Kessingland’s biggest
Harts Meadow Park
Park or garden
0.5 ha (1 acres)
Centralin the middle of Kessingland
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Mat Fascione · CC BY-SA 2.0C+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Kessingland · parks, paths & countryside
Kessingland is on the coast
The sea makes up 45% of the area within 5 km. The Suffolk Coast & Heaths National Landscape reaches the edge of Kessingland. Parks and playing fields in Kessingland add up to 0.9 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Kessingland grades C+ for the outdoors: #21 of 34 in Suffolk. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
0.9 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
70%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
23 km
1.9 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
19%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Suffolk Coast & Heaths National Landscape
The sea
45%
of the area within 5 km
A coastal town
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Kessingland?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
On the coast45% of the area within 5 km is sea; 4 beaches mapped.Countryside both waysSuffolk Coast & Heaths starts 0.0 mi south, the Broads 2.9 mi north-west.Less park per person0.9 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1.
Kessingland’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by two protected landscapes close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Outdoors grade
Kessingland grades C+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Kessingland, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
C+
Better than 44% of UK towns#21 of 34 in Suffolk · 29th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space0.9 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
11out of
100
100
A park within a walk70%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
31out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape19%of the land within 5 km
77out of
100
100
Footpaths1.9 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
27out of
100
100
The sea45%of the area within 5 km
97out 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
Kessingland is 29th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 4,100 to 4,400 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
Kessingland1.9
Towns its size2.5
Suffolk towns2.5
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Kessingland0.9
Towns its size1.8
Suffolk towns2.1
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Kessingland70%
Towns its size78%
Suffolk towns80%
All UK towns83%
Kessingland falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 48 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Malling Kent | A+ | 8.7 | 100% | 3.4 | 21% |
| 2 | Telscombe Cliffs East Sussex | A+ | 3 | 58% | 5.1 | 42% |
| 3 | Great Denham Bedfordshire | A | 14.7 | 100% | 5.3 | 0% |
| 4 | Southbourne West Sussex | A | 1.3 | 92% | 3.3 | 64% |
| 5 | Denaby Main South Yorkshire | A | 10.4 | 100% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 6 | Milton Cambridgeshire | A | 10.4 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 7 | Overton Hampshire | A | 3.7 | 92% | 2.5 | 45% |
| 8 | Loftus North Yorkshire | A− | 1.9 | 90% | 2 | 31% |
| 9 | Arborfield Garrison Berkshire | A− | 10.4 | 95% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 10 | Stokenchurch Buckinghamshire | A− | 2.3 | 90% | 2.6 | 86% |
| 11 | Hunstanton Norfolk | A− | 3.7 | 71% | 1.4 | 31% |
| 12 | Fairford Gloucestershire | A− | 3.4 | 100% | 1.8 | 17% |
| 13 | Lofthouse and Robin Hood West Yorkshire | B+ | 3.4 | 93% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 14 | Bearwood Dorset | B+ | 2.5 | 100% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 15 | Ratby Leicestershire | B+ | 1.7 | 100% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 16 | Bramley and Wonersh Surrey | B+ | 1.7 | 77% | 3.5 | 59% |
| 17 | Winchcombe Gloucestershire | B | 2.2 | 60% | 3 | 81% |
| 18 | Brampton Cumbria | B | 2 | 92% | 2.2 | 9% |
| 19 | Saltford Somerset | B | 1.6 | 75% | 3.6 | 24% |
| 20 | Bourton-on-the-Water Gloucestershire | B | 0.9 | 79% | 3.3 | 100% |
| 21 | Penrhyn Bay Clwyd | B− | 0.6 | 68% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 22 | Woodford Halse Northamptonshire | B− | 3.6 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 23 | Topsham Devon | B− | 1.9 | 76% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 24 | Easington Lane Tyne and Wear | B− | 0.9 | 100% | 4 | 0% |
| 25 | Wilton Wiltshire | B− | 1.4 | 94% | 1.6 | 45% |
| 26 | Tibshelf Derbyshire | B− | 1.4 | 94% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 27 | Ferndale Mid Glamorgan | B− | 3.6 | 88% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 28 | Woburn Sands Buckinghamshire | C+ | 1.1 | 94% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 29 | Kessingland Suffolk | C+ | 0.9 | 70% | 1.9 | 19% |
| 30 | Old Tupton Derbyshire | C+ | 2.3 | 73% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 31 | Eaton Bray and Edlesborough Bedfordshire | C+ | 2.6 | 72% | 1.7 | 29% |
| 32 | Thorpe Hesley South Yorkshire | C+ | 1.8 | 80% | 4 | 0% |
| 33 | Backwell Somerset | C+ | 2.3 | 57% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 34 | Sandwich Kent | C+ | 2.1 | 51% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 35 | Sible Hedingham Essex | C+ | 0.9 | 100% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 36 | Holmfield West Yorkshire | C+ | 2.8 | 74% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 37 | Knebworth Hertfordshire | C+ | 1.5 | 81% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 38 | Warton (Fylde) Lancashire | C | 1.3 | 92% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 39 | Meopham Kent | C | 1.3 | 53% | 2.5 | 35% |
