Pilton’s biggest
Athelstan's Meadow Play Area
Play space
0.1 ha (0 acres)
Centralin the middle of Pilton
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Neil Owen · CC BY-SA 2.0D−Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Pilton · parks, paths & countryside
Parks and walks in Pilton
The Mendip Hills National Landscape begins 3.2 mi from the village’s edge. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 28% of residents. Parks and playing fields in Pilton add up to 1.2 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Pilton grades D− for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
1.2 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
28%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
19 km
1.9 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Mendip Hills starts 3.2 mi out, past the 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors village is Pilton?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Countryside close byThe Mendip Hills National Landscape starts 3.2 mi north-west.Less park per person1.2 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1.
Pilton’s strongest suit is the Mendip Hills National Landscape close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Outdoors grade
Pilton grades D− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Pilton, 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 3% of UK towns
Public green space1.2 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
18out of
100
100
A park within a walk28%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
6out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · Mendip Hills begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths1.9 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
28out 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.
Villages its size
How Pilton compares with UK villages of 1,000 to 1,200
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,000 to 1,200 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
Pilton1.9
Villages its size2.1
Somerset towns3.0
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Pilton1.2
Villages its size2.7
Somerset towns2.0
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Pilton28%
Villages its size71%
Somerset towns83%
All UK towns83%
Pilton falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 48 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Illogan Cornwall | A+ | 3 | 100% | 3.2 | 7% |
| 2 | Polgooth Cornwall | A+ | 7 | 100% | 2 | 13% |
| 3 | Fairlands Surrey | A+ | 2.8 | 100% | 5 | 11% |
| 4 | Chagford Devon | A+ | 4.7 | 100% | 2.5 | 98% |
| 5 | Masham North Yorkshire | A+ | 3.7 | 100% | 3 | 44% |
| 6 | Tolvaddon Cornwall | A | 11.9 | 24% | 4.5 | 9% |
| 7 | Ditchling East Sussex | A | 7.4 | 77% | 4 | 57% |
| 8 | Leigh Kent | A | 3 | 100% | 2.6 | 49% |
| 9 | Moston Cheshire | A | 7.8 | 100% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 10 | Charnock Richard Lancashire | A | 29.8 | 100% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 11 | Barns Green West Sussex | A | 6.6 | 100% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 12 | Horsted Keynes West Sussex | A− | 2.2 | 100% | 2.3 | 83% |
| 13 | Mayfield Staffordshire | A− | 1.9 | 100% | 3.3 | 14% |
| 14 | Grange Moor West Yorkshire | A− | 4.3 | 100% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 15 | Llanddulas Clwyd | B+ | 1.7 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 16 | North Thoresby Lincolnshire | B+ | 3.7 | 100% | 0.8 | 21% |
| 17 | Bethel Gwynedd | B+ | 1.6 | 100% | 1.4 | 10% |
| 18 | Grassington North Yorkshire | B+ | 1.3 | 79% | 4.1 | 100% |
| 19 | South Bents Tyne and Wear | B+ | 4.9 | 62% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 20 | Borth Dyfed | B | 3.1 | 74% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 21 | Upperthong West Yorkshire | B | 1.7 | 65% | 4.7 | 26% |
| 22 | Cropston Leicestershire | B | 3.1 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 23 | Barwick and Stoford Somerset | B | 6.4 | 71% | 2.2 | 5% |
| 24 | Jacobs Well Surrey | B | 1.4 | 77% | 4.7 | 8% |
| 25 | Milborne St Andrew Dorset | B | 3.3 | 71% | 2.1 | 33% |
| 26 | Bedlinog Mid Glamorgan | B | 4.1 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 27 | Goudhurst Kent | B | 1.5 | 100% | 1.2 | 65% |
| 28 | Challock Kent | B− | 3 | 62% | 2 | 88% |
| 29 | Shipham Somerset | B− | 1.2 | 63% | 4 | 55% |
| 30 | Harpur Hill Derbyshire | B− | 3.1 | 31% | 2.3 | 60% |
| 31 | Roydon (South Norfolk) Norfolk | B− | 4.3 | 50% | 4 | 0% |
| 32 | Beaumaris Gwynedd | B− | 2.7 | 30% | 0.8 | 18% |
| 33 | Beeford East Riding of Yorkshire | C+ | 3.9 | 100% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 34 | Easton on the Hill Northamptonshire | C+ | 2.5 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 35 | Castlethorpe Buckinghamshire | C+ | 3.5 | 72% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 36 | Whimple Devon | C+ | 5.2 | 70% | 0.9 | 1% |
| 37 | Brinklow Warwickshire | C+ | 1.7 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 38 | Lower Shiplake Oxfordshire | C+ | 3 | 0% | 2 | 28% |
| 39 | Ashchurch Gloucestershire | C | 2 | 59% | 2.2 | 21% |
