Photo: Geographer · CC BY-SA 2.0Almost everyone in Bures lives within a 5-minute walk of a park
Parks and playing fields in Bures add up to 5.4 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. The Dedham Vale National Landscape begins 0.6 mi from the village’s edge. Footpaths add up to 21 km in the village and the kilometre around it, 2.5 for every square kilometre. Bures grades A for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors village is Bures?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Bures’ strongest suit is parks close to every home, followed by plenty of park space.
Bures grades A for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Bures, 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.
Bures is 7th 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, Bures stands out most for park space per resident: only 6 of the other 59 have 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 | Carlin How North Yorkshire | A+ | 3.1 | 100% | 2.3 | 13% |
| 3 | Sundridge Kent | A+ | 9.1 | 100% | 2.3 | 73% |
| 4 | Longhoughton Northumberland | A+ | 4.7 | 100% | 1.2 | 27% |
| 5 | Dawlish Warren Devon | A | 21.1 | 73% | 2.9 | 1% |
| 6 | Egloshayle Cornwall | A | 7.3 | 100% | 2.6 | 12% |
| 7 | Bures Suffolk | A | 5.4 | 100% | 2.5 | 14% |
| 8 | Ruardean Gloucestershire | A | 4.5 | 100% | 2.2 | 29% |
| 9 | Great Bedwyn Wiltshire | A | 3 | 76% | 3.7 | 100% |
| 10 | Brighstone Isle of Wight | A | 2.2 | 55% | 3.4 | 56% |
| 11 | Hampsthwaite North Yorkshire | A− | 2 | 100% | 2.6 | 23% |
| 12 | Hurst Green East Sussex | B+ | 2.3 | 100% | 1.1 | 100% |
| 13 | Oxspring South Yorkshire | B+ | 2.7 | 77% | 4 | 1% |
| 14 | Stallingborough Lincolnshire | B+ | 2.3 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 15 | St Bees Cumbria | B | 8.5 | 78% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 16 | Gislingham Suffolk | B | 3.1 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 17 | Clyst St Mary Devon | B | 5.8 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 18 | Bodedern Gwynedd | B | 1.2 | 100% | 0 | 16% |
| 19 | Moresby Parks Cumbria | B− | 1.2 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 20 | Stradbroke Suffolk | B− | 3 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 21 | Thorpe End Norfolk | B− | 0.7 | 100% | 2.5 | 10% |
| 22 | Stretton-on-Dunsmore Warwickshire | B− | 2.9 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 23 | Rushwick Worcestershire | B− | 5 | 71% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 24 | Datchworth Hertfordshire | C+ | 10.8 | 76% | 2.2 | 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 | Bottom Boat West Yorkshire | C | 0.8 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 32 | Stalmine Lancashire | C | 3.1 | 67% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 33 | Carlyon Bay Cornwall | C | 0.7 | 0% | 2.4 | 12% |
| 34 | Rearsby Leicestershire | C | 1.5 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 35 | Yoxall Staffordshire | C | 1.9 | 100% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 36 | Barrington Cambridgeshire | C | 3.6 | 69% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 37 | Raglan Gwent | C− | 3.9 | 0% | 1.2 | 1% |
| 38 | North Elmham Norfolk | C− | 4.7 | 71% | 1 | 0% |
| 39 | Old Leake Lincolnshire | C− | 3.6 | 75% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 40 | Chilworth Hampshire | C− | 1.1 | 24% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 41 | Chudleigh Knighton Devon | C− | 1 | 46% | 2.5 | 16% |
| 42 | Methley West Yorkshire | C− | 0.2 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 43 | Abbotskerswell Devon | C− | 4.2 | 49% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 44 | Spofforth North Yorkshire | C− | 1.7 | 78% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 45 | Bratton Wiltshire | C− | 1.9 | 25% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 46 | Parson Drove Cambridgeshire | D | 3.5 | 60% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 47 | Shardlow Derbyshire | D | 1.5 | 73% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 48 | Kingswood Warwickshire | D | 1.7 | 42% | 2.7 | 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 Bures’ built-up area.
How close Bures’s homes are to 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).
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 3 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 394 residents.
The Dedham Vale National Landscape is 0.6 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.
14% of the land within 5 km of Bures is National Park or National Landscape, more than 73% of UK towns.
2 waymarked walks pass through or near Bures
21 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Bures and the kilometre around it, 2.5 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
2 regional routes pass through, including the St Edmund Way and Stour Valley Path part 2.
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 Bures: 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) | 8.2 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.6 | 16.7 | 16.3 | 14.6 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.7 | 7.8 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 49 | 40 | 36 | 35 | 44 | 48 | 43 | 58 | 45 | 61 | 60 | 56 |
April is the driest month (35 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 23 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 61 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 40 nights a year. The climate in Bures →
3 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
Bures 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
Viewpoints 1
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 3
Plus 3 playgrounds 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bures | A | 5.4 | 100% | 14% |
| Sudbury 4.7 mi | B | 3.8 | 77% | 0% |
| Earls Colne 4.7 mi | C | 1.4 | 91% | 0% |
| Great Horkesley 5.2 mi | A− | 4.7 | 78% | 25% |
| West Bergholt 5.3 mi | C | 1.5 | 82% | 9% |
| Eight Ash Green 5.3 mi | B+ | 8.2 | 80% | 0% |
| Great Waldingfield 5.7 mi | C | 2.0 | 100% | 0% |
Bures grades higher for the outdoors than every neighbour in the table.
Questions about the outdoors in Bures
Is Bures near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Dedham Vale National Landscape, 0.6 mi east of the village’s edge. It covers 91 km² and was designated in 1970.
What are the best walks near Bures?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the St Edmund Way and Stour Valley Path part 2.
What is the nearest beach to Bures?
Mill Beach, 16 mi from the edge of the village, then Weymarks Beach (16 mi). Bures itself is inland.
How many people in Bures live near a park?
100% 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 Bures?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Bures good for walking?
About average for paths: 2.5 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 45% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 88% (5.4 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 Bures’ overall grade.
Where Bures’ 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.