Westcott’s biggest
Westcott Green
Park or garden
0.2 ha (1 acres)
Centralin the middle of Westcott
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Stefan Czapski · CC BY-SA 2.0AOutdoors Grade
Outdoors in Westcott · parks, paths & countryside
Westcott is inside the Surrey Hills National Landscape
61 km of footpaths run through the village and the kilometre around it, 5.5 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Westcott add up to 1.8 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Westcott grades A for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
1.8 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
86%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
61 km
5.5 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
78%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Surrey Hills National Landscape
Character
What kind of outdoors village is Westcott?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Inside the Surrey Hills National LandscapeWestcott sits inside it: 422 km² of protected landscape.A village of footpaths5.5 km of path per km², more than 95% of UK towns. The typical town has 3.0.On a National TrailThe North Downs Way passes through.Less park per person1.8 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1.
Westcott’s strongest suit is a protected landscape all round, followed by dense footpaths. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Outdoors grade
Westcott grades A for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Westcott, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
A
Better than 89% of UK towns4th of 60 UK villages its size
Public green space1.8 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
39out of
100
100
A park within a walk86%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
58out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape78%of the land within 5 km
97out of
100
100
Footpaths5.5 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
96out 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.
Villages its size
Westcott is 4th of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 2,200 to 2,400 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
Westcott5.5
Villages its size2.1
Surrey towns4.3
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Westcott1.8
Villages its size1.8
Surrey towns3.1
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Westcott86%
Villages its size72%
Surrey towns75%
All UK towns83%
Against villages its size, Westcott stands out most for path per km²: only 1 of the other 59 has more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Limpsfield Surrey | A+ | 2.9 | 100% | 3.7 | 41% |
| 2 | Radford Semele Warwickshire | A | 12.3 | 100% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 3 | Elstead Surrey | A | 2.5 | 100% | 2.6 | 82% |
| 4 | Westcott Surrey | A | 1.8 | 86% | 5.5 | 78% |
| 5 | Hapton Lancashire | A | 2.6 | 87% | 6.1 | 2% |
| 6 | Harlington Bedfordshire | A− | 2.7 | 100% | 2.7 | 16% |
| 7 | Millbrook Cornwall | A− | 2 | 100% | 1.1 | 19% |
| 8 | Berrow and Brean Somerset | A− | 3.6 | 75% | 1.7 | 1% |
| 9 | Clare Suffolk | A− | 7.7 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 10 | Cannington Somerset | A− | 2.8 | 88% | 3.2 | 3% |
| 11 | Acle Norfolk | B+ | 1.6 | 89% | 3.1 | 43% |
| 12 | Hall Green West Yorkshire | B+ | 7.5 | 82% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 13 | Tisbury Wiltshire | B+ | 1.5 | 86% | 2.9 | 100% |
| 14 | Woodford Greater Manchester | B+ | 5.9 | 80% | 2.3 | 5% |
| 15 | Bowness-on-Windermere Cumbria | B | 1.7 | 76% | 2.8 | 100% |
| 16 | Crick Northamptonshire | B | 3.8 | 100% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 17 | Pen-y-fai Mid Glamorgan | B | 3.8 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 18 | Mayfield East Sussex | B− | 3.3 | 61% | 1.9 | 99% |
| 19 | Loddon Norfolk | B− | 2.4 | 77% | 2.5 | 18% |
| 20 | Dormansland Surrey | B− | 2.5 | 70% | 2.3 | 33% |
| 21 | Bickershaw Greater Manchester | B− | 5 | 13% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 22 | Park Street and Frogmore Hertfordshire | B− | 4.5 | 63% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 23 | Debenham Suffolk | C+ | 1 | 100% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 24 | Bere Alston Devon | C+ | 1.4 | 64% | 1.3 | 93% |
| 25 | Osbaldwick North Yorkshire | C+ | 1.9 | 70% | 5 | 0% |
| 26 | Delph Greater Manchester | C+ | 0.7 | 72% | 3.9 | 17% |
| 27 | Mickleton Gloucestershire | C+ | 2.2 | 52% | 2.1 | 45% |
| 28 | Boughton under Blean Kent | C+ | 2.7 | 24% | 2.5 | 18% |
| 29 | Cold Ash Berkshire | C+ | 1.5 | 7% | 3.1 | 60% |
| 30 | Berkeley Gloucestershire | C+ | 0.9 | 49% | 2.6 | 3% |
| 31 | Bishopsteignton Devon | C | 3 | 62% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 32 | Stanton Suffolk | C | 2.6 | 87% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 33 | Caistor Lincolnshire | C | 2.8 | 39% | 1.3 | 33% |
| 34 | Hawkesbury Warwickshire | C | 1 | 78% | 4.2 | 0% |
| 35 | Tatworth Somerset | C | 1.3 | 71% | 1.7 | 44% |
| 36 | Whaddon Wiltshire | C | 2.6 | 55% | 1.3 | 10% |
| 37 | Wardley Greater Manchester | C− | 0.6 | 88% | 3 | 0% |
| 38 | Stanford in the Vale Oxfordshire | C− | 1.3 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 39 | Wateringbury Kent | C− | 2.4 | 73% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 40 | Coleford Somerset | C− | 1.2 | 51% | 4.5 | 0% |
| 41 | Roche Cornwall | C− | 2.8 | 81% | 1 | 0% |
| 42 | Creigiau South Glamorgan | C− | 1.7 | 85% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 43 | Coltishall and Horstead Norfolk | C− | 2.1 | 57% | 1.3 | 8% |
| 44 | Kings Sutton Northamptonshire | C− | 1.8 | 79% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 45 | Coates and Eastrea Cambridgeshire | C− | 0.9 | 100% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 46 | Usk Gwent | C− | 3.5 | 56% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 47 | St Osyth Essex | C− | 1.5 | 54% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 48 | Scholes (Leeds) West Yorkshire | D | 0 | 0% | 5.5 | 0% |
| 49 | Comberton Cambridgeshire | D | 1.6 | 71% | 2.1 | 0% |
| 50 | Bicknacre Essex | D | 1 | 56% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 51 | Belton Lincolnshire | D | 1.5 | 67% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 52 | Kineton Warwickshire | D | 0.2 | 0% | 1.8 | 5% |
