Brandon’s biggest
Brandon Country Park
Park or garden · 200 m outside town
14 ha (36 acres)2.6 km of path
35 minto walk all 2.6 km of path
20 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.5 mi south-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Oxyman · CC BY 2.5DOutdoors Grade
Outdoors in Brandon · parks, paths & countryside
Parks and walks in Brandon
Parks and playing fields in Brandon add up to 0.8 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 39% of residents. Footpaths add up to 61 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 3.5 for every square kilometre. Brandon grades D for the outdoors: #32 of 34 in Suffolk. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
0.8 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
39%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
61 km
3.5 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Outdoors grade
Brandon grades D for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Brandon, 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 11% of UK towns#32 of 34 in Suffolk
Public green space0.8 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
8out of
100
100
A park within a walk39%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
8out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · None within 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths3.5 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
71out 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 Brandon compares with UK towns of 8,800 to 9,600
The 60 UK towns and cities of 8,800 to 9,600 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
Brandon3.5
Towns its size3.3
Suffolk towns2.5
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Brandon0.8
Towns its size2.6
Suffolk towns2.1
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Brandon39%
Towns its size85%
Suffolk towns80%
All UK towns83%
Brandon falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 58 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swanage Dorset | A+ | 6.9 | 95% | 4.2 | 47% |
| 2 | Brynteg Clwyd | A | 8.5 | 100% | 2.8 | 7% |
| 3 | Ilfracombe Devon | A | 2 | 86% | 3 | 28% |
| 4 | Bordon Hampshire | A | 8.6 | 54% | 6.7 | 49% |
| 5 | Killamarsh Derbyshire | A | 10.6 | 97% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 6 | Linthwaite and Slaithwaite West Yorkshire | A | 2.2 | 97% | 4.8 | 12% |
| 7 | New Mills Derbyshire | A | 2.4 | 84% | 5.1 | 34% |
| 8 | Warlingham Surrey | A | 4.2 | 81% | 4.3 | 13% |
| 9 | Nuthall and Watnall Nottinghamshire | A | 6.3 | 97% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 10 | Greasby Merseyside | A | 5.9 | 74% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 11 | Whiteley Hampshire | A− | 3 | 52% | 4.4 | 2% |
| 12 | Thurmaston Leicestershire | A− | 10.4 | 89% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 13 | Hetton-le-Hole Tyne and Wear | A− | 7.8 | 95% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 14 | Esher Surrey | A− | 6.9 | 86% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 15 | Shelf and Northowram West Yorkshire | A− | 5.3 | 88% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 16 | Billingshurst West Sussex | A− | 2.9 | 95% | 3.1 | 3% |
| 17 | Thurnscoe South Yorkshire | A− | 9.4 | 100% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 18 | Shaftesbury Dorset | A− | 2.8 | 92% | 2.3 | 44% |
| 19 | Aveley Essex | A− | 3.4 | 84% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 20 | Shanklin Isle of Wight | A− | 1.4 | 33% | 4.5 | 29% |
| 21 | Irthlingborough Northamptonshire | A− | 4.7 | 94% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 22 | Winnersh Berkshire | B+ | 9.6 | 80% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 23 | Frodsham Cheshire | B+ | 2.5 | 67% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 24 | Sandiacre Derbyshire | B+ | 2.6 | 94% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 25 | Hayle Cornwall | B+ | 1.4 | 72% | 3.4 | 6% |
| 26 | Banstead Surrey | B+ | 2.4 | 66% | 5.2 | 3% |
| 27 | Ashbourne Derbyshire | B | 1.9 | 92% | 2.7 | 14% |
| 28 | Cockermouth Cumbria | B | 2.6 | 81% | 2.2 | 42% |
| 29 | Pontllanfraith Gwent | B | 3.7 | 93% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 30 | Hemsworth West Yorkshire | B | 3.6 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 31 | Gatley Greater Manchester | B | 5.7 | 66% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 32 | Clay Cross Derbyshire | B | 2.6 | 88% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 33 | North Wingfield and Holmewood Derbyshire | B | 2.7 | 84% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 34 | South Kirkby West Yorkshire | B | 3 | 97% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 35 | Tiptree Essex | B | 2.7 | 90% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 36 | Perton Staffordshire | B | 2.4 | 93% | 3 | 0% |
| 37 | Yaxley Cambridgeshire | B− | 2.6 | 90% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 38 | Whitnash Warwickshire | B− | 2 | 95% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 39 | Cullompton Devon | B− | 3.2 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 40 | Knottingley West Yorkshire | B− | 2.7 | 88% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 41 | Hook Hampshire | B− | 2.4 | 80% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 42 | West End and Chobham Surrey | B− | 3.3 | 65% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 43 | Caister-on-Sea Norfolk | C+ | 1.1 | 58% | 2.1 | 21% |
| 44 | Wideopen Tyne and Wear | C+ | 2.1 | 75% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 45 | Okehampton Devon | C+ | 0.9 | 85% | 2.2 | 37% |
| 46 | Brandon County Durham | C+ | 2.2 | 72% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 47 | Barwell Leicestershire | C | 1.7 | 90% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 48 | Diss Norfolk | C | 1.5 | 80% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 49 | Milnrow Greater Manchester | C | 2.9 | 58% | 3 | 0% |
