Newtown’s biggest
Dolerw Park
Park or garden
12 ha (30 acres)1.8 km of path
25 minto walk all 1.8 km of path
17 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Newtown
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Penny Mayes · CC BY-SA 2.0DOutdoors Grade
Outdoors in Newtown · parks, paths & countryside
Parks and walks in Newtown
The Shropshire Hills National Landscape begins 4.6 mi from the town’s edge. 35 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 1.6 for every square kilometre. 65% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Newtown grades D for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
2.3 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
65%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
35 km
1.6 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Shropshire Hills starts 4.6 mi out, past the 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Newtown?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Countryside close byThe Shropshire Hills National Landscape starts 4.6 mi south-east.Few mapped footpaths1.6 km of path per km²; the typical UK town has 3.0.
Newtown’s strongest suit is the Shropshire Hills National Landscape close by. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Outdoors grade
Newtown grades D for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Newtown, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
D
Better than 14% of UK towns#7 of 7 in Powys
Public green space2.3 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
53out of
100
100
A park within a walk65%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
25out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · Shropshire Hills begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths1.6 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
20out 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
How Newtown compares with UK towns of 10,300 to 11,500
The 60 UK towns and cities of 10,300 to 11,500 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
Newtown1.6
Towns its size3.1
Powys towns1.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Newtown2.3
Towns its size1.9
Powys towns2.9
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Newtown65%
Towns its size81%
Powys towns80%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Newtown stands out most for park space per resident: only 21 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 55 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weybourne Surrey | A+ | 7.1 | 86% | 6.1 | 14% |
| 2 | West End Hampshire | A | 9.1 | 100% | 6.1 | 0% |
| 3 | Brierfield Lancashire | A | 2.1 | 92% | 5.6 | 18% |
| 4 | Penryn Cornwall | A | 1.9 | 91% | 2.6 | 31% |
| 5 | Great Harwood Lancashire | A | 2.2 | 97% | 4.3 | 4% |
| 6 | Godalming Surrey | A− | 4.6 | 73% | 3.1 | 66% |
| 7 | Soham Cambridgeshire | A− | 4.7 | 97% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 8 | Platt Bridge and Abram Greater Manchester | A− | 3.7 | 98% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 9 | Royston South Yorkshire | A− | 7.9 | 97% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 10 | Romiley Greater Manchester | A− | 3.9 | 80% | 3.8 | 1% |
| 11 | Southwater West Sussex | A− | 3.4 | 82% | 3.7 | 3% |
| 12 | Sawbridgeworth Hertfordshire | A− | 4 | 85% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 13 | Chadwell St Mary Essex | A− | 3.2 | 97% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 14 | Whitwick Leicestershire | A− | 4.2 | 84% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 15 | Kearsley Greater Manchester | A− | 3.4 | 91% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 16 | Uppermill Greater Manchester | A− | 2.4 | 70% | 4.8 | 27% |
| 17 | Tidworth Wiltshire | B+ | 3.7 | 90% | 2.3 | 8% |
| 18 | Pelsall West Midlands | B+ | 6.1 | 95% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 19 | Ross-on-Wye Herefordshire | B+ | 1.9 | 76% | 3.4 | 56% |
| 20 | Barnoldswick Lancashire | B+ | 1.8 | 87% | 4 | 2% |
| 21 | South Elmsall West Yorkshire | B+ | 9 | 92% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 22 | Cranleigh Surrey | B | 2.5 | 20% | 4.3 | 38% |
| 23 | Corsham Wiltshire | B | 1.9 | 81% | 3 | 31% |
| 24 | Baldock Hertfordshire | B | 2.1 | 91% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 25 | Warmsworth South Yorkshire | B | 2.7 | 79% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 26 | Great Dunmow Essex | B | 2 | 92% | 4 | 0% |
| 27 | Gillingham Dorset | B | 1.9 | 91% | 2.6 | 3% |
| 28 | Sandbach Cheshire | B− | 2.5 | 87% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 29 | Helston Cornwall | B− | 1.3 | 61% | 2.7 | 21% |
| 30 | Monmouth Gwent | B− | 1.5 | 69% | 3.1 | 45% |
| 31 | Mossley Greater Manchester | B− | 0.9 | 74% | 4.5 | 14% |
| 32 | Oswaldtwistle Lancashire | B− | 1.1 | 94% | 4.6 | 0% |
| 33 | Filton Gloucestershire | B− | 3.3 | 40% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 34 | Cambourne Cambridgeshire | B− | 0.7 | 91% | 7.1 | 0% |
| 35 | Baglan West Glamorgan | C+ | 2.5 | 69% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 36 | Liskeard Cornwall | C+ | 0.8 | 89% | 2.7 | 6% |
