Ystradgynlais’ biggest
Parc yr Orsedd
Park or garden
0.5 ha (1 acres)0.4 km of path
0.4 mi south-westfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Sardis Independent Chapel and attached schoolroom · Photo: Geni · CC BY-SA 4.0C+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Ystradgynlais · parks, paths & countryside
36% of the land within 5 km of Ystradgynlais is National Park or National Landscape
The Brecon Beacons National Park reaches the edge of Ystradgynlais. Footpaths add up to 18 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 1.2 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Ystradgynlais add up to 2.5 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Ystradgynlais grades C+ for the outdoors: #5 of 7 in Powys. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
2.5 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
78%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
18 km
1.2 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
36%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Brecon Beacons National Park
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Ystradgynlais?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Protected countryside36% of the land within 5 km is Brecon Beacons National Park.Few mapped footpaths1.2 km of path per km²; the typical UK town has 3.0.
Ystradgynlais’ strongest suit is protected countryside on the doorstep. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Outdoors grade
Ystradgynlais grades C+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Ystradgynlais, 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 44% of UK towns#5 of 7 in Powys · 31st of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space2.5 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
60out of
100
100
A park within a walk78%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
44out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape36%of the land within 5 km
86out of
100
100
Footpaths1.2 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
11out 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
Ystradgynlais is 31st of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 3,900 to 4,200 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
Ystradgynlais1.2
Towns its size2.7
Powys towns1.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Ystradgynlais2.5
Towns its size2.0
Powys towns2.9
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Ystradgynlais78%
Towns its size83%
Powys towns80%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Ystradgynlais stands out most for park space per resident: only 20 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 51 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hextable Kent | A+ | 6.7 | 100% | 5.1 | 9% |
| 2 | Darley Dale Derbyshire | A+ | 3.8 | 100% | 3.4 | 51% |
| 3 | Southbourne West Sussex | A | 1.3 | 92% | 3.3 | 64% |
| 4 | Pitstone Buckinghamshire | A | 1.6 | 100% | 4.2 | 40% |
| 5 | Cranbrook Kent | A | 5.8 | 82% | 2.9 | 65% |
| 6 | Tenby Dyfed | A | 2.1 | 88% | 2.5 | 21% |
| 7 | Chickerell Dorset | A | 1.5 | 88% | 3 | 27% |
| 8 | Bisley Surrey | A | 8 | 92% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 9 | Milton Cambridgeshire | A | 10.4 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 10 | Holt Norfolk | A | 8.5 | 84% | 2.4 | 40% |
| 11 | Old Sarum Wiltshire | A | 4.6 | 100% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 12 | Bowerhill Wiltshire | A− | 7.4 | 100% | 3 | 0% |
| 13 | Prestbury Gloucestershire | A− | 1.6 | 80% | 5.3 | 51% |
| 14 | Bearwood Dorset | B+ | 2.5 | 100% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 15 | Carbis Bay Cornwall | B+ | 0.5 | 88% | 2.8 | 20% |
| 16 | Cheddleton Staffordshire | B+ | 3.5 | 88% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 17 | Chirk Clwyd | B+ | 1.8 | 100% | 2.3 | 15% |
| 18 | Queenborough Kent | B | 1.6 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 19 | Tangmere West Sussex | B | 2.1 | 100% | 1.2 | 36% |
| 20 | Stoke Poges Buckinghamshire | B | 7.7 | 76% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 21 | Pirbright Surrey | B | 2 | 84% | 5.7 | 0% |
| 22 | Grange-over-Sands Cumbria | B | 1.5 | 46% | 2.6 | 40% |
| 23 | Calverley West Yorkshire | B | 1.5 | 92% | 6 | 0% |
| 24 | Saltford Somerset | B | 1.6 | 75% | 3.6 | 24% |
| 25 | Little Paxton Cambridgeshire | B− | 2.8 | 87% | 3 | 0% |
| 26 | Tumble Dyfed | B− | 19.5 | 93% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 27 | Stoney Stanton Leicestershire | B− | 2.5 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 28 | Martock Somerset | B− | 2.9 | 85% | 3 | 0% |
| 29 | South Cerney Gloucestershire | B− | 2.5 | 77% | 2.4 | 7% |
| 30 | Lower Stondon Bedfordshire | B− | 2.7 | 73% | 2.2 | 5% |
| 31 | Ystradgynlais Powys | C+ | 2.5 | 78% | 1.2 | 36% |
| 32 | Send Surrey | C+ | 2.6 | 28% | 3.3 | 5% |
| 33 | Chipping Ongar Essex | C+ | 2.5 | 83% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 34 | Thorpe Hesley South Yorkshire | C+ | 1.8 | 80% | 4 | 0% |
| 35 | Heacham Norfolk | C+ | 1.5 | 53% | 1.1 | 29% |
| 36 | Holmfield West Yorkshire | C+ | 2.8 | 74% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 37 | Shirland and Stonebroom Derbyshire | C | 3.7 | 43% | 3 | 0% |
| 38 | Kirkburton West Yorkshire | C | 1.4 | 86% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 39 | South Darenth and Sutton at Hone Kent | C | 1.8 | 43% | 2.7 | 10% |
| 40 | Silver End Essex | C | 2 | 88% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 41 | Brayton North Yorkshire | C | 0.8 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 42 | Langley Park County Durham | C | 0.8 | 84% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 43 | Tenbury Wells Worcestershire | C | 2.3 | 51% | 2.1 | 3% |