| 50 | Kinmel Bay Clwyd | C | 1.8 | 76% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 51 | Totnes Devon | C | 0.4 | 65% | 3.3 | 11% |
| 52 | Ferryhill County Durham | C− | 1.5 | 94% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 53 | Pencoed Mid Glamorgan | C− | 2.8 | 52% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 54 | Sileby Leicestershire | C− | 1 | 80% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 55 | Shifnal Shropshire | D | 1 | 89% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 56 | Brandon Suffolk | D | 0.8 | 39% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 57 | Littleport Cambridgeshire | D | 1 | 71% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 58 | Harworth and Bircotes Nottinghamshire | D | 1.9 | 64% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 59 | Pheasey West Midlands | D− | 0.9 | 40% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 60 | Kirkham Lancashire | D− | 1.3 | 66% | 1.3 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Brandon’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 Brandon
The biggest is Brandon Country Park, 14 ha (36 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
The Orchard
Park or garden
0.5 ha (1 acres)0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Brandon
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
4 in 10 Brandon 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 (39%)Further (61%)
Brandon39%
Towns its size85%
Suffolk towns80%
All UK towns83%
About 5,600 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 20 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 461 residents.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
23 waymarked walks pass through or near Brandon
61 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Brandon and the kilometre around it, 3.5 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
RegionalLocalOther waymarked
Hereward Way8.7 km
Via Beata7.3 km
Firecrest Trail6.8 km
The History Trail5.7 km
Forest and Heath Trail5.4 km
Santon Downham Circular5.1 km
St Edmund Way4.3 km
Little Ouse Path4.3 km
High Lodge Heritage Trail3.9 km
Weeting Village Walk3.8 km
The Flint Trail2.9 km
Brecks Trail2.1 km
The Brecks1.9 km
Nature Trail1.7 km
Tree and History Trail1.7 km
Redwood Trail1.5 km
Plus 7 more waymarked walks on the map.
Close to home, the Firecrest Trail has 7 km of local walk within 2 km of the town. 3 regional routes pass through, including the Hereward Way, Via Beata and St Edmund 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 Brandon: 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 | 13.8 | 15.7 | 16.8 | 16.3 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.7 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 50 | 41 | 42 | 39 | 45 | 58 | 56 | 65 | 51 | 63 | 61 | 58 |
April is the driest month (39 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 65 mm of rain falls in August, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 68 nights a year. The climate in Brandon →
Things to do
20 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
Brandon is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
The Beach3.4 mi from Brandon’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.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 1
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Nature reserves 2
Wangford Warren15 ha · 0.9 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 1 nature reserve without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 3
Plus 3 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 20
Knappers Nook1.0 mi from town
DirectionsTreehouse1.0 mi from town
DirectionsAdventure Playground1.1 mi from town
DirectionsOwl1.1 mi from town
DirectionsMaypole1.1 mi from town
DirectionsHelter Skelter1.2 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 14 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 1
Plus 1 slipway 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.
WeetingHockwold cum WiltonLakenheathMundfordFeltwellLittle EriswellBrandon
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon | D | 0.8 | 39% | 0% |
| Weeting 1.5 mi | D− | 1.2 | 68% | 0% |
| Hockwold cum Wilton 3.4 mi | D | 1.6 | 75% | 0% |
| Lakenheath 4.7 mi | D | 1.1 | 57% | 0% |
| Mundford 4.7 mi | B− | 3.1 | 100% | 0% |
| Feltwell 5.1 mi | D− | 1.1 | 63% | 0% |
| Little Eriswell 5.2 mi | D− | 0.1 | 0% | 0% |
Mundford, 4.7 miles away, grades B−, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Hockwold cum Wilton and Mundford have at least twice Brandon’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Brandon
What is the biggest park in Brandon?
Brandon Country Park, 14 ha (36 acres), with 2.6 km of path, just outside the built-up area. The Orchard (0.5 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Brandon near a National Park?
No National Park or National Landscape is within 30 km (about 19 miles) of Brandon.
What are the best walks near Brandon?
23 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Hereward Way, Via Beata and Firecrest Trail. Brandon Country Park alone has 2.6 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Brandon?
The Beach, 3.4 mi from the edge of the town. Brandon itself is inland.
How many people in Brandon live near a park?
39% 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 Brandon?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Brandon good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.5 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 71% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 8% (0.8 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 Brandon’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Brandon’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.