| 37 | Bolsover Derbyshire | C+ | 1.9 | 85% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 38 | Selsey West Sussex | C | 1.6 | 79% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 39 | Earl Shilton Leicestershire | C | 1.5 | 98% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 40 | Sandy Bedfordshire | C | 0.9 | 76% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 41 | Brimington Derbyshire | C | 1.2 | 72% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 42 | Ulverston Cumbria | C | 0.7 | 60% | 1.8 | 8% |
| 43 | Towcester Northamptonshire | C | 1.3 | 77% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 44 | Epping Essex | C− | 1.2 | 70% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 45 | Attleborough Norfolk | C− | 1.8 | 93% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Hexham Northumberland | C− | 1.5 | 64% | 2 | 9% |
| 47 | Cleveleys Lancashire | C− | 0.8 | 71% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 48 | Downham Market Norfolk | C− | 1.5 | 77% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 49 | Chatteris Cambridgeshire | C− | 1.4 | 94% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 50 | Lutterworth Leicestershire | C− | 1.7 | 83% | 2 | 0% |
| 51 | Cheadle Staffordshire | C− | 1.7 | 90% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 52 | West Moors Dorset | C− | 0.9 | 33% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 53 | New Ollerton and Ollerton Nottinghamshire | C− | 0.8 | 80% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 54 | Dinnington South Yorkshire | C− | 1.1 | 81% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 55 | Leominster Herefordshire | C− | 1.1 | 72% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 56 | Newtown Powys | D | 2.3 | 65% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 57 | Sherborne Dorset | D | 1.2 | 76% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 58 | Longton Lancashire | D | 1.7 | 60% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 59 | Burton Latimer Northamptonshire | D | 0.9 | 62% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Tonyrefail Mid Glamorgan | D− | 0.7 | 48% | 1.1 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Newtown’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 Newtown
The biggest is Dolerw Park, 12 ha (30 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
7 in 10 Newtown 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).
Within 400 m (65%)Further (35%)
Newtown65%
Towns its size81%
Powys towns80%
All UK towns83%
About 3,800 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 12 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 907 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Shropshire Hills 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
National Park
Snowdonia
17 mi north-west2,140 km²since 1951
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Newtown scores 0% on it even though the Shropshire Hills National Landscape is 4.6 mi away. Snowdonia National Park covers 2,140 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Newtown
35 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Newtown and the kilometre around it, 1.6 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
Severn Way (1) Source to Shrewsbury8.9 km
The regional route here is the Severn Way (1) Source to Shrewsbury.
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 Newtown: 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) | 8.2 | 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 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 104 | 89 | 75 | 67 | 67 | 73 | 71 | 75 | 71 | 106 | 106 | 129 |
May is the driest month (67 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 21 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 129 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 55 nights a year. The climate in Newtown →
Things to do
12 playgrounds
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.
Every named place, with directions
Nature reserves 2
Plus 2 nature reserves without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 12
Plus 12 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
Dolau Inn Camping0.7 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.
LlanidloesNewtown
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newtown | D | 2.3 | 65% | 0% |
| Llanidloes 10.2 mi | C | 2.4 | 89% | 0% |
Llanidloes, 10.2 miles away, grades C, the best next door: 89% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Newtown
What is the biggest park in Newtown?
Dolerw Park, 12 ha (30 acres), with 1.8 km of path. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Newtown near a National Park?
Yes. Snowdonia National Park begins 17 mi north-west of the town’s edge. It covers 2,140 km² and has been a National Park since 1951. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the Shropshire Hills National Landscape, 4.6 mi away.
What are the best walks near Newtown?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the Severn Way (1) Source to Shrewsbury.
How many people in Newtown 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 Newtown?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Newtown good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.6 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 20% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 53% (2.3 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 Newtown’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Newtown’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.