Photo: Chemical Engineer · CC BY-SA 4.0Oxspring has more footpath per square kilometre than 8 in 10 UK towns
28 km of footpaths run through the village and the kilometre around it, 4.0 for every square kilometre. The Peak District National Park begins 2.8 mi from the village’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Oxspring add up to 2.7 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Oxspring grades B+ for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors village is Oxspring?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Oxspring’s strongest suit is dense footpaths, followed by the Peak District National Park close by.
Oxspring grades B+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Oxspring, 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.
Oxspring is 15th of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,100 to 1,300 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Against villages its size, Oxspring stands out most for path per km²: only 4 of the other 59 have more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlin How North Yorkshire | A+ | 3.1 | 100% | 2.3 | 13% |
| 2 | Sundridge Kent | A+ | 9.1 | 100% | 2.3 | 73% |
| 3 | Shamley Green Surrey | A | 2.9 | 100% | 3 | 69% |
| 4 | Dawlish Warren Devon | A | 21.1 | 73% | 2.9 | 1% |
| 5 | Niton Isle of Wight | A | 2.6 | 76% | 3.1 | 37% |
| 6 | Donisthorpe Leicestershire | A | 38.4 | 100% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 7 | Egloshayle Cornwall | A | 7.3 | 100% | 2.6 | 12% |
| 8 | Bures Suffolk | A | 5.4 | 100% | 2.5 | 14% |
| 9 | Ruardean Gloucestershire | A | 4.5 | 100% | 2.2 | 29% |
| 10 | Great Bedwyn Wiltshire | A | 3 | 76% | 3.7 | 100% |
| 11 | Lower Halstow Kent | A− | 1.5 | 100% | 2.5 | 4% |
| 12 | Low Bradley North Yorkshire | A− | 1.2 | 100% | 6.2 | 2% |
| 13 | Foulridge Lancashire | A− | 9.4 | 23% | 5.4 | 4% |
| 14 | Hurst Green East Sussex | B+ | 2.3 | 100% | 1.1 | 100% |
| 15 | Oxspring South Yorkshire | B+ | 2.7 | 77% | 4 | 1% |
| 16 | Stallingborough Lincolnshire | B+ | 2.3 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 17 | Toll Bar South Yorkshire | B+ | 10.9 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 18 | King's Somborne Hampshire | B+ | 5.2 | 100% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 19 | St Bees Cumbria | B | 8.5 | 78% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 20 | Clyst St Mary Devon | B | 5.8 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 21 | Bodedern Gwynedd | B | 1.2 | 100% | 0 | 16% |
| 22 | Woodchurch Kent | B | 2.3 | 78% | 2.8 | 12% |
| 23 | Moresby Parks Cumbria | B− | 1.2 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 24 | Stradbroke Suffolk | B− | 3 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 25 | Trawden Lancashire | B− | 4 | 0% | 6.1 | 0% |
| 26 | Welford Northamptonshire | B− | 3.5 | 100% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 27 | Rushwick Worcestershire | B− | 5 | 71% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 28 | Datchworth Hertfordshire | C+ | 10.8 | 76% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 29 | Lyne Surrey | C+ | 4 | 71% | 3 | 0% |
| 30 | Coldeast Devon | C+ | 1.6 | 47% | 3.6 | 30% |
| 31 | Haswell County Durham | C+ | 3.2 | 100% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 32 | Chesterton Oxfordshire | C+ | 1.8 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 33 | Bottom Boat West Yorkshire | C | 0.8 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 34 | Stalmine Lancashire | C | 3.1 | 67% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 35 | Rearsby Leicestershire | C | 1.5 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 36 | Barrington Cambridgeshire | C | 3.6 | 69% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 37 | Croughton Northamptonshire | C | 3.6 | 73% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 38 | Hill Brow and Rake Hampshire | C− | 0 | 0% | 2.9 | 97% |
| 39 | Wolverley Worcestershire | C− | 7.2 | 23% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 40 | Methley West Yorkshire | C− | 0.2 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 41 | Abbotskerswell Devon | C− | 4.2 | 49% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 42 | Sproatley East Riding of Yorkshire | C− | 8.6 | 47% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 43 | Kirby-le-Soken Essex | C− | 0.7 | 0% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 44 | Parson Drove Cambridgeshire | D | 3.5 | 60% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 45 | Shardlow Derbyshire | D | 1.5 | 73% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 46 | Kingswood Warwickshire | D | 1.7 | 42% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 47 | Coup Green Lancashire | D | 0.6 | 70% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 48 | Horton and Broadway Somerset | D | 0.5 | 45% | 1.9 | 14% |