| 40 | Deanshanger Northamptonshire | C | 1.5 | 93% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 41 | Uppingham Rutland | C | 2.2 | 89% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 42 | Branston Lincolnshire | C | 2.1 | 86% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 43 | Beck Row Suffolk | C | 5.3 | 76% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 44 | Llangennech Dyfed | C | 1.6 | 82% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 45 | Nelson Gwent | C | 2.1 | 88% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 46 | Cuffley Hertfordshire | C− | 13.6 | 19% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 47 | Ellesmere Shropshire | C− | 12.5 | 54% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 48 | Epworth Lincolnshire | C− | 1.6 | 75% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 49 | Doddington and Wimblington Cambridgeshire | C− | 2.5 | 73% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 50 | Great Ayton North Yorkshire | C− | 0.2 | 48% | 2.2 | 31% |
| 51 | West Kingsdown Kent | D | 0.8 | 28% | 1.6 | 52% |
| 52 | North Weald Bassett Essex | D | 1.4 | 67% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 53 | Middleton Cheney Northamptonshire | D | 0.9 | 70% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 54 | Shepperton Green Surrey | D | 1.4 | 73% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 55 | Blidworth Nottinghamshire | D | 0.5 | 23% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 56 | Kegworth Leicestershire | D | 0.4 | 54% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 57 | Llantrisant Mid Glamorgan | D− | 0.6 | 42% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 58 | Wheatley Oxfordshire | D− | 0.2 | 34% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 59 | Warboys Cambridgeshire | D− | 0.4 | 67% | 1 | 0% |
| 60 | Pinchbeck Lincolnshire | D− | 1 | 49% | 1 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Kessingland’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 Kessingland
The biggest is Harts Meadow Park, 0.5 ha (1 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
7 in 10 Kessingland 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 (70%)Further (30%)
Kessingland70%
Towns its size78%
Suffolk towns80%
All UK towns83%
About 1,300 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 6 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 707 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
Suffolk Coast & Heaths and the Broads both start about 3 miles from Kessingland
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
National Landscape
Suffolk Coast & Heaths
At the edge south443 km²since 197018% of the land within 5 km
Official site19% of the land within 5 km of Kessingland is National Park or National Landscape, more than 77% of UK towns. The Broads National Park covers 302 km² and has been a National Park since 1989.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Kessingland
23 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Kessingland 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 town.
Regional
Suffolk Coast Path8.4 km
The regional route here is the Suffolk Coast Path.
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 Kessingland: 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 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 53 | 45 | 41 | 35 | 46 | 41 | 55 | 54 | 56 | 71 | 62 | 60 |
April is the driest month (35 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 71 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 23 nights a year. The climate in Kessingland →
The coast
The coast and beaches near Kessingland
45% of the area within 5 km of Kessingland is sea. 4 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 0 with a name.
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.
Things to do
6 playgrounds
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.
Every named place, with directions
Campsites 2
The Hollies0.4 mi from town
DirectionsJaydene Touring Caravan Park0.6 mi from town
DirectionsNext door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
LowestoftWorlinghamReydonBecclesCortonHopton on SeaKessingland
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kessingland | C+ | 0.9 | 70% | 19% |
| Lowestoft 3.5 mi | A− | 1.8 | 79% | 17% |
| Worlingham 5.7 mi | B− | 1.5 | 100% | 24% |
| Reydon 5.9 mi | A+ | 3.5 | 93% | 49% |
| Beccles 6.6 mi | A | 4.5 | 87% | 20% |
| Corton 6.8 mi | A+ | 4.4 | 100% | 5% |
| Hopton on Sea 8.3 mi | A+ | 6.7 | 100% | 2% |
Reydon, 5.9 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: 93% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Reydon, Beccles and Corton have at least twice Kessingland’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Kessingland
What is the biggest park in Kessingland?
Harts Meadow Park, 0.5 ha (1 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Kessingland near a National Park?
Yes. the Broads National Park begins 2.9 mi north-west of the town’s edge. It covers 302 km² and has been a National Park since 1989. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the Suffolk Coast & Heaths National Landscape, at the edge of the town.
What are the best walks near Kessingland?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the town, including the Suffolk Coast Path.
How many people in Kessingland live near a park?
70% 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 Kessingland?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Kessingland good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.9 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 27% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 11% (0.9 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 Kessingland’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Kessingland’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.