Ashtead’s biggest
Ashtead Park
Park or garden
24 ha (58 acres)2.3 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.3 km of path
33 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.6 mi eastfrom the centre
2 listed
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Bridge at Rookery Hill · Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0B+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Ashtead · parks, paths & countryside
Ashtead has more footpath per square kilometre than nearly 9 in 10 UK towns
86 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 4.3 for every square kilometre. The Surrey Hills National Landscape begins 0.8 mi from the town’s edge. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 62% of residents. Ashtead grades B+ for the outdoors: #35 of 65 in Surrey. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
2.7 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
62%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
86 km
4.3 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
13%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Surrey Hills National Landscape
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Ashtead?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
A town of footpaths4.3 km of path per km², more than 85% of UK towns. The typical town has 3.0.Countryside close byThe Surrey Hills National Landscape starts 0.8 mi south-west.Historic parksAshtead Park is a registered historic park (Grade II).Parks can be a walk away38% of residents live more than 400 m from a park or playing field.
Ashtead’s strongest suit is dense footpaths, followed by the Surrey Hills National Landscape close by. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Outdoors grade
Ashtead grades B+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Ashtead, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
B+
Better than 69% of UK towns#35 of 65 in Surrey · 34th of 60 UK towns its size
Public green space2.7 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
64out of
100
100
A park within a walk62%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
22out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape13%of the land within 5 km
73out of
100
100
Footpaths4.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
85out 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
Ashtead is 34th of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 14,200 to 15,500 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
Ashtead4.3
Towns its size3.6
Surrey towns4.3
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Ashtead2.7
Towns its size2.6
Surrey towns3.1
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Ashtead62%
Towns its size85%
Surrey towns75%
All UK towns83%
Against towns its size, Ashtead stands out most for path per km²: only 16 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 53 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lymington Hampshire | A+ | 2.8 | 89% | 3.3 | 56% |
| 2 | Saltash Cornwall | A+ | 2.4 | 96% | 3.6 | 44% |
| 3 | Hythe Kent | A+ | 3.7 | 76% | 4 | 31% |
| 4 | Otley West Yorkshire | A+ | 5.8 | 93% | 4.4 | 26% |
| 5 | Tadley Hampshire | A+ | 11.4 | 96% | 4.2 | 9% |
| 6 | Llandudno Clwyd | A+ | 2.1 | 83% | 4.9 | 3% |
| 7 | Swanscombe Kent | A+ | 3.3 | 90% | 8.5 | 0% |
| 8 | Kesgrave Suffolk | A | 3.3 | 97% | 4.7 | 14% |
| 9 | Petersfield Hampshire | A | 3.2 | 93% | 3.2 | 100% |
| 10 | Yeadon West Yorkshire | A | 3.5 | 94% | 4.6 | 2% |
| 11 | Staveley Derbyshire | A | 6.6 | 100% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 12 | Penzance Cornwall | A | 1.6 | 96% | 2.3 | 34% |
| 13 | Cheadle Greater Manchester | A | 6.5 | 96% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 14 | Stapleford Nottinghamshire | A | 3.5 | 95% | 5.9 | 0% |
| 15 | Skipton North Yorkshire | A | 1.7 | 99% | 4.2 | 25% |
| 16 | Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint West Sussex | A− | 1.9 | 84% | 4.7 | 42% |