| 49 | Puddletown Dorset | D | 0.2 | 0% | 2.1 | 15% |
| 50 | Llanybydder Dyfed | D | 2.2 | 60% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 51 | Beckingham Nottinghamshire | D | 2.6 | 28% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 52 | Stoke Ferry Norfolk | D | 1.1 | 73% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 53 | Ifold West Sussex | D | 0 | 0% | 1.9 | 5% |
| 54 | Bretforton Worcestershire | D− | 0.2 | 0% | 1.4 | 9% |
| 55 | Standlake Oxfordshire | D− | 1.7 | 42% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 56 | Rillington North Yorkshire | D− | 1 | 75% | 0.6 | 0% |
| 57 | Wrawby Lincolnshire | D− | 1.8 | 26% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 58 | Darrington West Yorkshire | D− | 0.5 | 72% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 59 | Blackwell Worcestershire | D− | 0.7 | 29% | 2 | 0% |
| 60 | Fiskerton Lincolnshire | 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 Oxspring’s built-up area.
8 in 10 Oxspring 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; 8 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 150 residents.
The Peak District National Park is 2.8 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.
Peak District
1% of the land within 5 km of Oxspring is National Park or National Landscape, more than 63% of UK towns. Peak District National Park covers 1,438 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
5 waymarked walks pass through or near Oxspring
28 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Oxspring and the kilometre around it, 4.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
Close to home, the Penistone Boundary Walk has 6 km of local walk within 2 km of the village. 2 regional routes pass through, including the Trans-Pennine Trail (Stockport to Silkstone Common) and Trans-Pennine Trail (Silkstone Common to Wombwell).
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 Oxspring: May 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) | 8.0 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.9 | 17.0 | 16.5 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 91 | 82 | 70 | 66 | 63 | 81 | 69 | 71 | 71 | 86 | 100 | 105 |
May is the driest month (63 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 105 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 48 nights a year. The climate in Oxspring →
8 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
Oxspring is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the village.
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
Picnic sites 2
Plus 2 picnic sites without a name on the map.
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxspring | B+ | 2.7 | 77% | 1% |
| Penistone 1.3 mi | A | 2.6 | 97% | 9% |
| Thurgoland 1.5 mi | A | 2.5 | 100% | 1% |
| Hoylandswaine 1.7 mi | C− | 1.4 | 60% | 0% |
| Silkstone Common 2.1 mi | C | 1.5 | 63% | 0% |
| Thurlstone 2.3 mi | A− | 0.9 | 100% | 13% |
| Silkstone 2.4 mi | B | 1.0 | 100% | 0% |
Thurgoland, 1.5 miles away, grades A, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Oxspring
Is Oxspring near a National Park?
Yes. Peak District National Park begins 2.8 mi south-west of the village’s edge. It covers 1,438 km² and has been a National Park since 1951.
What are the best walks near Oxspring?
5 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the Penistone Boundary Walk, Trans-Pennine Trail (Stockport to Silkstone Common) and Old Salt Road.
What is the nearest beach to Oxspring?
Doncaster Lakeside Beach, 20 mi from the edge of the village, then Beach at Doncaster Lakeside (20 mi). Oxspring itself is inland.
How many people in Oxspring 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 Oxspring?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Oxspring good for walking?
For paths, yes: 4.0 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 81% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 64% (2.7 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 Oxspring’s overall grade.
Where Oxspring’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.