| 53 | Great Barford Bedfordshire | D− | 1.4 | 45% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 54 | Tattenhall Cheshire | D− | 1.8 | 28% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 55 | Bettws Mid Glamorgan | D− | 0.7 | 71% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 56 | Ixworth Suffolk | D− | 1 | 73% | 0.9 | 0% |
| 57 | Hingham Norfolk | D− | 1.9 | 13% | 1 | 0% |
| 58 | Norton South Yorkshire | D− | 1.3 | 63% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 59 | Isleham Cambridgeshire | D− | 0.2 | 71% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 60 | Puriton Somerset | D− | 0.1 | 0% | 1.4 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Westcott’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 Westcott
The biggest is Westcott Green, 0.2 ha (1 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
9 in 10 Westcott 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 (86%)Further (15%)
Westcott86%
Villages its size72%
Surrey towns75%
All UK towns83%
About 300 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 17 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 134 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
National Parks and National Landscapes around Westcott
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
Westcott is inside it422 km²since 195878% of the land within 5 km
Official site78% of the land within 5 km of Westcott is National Park or National Landscape, more than 96% of UK towns. South Downs National Park covers 1,653 km² and has been a National Park since 2010.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Westcott is on the North Downs Way
61 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Westcott and the kilometre around it, 5.5 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
NationalRegionalLocal
Greensand Way8.6 km
Leith Hill Greenway8.4 km
Ranmore West to Wotton Hatch Pub Walk, North Downs West8.3 km
Denbies Hillside Train Walk, North Downs West7.7 km
Waymarked Walk at Ranmore Common, North Downs West6.2 km
North Downs Way (Eastern)6.0 km
Polesden Lacey Ranger Run, Polesden Lacey4.4 km
Abinger Roughs to Gomshall Walking Circuit, North Downs West4.2 km
Denbies Hillside Nature Walk, North Downs West3.5 km
Prospects of Polesden (SCC)3.3 km
Ranmore Circular (SCC)3.3 km
Ranmore Common Walk, Polesden Lacey2.6 km
Yew Tree Walk, Polesden Lacey0.7 km
Abinger Roughs Nature Walk, North Downs West0.6 km
Abinger Roughs Snowdrop Walk, North Downs West0.6 km
Abinger Roughs Rhododendron and Bluebell Walk, North Downs West0.4 km
The North Downs Way, a national route, passes Westcott. Close to home, the Leith Hill Greenway has 8 km of local walk within 2 km of the village. The regional route here is the Greensand 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 Westcott: 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) | 8.4 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.6 | 16.1 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 90 | 67 | 53 | 54 | 53 | 50 | 55 | 64 | 64 | 91 | 95 | 94 |
June is the driest month (50 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 95 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 60 nights a year. The climate in Westcott →
Things to do
4 viewpoints, 17 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
Westcott is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the village.
Amity Beach13 mi from Westcott’s edge
DirectionsHog Hole18 mi from Westcott’s edge
DirectionsThe Hollows18 mi from Westcott’s edge
DirectionsPenguin Beach20 mi from Westcott’s edge
DirectionsKelson Beach24 mi from Westcott’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 4
The Temple0.2 mi from town
DirectionsDenbies Hillside0.7 mi from town
DirectionsGod's Seat0.7 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 1
Bury Hill0.0 mi from town
DirectionsNature reserves 1
White Downs212 ha · 1.0 mi from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 17
Cradhurst Recreation Ground Children's Playgroundin town
DirectionsMeadowbank Playground1.1 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 15 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 2
Dorking Scouts Camp Site0.6 mi from town
DirectionsRanmore Common Campsite0.7 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.
DorkingGomshallBrockhamGreat Bookham and FetchamBeare GreenBox HillWestcott
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westcott | A | 1.8 | 86% | 78% |
| Dorking 1.7 mi | A | 4.4 | 75% | 57% |
| Gomshall 3.6 mi | A | 1.9 | 89% | 87% |
| Brockham 3.7 mi | A+ | 7.4 | 94% | 38% |
| Great Bookham and Fetcham 3.9 mi | B | 1.7 | 68% | 33% |
| Beare Green 4.0 mi | B | 1.6 | 70% | 30% |
| Box Hill 4.0 mi | A | 35.9 | 12% | 39% |
Brockham, 3.7 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: 94% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Dorking, Brockham and Box Hill have at least twice Westcott’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Westcott
What is the biggest park in Westcott?
Westcott Green, 0.2 ha (1 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the village or within 400 m of it.
Is Westcott near a National Park?
Yes. South Downs National Park begins 14 mi south-west of the village’s edge. It covers 1,653 km² and has been a National Park since 2010. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the Surrey Hills National Landscape, at the edge of the village.
What are the best walks near Westcott?
16 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the Greensand Way, Leith Hill Greenway and Ranmore West to Wotton Hatch Pub Walk, North Downs West.
What is the nearest beach to Westcott?
Amity Beach, 13 mi from the edge of the village, then Hog Hole (18 mi). Westcott itself is inland.
How many people in Westcott live near a park?
86% 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 Westcott?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Westcott good for walking?
For paths, yes: 5.5 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 96% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 39% (1.8 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 Westcott’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Westcott’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.