suit is two protected landscapes close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Outdoors grade
Sowerby grades C− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Sowerby, 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 21% of UK towns#41 of 54 in North Yorkshire · 54th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space1.5 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
28out of
100
100
A park within a walk77%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
41out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · North York Moors begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths2.7 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
50out 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
Sowerby is 54th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 4,600 to 4,900 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
Sowerby2.7
Towns its size2.7
North Yorkshire towns2.0
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Sowerby1.5
Towns its size2.4
North Yorkshire towns1.7
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Sowerby77%
Towns its size80%
North Yorkshire towns80%
All UK towns83%
Sowerby falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 50 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Windermere Cumbria | A+ | 3 | 94% | 3.6 | 100% |
| 2 | Hamble-le-Rice Hampshire | A+ | 12.7 | 67% | 3.6 | 7% |
| 3 | Rownhams and Nursling Hampshire | A+ | 4.9 | 86% | 6.7 | 12% |
| 4 | Marple Bridge Greater Manchester | A | 9.9 | 80% | 4.4 | 13% |
| 5 | Wilford Nottinghamshire | A | 7.7 | 93% | 9.6 | 0% |
| 6 | Huntington Staffordshire | A | 3.7 | 74% | 4.6 | 27% |
| 7 | Carleton Lancashire | A | 3 | 86% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 8 | Rudheath Cheshire | A | 5.5 | 100% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 9 | Writtle Essex | A− | 5.8 | 100% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 10 | Cringleford Norfolk | A− | 1.7 | 94% | 7.4 | 0% |
| 11 | Dersingham Norfolk | A− | 3.1 | 76% | 1.9 | 39% |
| 12 | Brampton South Yorkshire | A− | 4.4 | 100% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 13 | Liss Hampshire | A− | 2.3 | 87% | 2.6 | 98% |
| 14 | Binfield Berkshire | A− | 8.5 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 15 | Saxmundham Suffolk | B+ | 3.3 | 100% | 1.9 | 3% |
| 16 | Hugglescote Leicestershire | B+ | 4.2 | 91% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 17 | Borough Green Kent | B+ | 2.5 | 93% | 1.9 | 50% |
| 18 | Winscombe and Sandford Somerset | B+ | 3.5 | 52% | 3.6 | 38% |
| 19 | Bodicote Oxfordshire | B+ | 10.2 | 86% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 20 | Kings Worthy Hampshire | B+ | 3.9 | 66% | 3 | 23% |
| 21 | Sturry Kent | B+ | 2.7 | 80% | 3.4 | 1% |
| 22 | Callington Cornwall | B | 2.1 | 100% | 1.1 | 21% |
| 23 | Whaley Bridge Derbyshire | B | 1.6 | 44% | 4.3 | 53% |
| 24 | Coedpoeth Clwyd | B | 1.4 | 100% | 1.9 | 24% |
| 25 | Lyneham Wiltshire | B− | 1.5 | 94% | 2.7 | 6% |
| 26 | Lenham and Harrietsham Kent | B− | 1.4 | 88% | 2.4 | 47% |
| 27 | High Lane Greater Manchester | B− | 1.5 | 67% | 4.6 | 12% |
| 28 | Chalfont St Giles Buckinghamshire | B− | 1.8 | 57% | 3.5 | 37% |
| 29 | Kelvedon and Feering Essex | B− | 3.5 | 94% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 30 | Astley Greater Manchester | B− | 3.5 | 78% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 31 | Bromham Bedfordshire | B− | 3.8 | 87% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 32 | Llay Clwyd | B− | 10.6 | 85% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 33 | Handsacre and Armitage Staffordshire | B− | 1.8 | 89% | 2.1 | 12% |
| 34 | Dudley Tyne and Wear | C+ | 2.6 | 69% | 4 | 0% |
| 35 | Bramley Hampshire | C+ | 2.8 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 36 | Dickens Heath West Midlands | C+ | 3.2 | 82% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 37 | Loughor West Glamorgan | C+ | 2.1 | 70% | 1.2 | 6% |
| 38 | Cross Hills North Yorkshire | C+ | 1.9 | 86% | 3 | 0% |
| 39 | Ripponden West Yorkshire | C+ | 2.1 | 75% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 40 | Edwalton Nottinghamshire | C+ | 2.1 | 58% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 41 | Shortstown Bedfordshire | C | 2.4 | 82% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 42 | Datchet Berkshire | C | 8.4 | 72% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 43 | Bowburn County Durham | C | 1.5 | 71% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 44 | Minster (Thanet) Kent | C | 2.3 | 64% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 45 | Makeney Derbyshire | C | 2.1 | 56% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Mynydd Isa Clwyd | C | 0.9 | 87% | 2 | 3% |
| 47 | Winterton Lincolnshire | C | 1.6 | 82% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 48 | Kinver Staffordshire | C | 3.1 | 60% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 49 | Woodhall Spa Lincolnshire | C− | 1.9 | 61% | 3 | 0% |
| 50 | Barton-under-Needwood Staffordshire | C− | 2.3 | 70% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 51 | Preesall and Knott End-on-Sea Lancashire | C− | 0.7 | 69% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 52 | Bricket Wood Hertfordshire | C− | 1.7 | 43% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 53 | Middleton St George County Durham | C− | 1.8 | 94% | 1 | 0% |