| 40 | Bow Street Dyfed | C | 3.1 | 33% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 41 | Woodhouses Greater Manchester | C | 2.6 | 40% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 42 | Bow Devon | C | 1.9 | 100% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 43 | Baldwin's Gate Staffordshire | C− | 1.3 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 44 | Glazebury Cheshire | C− | 5.1 | 58% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 45 | Milverton Somerset | C− | 2.1 | 70% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Beachley Gloucestershire | C− | 0.3 | 0% | 1.2 | 14% |
| 47 | Bildeston Suffolk | C− | 0.5 | 100% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 48 | Farmborough Somerset | C− | 2 | 38% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 49 | Cawston Norfolk | D | 2.7 | 71% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 50 | Broad Oak (Wealden) East Sussex | D | 0.1 | 0% | 1.4 | 96% |
| 51 | Wattstown Mid Glamorgan | D | 3.1 | 26% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 52 | Landrake Cornwall | D | 0.9 | 0% | 0.6 | 38% |
| 53 | Reawla Cornwall | D | 0.2 | 0% | 2 | 3% |
| 54 | Stickney Lincolnshire | D | 2.4 | 0% | 1 | 0% |
| 55 | Berryfield Wiltshire | D− | 0.4 | 53% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 56 | Pilton Somerset | D− | 1.2 | 28% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 57 | Moulton Chapel Lincolnshire | D− | 1.5 | 60% | 0 | 0% |
| 58 | Llanfyllin Powys | D− | 0 | 0% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 59 | Great Horwood Buckinghamshire | D− | 0.8 | 0% | 1 | 0% |
| 60 | Whaplode Lincolnshire | D− | 0.4 | 0% | 0.2 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Pilton’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 Pilton
The biggest is Athelstan's Meadow Play Area, 0.1 ha (0 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
3 in 10 Pilton 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 (28%)Further (73%)
Pilton28%
Villages its size71%
Somerset towns83%
All UK towns83%
About 800 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Mendip Hills National Landscape is 3.2 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 Pilton scores 0% on it even though the Mendip Hills National Landscape is 3.2 mi away.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Pilton
19 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Pilton and the kilometre around it, 1.9 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
Regional
Monarch's Way3.9 km
The regional route here is the Monarch's 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 Pilton: May to July and September
The village’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) | 8.4 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 87 | 65 | 57 | 61 | 63 | 69 | 72 | 85 | 67 | 111 | 104 | 88 |
March is the driest month (57 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 111 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 40 nights a year. The climate in Pilton →
Things to do
2 playgrounds and the nearest beaches
Mapped within 2 km of the village in OpenStreetMap, against the typical UK village its size per resident. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
The nearest beaches
Pilton is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the village.
Berrow Sands18 mi from Pilton’s edge
DirectionsClevedon Beach22 mi from Pilton’s edge
DirectionsLadye Bay23 mi from Pilton’s edge
DirectionsSugar Loaf Beach24 mi from Pilton’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.
Up high. Knowle Hill, at 148 m, is the highest named top within 2 km of Pilton.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 1
Glastonbury Stone Circle1.0 mi from town
DirectionsHills and peaks 1
Knowle Hill148 m (486 ft) · 0.8 mi from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 2
Plus 2 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.
Shepton MalletEvercreechWellsGlastonburyCastle CaryBrutonPilton
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilton | D− | 1.2 | 28% | 0% |
| Shepton Mallet 2.3 mi | C | 1.2 | 70% | 1% |
| Evercreech 3.6 mi | B | 3.5 | 100% | 0% |
| Wells 4.1 mi | B− | 1.7 | 65% | 26% |
| Glastonbury 5.7 mi | C− | 2.0 | 69% | 0% |
| Castle Cary 6.0 mi | B− | 2.2 | 91% | 0% |
| Bruton 6.9 mi | A | 9.3 | 100% | 1% |
Bruton, 6.9 miles away, grades A, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Evercreech and Bruton have at least twice Pilton’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Pilton
What is the biggest park in Pilton?
Athelstan's Meadow Play Area, 0.1 ha (0 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the village or within 400 m of it.
Is Pilton near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Mendip Hills National Landscape, 3.2 mi north-west of the village’s edge. It covers 198 km² and was designated in 1989.
What are the best walks near Pilton?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the village, including the Monarch's Way.
What is the nearest beach to Pilton?
Berrow Sands, 18 mi from the edge of the village, then Clevedon Beach (22 mi). Pilton itself is inland.
How many people in Pilton live near a park?
28% 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 Pilton?
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 Pilton good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.9 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 28% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 18% (1.2 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 Pilton’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Pilton’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.