| 44 | Deanshanger Northamptonshire | C | 1.5 | 93% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 45 | Oaklands Hertfordshire | C | 2 | 7% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 46 | Wynyard County Durham | C | 10.7 | 64% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 47 | Beck Row Suffolk | C | 5.3 | 76% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 48 | Great Glen Leicestershire | C | 1.4 | 91% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 49 | Whiston South Yorkshire | C− | 1 | 75% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 50 | Brookmans Park Hertfordshire | C− | 2.5 | 43% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 51 | Swanland East Riding of Yorkshire | C− | 1.1 | 75% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 52 | Glyn-neath West Glamorgan | D | 1.3 | 57% | 1.1 | 22% |
| 53 | Crowle Lincolnshire | D | 1.3 | 91% | 1 | 0% |
| 54 | Doddinghurst Essex | D | 1.6 | 60% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 55 | Middleton Cheney Northamptonshire | D | 0.9 | 70% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 56 | Sutton Bridge Lincolnshire | D | 1.3 | 79% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 57 | North Ferriby East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 0.6 | 33% | 1 | 0% |
| 58 | Gnosall Staffordshire | D | 1.2 | 42% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 59 | Cricklade Wiltshire | D | 0.3 | 9% | 3 | 0% |
| 60 | Little Eriswell Suffolk | D− | 0.1 | 0% | 1.5 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Ystradgynlais’ 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 Ystradgynlais
The biggest is Parc yr Orsedd, 0.5 ha (1 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
8 in 10 Ystradgynlais 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 (78%)Further (22%)
Ystradgynlais78%
Towns its size83%
Powys towns80%
All UK towns83%
About 900 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 15 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 269 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
National Parks and National Landscapes around Ystradgynlais
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
Brecon Beacons
At the edge north1,350 km²since 195536% of the land within 5 km
National Landscape
Gower
15 mi south-west187 km²since 1956
36% of the land within 5 km of Ystradgynlais is National Park or National Landscape, more than 86% of UK towns. Brecon Beacons National Park covers 1,350 km² and has been a National Park since 1955.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Footpaths in and around Ystradgynlais
18 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Ystradgynlais and the kilometre around it, 1.2 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Ystradgynlais; 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 Ystradgynlais: 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) | 8.3 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.6 | 16.7 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.7 | 7.8 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 214 | 161 | 137 | 108 | 108 | 114 | 128 | 154 | 147 | 216 | 208 | 228 |
April is the driest month (108 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 228 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 38 nights a year. The climate in Ystradgynlais →
Things to do
15 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
Ystradgynlais is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Aberavon Beach12 mi from Ystradgynlais’ edge
DirectionsABCC Meeting Point13 mi from Ystradgynlais’ edge
DirectionsMargam Sands14 mi from Ystradgynlais’ edge
DirectionsSwansea Beach15 mi from Ystradgynlais’ edge
DirectionsSwansea Bay15 mi from Ystradgynlais’ edge
DirectionsGood to know
Check the water before you swim. Natural Resources Wales tests designated bathing waters from May to September and publishes a rating for each beach.
Up high. Bryn Llechwen, at 283 m, is the highest named top within 2 km of Ystradgynlais.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 4
Bryn Llechwen283 m (928 ft) · 1.0 mi from town
DirectionsMynydd Y Drum330 m (1,083 ft) · 1.1 mi from town
DirectionsFarteg Hill352 m (1,155 ft) · 1.2 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 1 peak without a name on the map.
Nature reserves 2
Ystradfawr Nature Reserve40 ha · 0.2 mi from town
DirectionsWern Plemys Nature Reserve6.3 ha · 0.2 mi from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 15
Plus 15 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.
YstalyferaSeven SistersCwmllynfell and YstradowenCreunantGwaun-Cae-GurwenBrynammanYstradgynlais
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ystradgynlais | C+ | 2.5 | 78% | 36% |
| Ystalyfera 1.9 mi | C+ | 2.6 | 84% | 15% |
| Seven Sisters 2.0 mi | B | 7.0 | 82% | 19% |
| Cwmllynfell and Ystradowen 3.1 mi | B | 4.1 | 79% | 40% |
| Creunant 3.5 mi | C− | 1.7 | 79% | 0% |
| Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen 5.4 mi | C− | 1.1 | 80% | 26% |
| Brynamman 5.4 mi | B | 1.7 | 100% | 51% |
Seven Sisters, 2 miles away, grades B, the best next door: 82% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Seven Sisters has at least twice Ystradgynlais’ green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Ystradgynlais
What is the biggest park in Ystradgynlais?
Parc yr Orsedd, 0.5 ha (1 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Ystradgynlais near a National Park?
Brecon Beacons National Park reaches the edge of Ystradgynlais. It covers 1,350 km² and has been a National Park since 1955.
What is the nearest beach to Ystradgynlais?
Aberavon Beach, 12 mi from the edge of the town, then ABCC Meeting Point (13 mi). Ystradgynlais itself is inland.
How many people in Ystradgynlais 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 Ystradgynlais?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Ystradgynlais good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.2 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 11% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 60% (2.5 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 Ystradgynlais’ overall grade.
Sources
Where Ystradgynlais’ 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.