| 54 | Sowerby North Yorkshire | C− | 1.5 | 77% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 55 | Bailrigg Lancashire | C− | 0 | 0% | 3.4 | 18% |
| 56 | Stretton Staffordshire | C− | 3.7 | 49% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 57 | Crowland Lincolnshire | C− | 2.8 | 70% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 58 | South Cave East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 1.5 | 43% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 59 | Markfield Leicestershire | D | 0.8 | 63% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 60 | Chilton County Durham | D− | 1.1 | 68% | 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 Sowerby’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 Sowerby
The biggest is Thirsk Athletic Sports and Social Club, 3.8 ha (9 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Castle Garth
Park or garden · 40 m outside town
0.8 ha (2 acres)0.2 km of path
0.5 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
How close Sowerby’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 (77%)Further (23%)
Sowerby77%
Towns its size80%
North Yorkshire towns80%
All UK towns83%
About 1,100 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 10 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 473 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
North York Moors and Howardian Hills both start about 6 miles from Sowerby
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 Sowerby scores 0% on it even though the North York Moors National Park is 3.8 mi away. North York Moors National Park covers 1,441 km² and has been a National Park since 1952.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Sowerby
32 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Sowerby and the kilometre around it, 2.7 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
Regional
Swale Way2.3 km
The regional route here is the Swale Way.
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 Sowerby: May to 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) | 7.9 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 14.0 | 16.0 | 17.2 | 16.7 | 14.9 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.4 | 7.4 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 9 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 52 | 49 | 44 | 52 | 48 | 64 | 62 | 74 | 61 | 69 | 70 | 66 |
March is the driest month (44 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 21 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 74 mm of rain falls in August, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 67 nights a year. The climate in Sowerby →
Things to do
10 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
Sowerby is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Pebble Beach7.8 mi from Sowerby’s edge
DirectionsYork Beach21 mi from Sowerby’s edge
DirectionsSaltburn Sands29 mi from Sowerby’s edge
DirectionsCattersty Sands30 mi from Sowerby’s edge
DirectionsCattersty Sands30 mi from Sowerby’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
Nature reserves 1
Plus 1 nature reserve without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 1
Millgate Picnic Area0.3 mi from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 10
Sowerby playground0.0 mi from town
DirectionsNorby Park0.3 mi from town
DirectionsHolmes play area0.3 mi from town
DirectionsCarlton Miniott Play Park0.8 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 6 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
Carlton Miniott Park (Touring Pitches)1.0 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.
ThirskDishforthRomanbyLeemingNorthallertonLangthorpeSowerby
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sowerby | C− | 1.5 | 77% | 0% |
| Thirsk 0.7 mi | B− | 1.8 | 100% | 0% |
| Dishforth 5.9 mi | D | 2.3 | 68% | 0% |
| Romanby 8.3 mi | B | 3.1 | 100% | 0% |
| Leeming 8.4 mi | C− | 5.0 | 76% | 0% |
| Northallerton 8.6 mi | D | 1.1 | 70% | 0% |
| Langthorpe 8.9 mi | C− | 0.3 | 100% | 0% |
Romanby, 8.3 miles away, grades B, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Romanby and Leeming have at least twice Sowerby’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Sowerby
What is the biggest park in Sowerby?
Thirsk Athletic Sports and Social Club, 3.8 ha (9 acres), just outside the built-up area. Castle Garth (0.8 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Sowerby near a National Park?
Yes. North York Moors National Park begins 3.8 mi north-east of the town’s edge. It covers 1,441 km² and has been a National Park since 1952.
What are the best walks near Sowerby?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the Swale Way.
What is the nearest beach to Sowerby?
Pebble Beach, 7.8 mi from the edge of the town, then York Beach (21 mi). Sowerby itself is inland.
How many people in Sowerby live near a park?
77% 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 Sowerby?
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 Sowerby good for walking?
About average for paths: 2.7 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 50% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 28% (1.5 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 Sowerby’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Sowerby’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.