Photo: Timkevan · Public domainPorlock is inside Exmoor National Park
56 km of footpaths run through the village and the kilometre around it, 5.2 for every square kilometre. The sea makes up 30% of the area within 5 km. Porlock grades A+ for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors village is Porlock?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Porlock’s strongest suit is a protected landscape all round, followed by dense footpaths.
Porlock grades A+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Porlock, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
100
100
100
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.
Porlock is 1st of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,100 to 1,200 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against villages its size, Porlock stands out most for path per km²: only 1 of the other 59 has more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porlock Somerset | A+ | 2.9 | 75% | 5.2 | 71% |
| 2 | Sundridge Kent | A+ | 9.1 | 100% | 2.3 | 73% |
| 3 | Longhoughton Northumberland | A+ | 4.7 | 100% | 1.2 | 27% |
| 4 | Dawlish Warren Devon | A | 21.1 | 73% | 2.9 | 1% |
| 5 | Egloshayle Cornwall | A | 7.3 | 100% | 2.6 | 12% |
| 6 | Bures Suffolk | A | 5.4 | 100% | 2.5 | 14% |
| 7 | Great Bedwyn Wiltshire | A | 3 | 76% | 3.7 | 100% |
| 8 | Brighstone Isle of Wight | A | 2.2 | 55% | 3.4 | 56% |
| 9 | Hampsthwaite North Yorkshire | A− | 2 | 100% | 2.6 | 23% |
| 10 | Hurst Green East Sussex | B+ | 2.3 | 100% | 1.1 | 100% |
| 11 | Shillingstone Dorset | B+ | 2.8 | 67% | 3.2 | 51% |
| 12 | Stallingborough Lincolnshire | B+ | 2.3 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 13 | St Bees Cumbria | B | 8.5 | 78% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 14 | Slinfold West Sussex | B | 2.4 | 100% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 15 | Gislingham Suffolk | B | 3.1 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 16 | Clyst St Mary Devon | B | 5.8 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 17 | Bodedern Gwynedd | B | 1.2 | 100% | 0 | 16% |
| 18 | Moresby Parks Cumbria | B− | 1.2 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 19 | Stradbroke Suffolk | B− | 3 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 20 | Thorpe End Norfolk | B− | 0.7 | 100% | 2.5 | 10% |
| 21 | Stretton-on-Dunsmore Warwickshire | B− | 2.9 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 22 | Penybanc Dyfed | B− | 7.4 | 35% | 2.4 | 1% |
| 23 | Datchworth Hertfordshire | C+ | 10.8 | 76% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 24 | Coddington Nottinghamshire | C+ | 2.9 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 25 | Tansley Derbyshire | C+ | 1.6 | 73% | 3.4 | 4% |
| 26 | Coldeast Devon | C+ | 1.6 | 47% | 3.6 | 30% |
| 27 | Haswell County Durham | C+ | 3.2 | 100% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 28 | Allithwaite Cumbria | C+ | 1.9 | 60% | 1 | 17% |
| 29 | Baslow Derbyshire | C+ | 1.6 | 45% | 2.8 | 98% |
| 30 | Chesterton Oxfordshire | C+ | 1.8 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 31 | Blackmore Essex | C+ | 3.6 | 75% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 32 | Dickleburgh Norfolk | C+ | 1.9 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 33 | Bottom Boat West Yorkshire | C | 0.8 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 34 | Stalmine Lancashire | C | 3.1 | 67% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 35 | Carlyon Bay Cornwall | C | 0.7 | 0% | 2.4 | 12% |
| 36 | Rearsby Leicestershire | C | 1.5 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 37 | Yoxall Staffordshire | C | 1.9 | 100% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 38 | Barrington Cambridgeshire | C | 3.6 | 69% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 39 | Raglan Gwent | C− | 3.9 | 0% | 1.2 | 1% |
| 40 | North Elmham Norfolk | C− | 4.7 | 71% | 1 | 0% |
| 41 | Southfields Essex | C− | 2.8 | 0% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 42 | Old Leake Lincolnshire | C− | 3.6 | 75% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 43 | Chilworth Hampshire | C− | 1.1 | 24% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 44 | Chudleigh Knighton Devon | C− | 1 | 46% | 2.5 | 16% |
| 45 | Abbotskerswell Devon | C− | 4.2 | 49% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 46 | Spofforth North Yorkshire | C− | 1.7 | 78% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 47 | Bratton Wiltshire | C− | 1.9 | 25% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 48 | Shardlow Derbyshire | D | 1.5 | 73% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 49 | Pant Shropshire | D | 0.3 | 0% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 50 | Puddletown Dorset | D | 0.2 | 0% | 2.1 | 15% |
| 51 | Outlane West Yorkshire | D | 0.5 | 0% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 52 | Aston Oxfordshire | D | 2.2 | 62% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 53 | Llanybydder Dyfed | D | 2.2 | 60% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 54 | Melton Constable Norfolk | D | 1.6 | 76% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 55 | Stoke Ferry Norfolk | D | 1.1 | 73% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 56 | Bretforton Worcestershire | D− | 0.2 | 0% | 1.4 | 9% |
| 57 | Standlake Oxfordshire | D− | 1.7 | 42% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 58 | Wrawby Lincolnshire | D− | 1.8 | 26% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 59 | Darrington West Yorkshire | D− | 0.5 | 72% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Moor End Gloucestershire | D− | 0 | 0% | 1.9 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Porlock’s built-up area.
7 in 10 Porlock 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).
About 300 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 4 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 295 residents.
National Parks and National Landscapes around Porlock
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.
71% of the land within 5 km of Porlock is National Park or National Landscape, more than 96% of UK towns. Exmoor National Park covers 693 km² and has been a National Park since 1954.
Porlock is on the South West Coast Path
56 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Porlock and the kilometre around it, 5.2 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
The South West Coast Path, a national route, passes Porlock. Close to home, the Walking in Exmoor: Day Two has 12 km of local walk within 2 km of the village. The regional route here is the Coleridge Way.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
The best walking months in Porlock: June to 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 | 16.6 | 16.1 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 138 | 124 | 105 | 83 | 78 | 77 | 81 | 97 | 100 | 160 | 167 | 192 |
June is the driest month (77 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 192 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 23 nights a year. The climate in Porlock →
Porlock is a coastal town
30% of the area within 5 km of Porlock is sea. 3 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 1 with a name.
The South West Coast Path passes the town.
Sea: the area outside the ONS coastline (mean high water). Bathing water quality is published by the Environment Agency (England) and Natural Resources Wales; check it before swimming.
4 viewpoints and 4 playgrounds
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.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 4
Plus 2 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 3
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 4
Plus 4 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 3
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
Porlock grades higher for the outdoors than every neighbour in the table.
Questions about the outdoors in Porlock
What are the best walks near Porlock?
10 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the Coleridge Way, Walking in Exmoor: Day Two and South West Coast Path (Section 1: Minehead to Porlock Weir).
How many people in Porlock live near a park?
75% 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 Porlock?
June to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Porlock good for walking?
For paths, yes: 5.2 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 94% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 68% (2.9 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 Porlock’s overall grade.
Where Porlock’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.