| 17 | Yateley Hampshire | A− | 14.9 | 85% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 18 | Honley West Yorkshire | A− | 2.1 | 87% | 5.1 | 8% |
| 19 | Blaydon Tyne and Wear | A− | 7.9 | 88% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 20 | Frimley Surrey | A− | 2.9 | 99% | 4.8 | 0% |
| 21 | Tredegar Gwent | A− | 6.9 | 78% | 2.8 | 20% |
| 22 | Hessle East Riding of Yorkshire | A− | 5.3 | 96% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 23 | Risca Gwent | A− | 6.9 | 94% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 24 | Thornbury Gloucestershire | A− | 2.5 | 97% | 5.3 | 0% |
| 25 | Chertsey Surrey | A− | 6.2 | 84% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 26 | Birstall Leicestershire | A− | 6 | 80% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 27 | Tewkesbury Gloucestershire | B+ | 2.2 | 84% | 4 | 6% |
| 28 | Ilkley West Yorkshire | B+ | 1.6 | 76% | 5.7 | 37% |
| 29 | Uckfield East Sussex | B+ | 2.9 | 47% | 4.9 | 22% |
| 30 | Neston Cheshire | B+ | 2.7 | 91% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 31 | Buckingham Buckinghamshire | B+ | 3.4 | 96% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 32 | Somercotes and Swanwick Derbyshire | B+ | 3.6 | 95% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 33 | Marlow Buckinghamshire | B+ | 1.9 | 73% | 4 | 39% |
| 34 | Ashtead Surrey | B+ | 2.7 | 62% | 4.3 | 13% |
| 35 | Newport Pagnell Buckinghamshire | B+ | 2.6 | 95% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 36 | Humberston and New Waltham Lincolnshire | B+ | 4.1 | 44% | 2.2 | 1% |
| 37 | Crowthorne Berkshire | B | 4.7 | 60% | 5.2 | 0% |
| 38 | Morpeth Northumberland | B | 3.7 | 80% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 39 | Catterick Garrison North Yorkshire | B− | 4.9 | 78% | 1.8 | 6% |
| 40 | Chard Somerset | B− | 1.6 | 94% | 1.9 | 34% |
| 41 | Hawarden Clwyd | B− | 3.7 | 81% | 3 | 0% |
| 42 | Redruth Cornwall | B− | 1.5 | 78% | 3.7 | 3% |
| 43 | Aberystwyth Dyfed | B− | 1.8 | 51% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 44 | Teignmouth Devon | B− | 1.7 | 82% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 45 | East Ardsley West Yorkshire | C+ | 1.8 | 91% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 46 | Cowes Isle of Wight | C+ | 1.1 | 50% | 2.2 | 15% |
| 47 | Herne Kent | C+ | 1.2 | 54% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 48 | Frampton Cotterell and Winterbourne Gloucestershire | C+ | 2.2 | 78% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 49 | Darton South Yorkshire | C+ | 2.5 | 86% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 50 | South Hayling Hampshire | C+ | 1 | 65% | 1.4 | 26% |
| 51 | Hockley and Hawkwell Essex | C+ | 1.6 | 85% | 3.3 | 0% |
| 52 | Kidlington Oxfordshire | C+ | 0.9 | 81% | 3 | 2% |
| 53 | Garforth West Yorkshire | C | 1.2 | 88% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 54 | Milford Haven Dyfed | C | 0.8 | 70% | 0.9 | 30% |
| 55 | Ashby-de-la-Zouch Leicestershire | C | 1.1 | 90% | 2.7 | 0% |
| 56 | Swallownest and Aston South Yorkshire | C− | 1.2 | 73% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 57 | Taverham and Drayton Norfolk | C− | 1.9 | 67% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 58 | Cottingham East Riding of Yorkshire | C− | 2.1 | 73% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 59 | Middlewich Cheshire | D | 1.4 | 81% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Shepshed Leicestershire | D | 1.1 | 69% | 2.2 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Ashtead’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 Ashtead
The biggest is Ashtead Park, 24 ha (58 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
All 4 named parks by size: 33 ha (81 acres) and 4 km of path
Parks & gardens 30 haPlaying fields 3.2 ha
The two biggest, Ashtead Park and Wood Field, are 90% of the named green space and carry 4 km of path between them.
Wood Field
Park or garden
6.0 ha (15 acres)1.7 km of path
25 minto walk all 1.7 km of path
8 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Ashtead
FP 41FP 40
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Fortyfoot Recreation Ground
Playing field · 190 m outside town
1.9 ha (5 acres)
3 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
1.1 mi southfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Ashtead Cricket Club
Playing field
1.3 ha (3 acres)
2 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Ashtead
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Close to home
6 in 10 Ashtead 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 (62%)Further (38%)
Ashtead62%
Towns its size85%
Surrey towns75%
All UK towns83%
About 5,700 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 24 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 618 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Surrey Hills National Landscape is 0.8 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.
National ParkNational LandscapeThe 5 km the grade counts
National Landscape
Surrey Hills
0.8 mi south-west422 km²since 195813% of the land within 5 km
Official site13% of the land within 5 km of Ashtead is National Park or National Landscape, more than 73% of UK towns.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
3 waymarked walks pass through or near Ashtead
86 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Ashtead and the kilometre around it, 4.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
RegionalLocal
Thames Down Link9.1 km
Chessington Countryside Walk2.7 km
Mole Gap Trail2.3 km
The regional route here is the Thames Down Link.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
History along the way
A registered historic park in Ashtead
Historic England’s register of parks and gardens, and the listed buildings and scheduled monuments that stand inside Ashtead’s named parks.
Registered · Grade IIAshtead Park33 haInside: Bridge at Rookery Hill and 1 more
A listed building or monument counts when it sits inside the park’s OS Open Greenspace outline (to about 15 m), so a few at the boundary are included. Historic England, National Heritage List for England.
When to get out
The best walking months in Ashtead: 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) | 8.3 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.6 | 16.6 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 73 | 60 | 49 | 52 | 54 | 50 | 53 | 61 | 61 | 84 | 89 | 83 |
March is the driest month (49 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 89 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 51 nights a year. The climate in Ashtead →
Things to do
24 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
Ashtead is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the town.
Amity Beach10 mi from Ashtead’s edge
DirectionsHog Hole11 mi from Ashtead’s edge
DirectionsThe Hollows11 mi from Ashtead’s edge
DirectionsKelson Beach17 mi from Ashtead’s edge
DirectionsDock Beach18 mi from Ashtead’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
Hills and peaks 1
Telegraph Hill0.9 mi from town
DirectionsNature reserves 1
Epsom Common172 ha · 0.5 mi from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 24
Poppy Play0.4 mi from town
DirectionsRed House Grounds0.6 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 22 playgrounds 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.
LeatherheadLangley ValeEpsomTadworth and Epsom DownsGreat Bookham and FetchamEwellAshtead
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashtead | B+ | 2.7 | 62% | 13% |
| Leatherhead 1.2 mi | B− | 1.0 | 72% | 24% |
| Langley Vale 1.9 mi | C+ | 0.8 | 53% | 7% |
| Epsom 2.3 mi | A | 5.7 | 80% | 2% |
| Tadworth and Epsom Downs 3.2 mi | A− | 3.4 | 65% | 16% |
| Great Bookham and Fetcham 3.4 mi | B | 1.7 | 68% | 33% |
| Ewell 3.6 mi | A− | 7.5 | 89% | 0% |
Epsom, 2.3 miles away, grades A, the best next door: 80% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Epsom and Ewell have at least twice Ashtead’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Ashtead
What is the biggest park in Ashtead?
Ashtead Park, 24 ha (58 acres), with 2.3 km of path. Wood Field (6.0 ha) is second. 4 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Ashtead near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Surrey Hills National Landscape, 0.8 mi south-west of the town’s edge. It covers 422 km² and was designated in 1958.
What are the best walks near Ashtead?
3 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Thames Down Link, Chessington Countryside Walk and Mole Gap Trail. Ashtead Park alone has 2.3 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Ashtead?
Amity Beach, 10 mi from the edge of the town, then Hog Hole (11 mi). Ashtead itself is inland.
How many people in Ashtead live near a park?
62% 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 Ashtead?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Which parks in Ashtead are historic?
Ashtead Park (Grade II) is on Historic England’s register of parks and gardens.
Is Ashtead good for walking?
For paths, yes: 4.3 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 85% 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 Ashtead’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Ashtead’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.