Clayhanger’s biggest
Clayhanger Common
Park or garden
33 ha (81 acres)2.5 km of path
35 minto walk all 2.5 km of path
46 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Clayhanger
Directionsto the nearest entrance
A−Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Clayhanger · parks, paths & countryside
Clayhanger has more park space per resident than 9 in 10 UK towns
Parks and playing fields in Clayhanger add up to 17.4 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. The Cannock Chase National Landscape begins 3.5 mi from the village’s edge. Clayhanger grades A− for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
17.4 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
16 km
2.6 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Cannock Chase starts 3.5 mi out, past the 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors village is Clayhanger?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Room to roam17.4 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 98% of UK towns.A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.Countryside close byThe Cannock Chase National Landscape starts 3.5 mi north.
Clayhanger’s strongest suit is plenty of park space, followed by parks close to every home.
Outdoors grade
Clayhanger grades A− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Clayhanger, 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 80% of UK towns17th of 60 UK villages its size
Public green space17.4 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
99out of
100
100
A park within a walk100%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
89out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · Cannock Chase begins just past 5 km
31out of
100
100
Footpaths2.6 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
50out 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
Clayhanger is 17th of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,600 to 1,800 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
Clayhanger2.6
Villages its size2.2
West Midlands towns3.0
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Clayhanger17.4
Villages its size2.0
West Midlands towns2.7
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Clayhanger100%
Villages its size78%
West Midlands towns77%
All UK towns83%
Against villages its size, Clayhanger stands out most for park space per resident: none of the other 59 has more.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pease Pottage West Sussex | A+ | 4.1 | 100% | 7.4 | 65% |
| 2 | Manningtree Essex | A+ | 5.6 | 100% | 2.5 | 43% |
| 3 | Guston Kent | A+ | 5.8 | 100% | 2.5 | 25% |
| 4 | Trimley St Martin Suffolk | A+ | 1.7 | 100% | 2.9 | 43% |
| 5 | Penwithick Cornwall | A | 15 | 100% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 6 | Wroxall Isle of Wight | A | 1.2 | 84% | 4.6 | 33% |
| 7 | Eccles Kent | A | 3.7 | 100% | 2.4 | 30% |
| 8 | Hutton Somerset | A | 1.8 | 100% | 2.2 | 22% |
| 9 | Flimby Cumbria | A | 1.7 | 100% | 2.3 | 2% |
| 10 | Grain Kent | A | 13 | 100% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 11 | Southwell Dorset | A | 0.7 | 100% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 12 | Upchurch Kent | A | 4 | 76% | 2.3 | 7% |
| 13 | Wickwar Gloucestershire | A− | 2 | 100% | 3.5 | 15% |
| 14 | Lynemouth Northumberland | A− | 3.5 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 15 | Hemyock Devon | A− | 3.2 | 100% | 1.3 | 82% |
| 16 | Seascale Cumbria | A− | 2.1 | 81% | 2.2 | 27% |
| 17 | Clayhanger West Midlands | A− | 17.4 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 18 | Bathampton Somerset | A− | 1 | 85% | 5.5 | 62% |
| 19 | Ripley Surrey | A− | 15 | 64% | 3.6 | 2% |
| 20 | Appledore Devon | B+ | 1.2 | 100% | 1.6 | 16% |
| 21 | Starcross Devon | B+ | 1.9 | 100% | 0.9 | 1% |
| 22 | Aldbourne Wiltshire | B+ | 3.2 | 84% | 1.8 | 100% |
| 23 | Kingsdown Kent | B+ | 1.1 | 67% | 3.4 | 12% |
| 24 | Blewbury Oxfordshire | B | 3.1 | 54% | 2.7 | 79% |
| 25 | Great Kingshill Buckinghamshire | B | 2.7 | 55% | 2.9 | 84% |
| 26 | Silkstone South Yorkshire | B | 1 | 100% | 5.2 | 0% |
| 27 | Bryn Dyfed | B− | 2.9 | 67% | 1.4 | 1% |
| 28 | Streethouse West Yorkshire | B− | 2.2 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 29 | Shaldon Devon | B− | 1.7 | 85% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 30 | Eynsford Kent | B− | 2.1 | 81% | 1.9 | 46% |
| 31 | Woodsetts South Yorkshire | B− | 2 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 32 | Allhallows Kent | B− | 3.2 | 76% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 33 | Summit Greater Manchester | B− | 1.9 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 34 | Trethomas Gwent | B− | 6.9 | 48% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 35 | Feniton Devon | C+ | 1.3 | 100% | 1.4 | 17% |
| 36 | Langho Lancashire | C+ | 1.6 | 74% | 3 | 7% |
| 37 | Pilling Lancashire | C+ | 4.2 | 46% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 38 | Seahouses and North Sunderland Northumberland | C+ | 1.6 | 17% | 1.7 | 21% |
| 39 | Chipperfield Hertfordshire | C+ | 2.4 | 37% | 2.8 | 17% |
| 40 | Rocester Staffordshire | C+ | 15.2 | 58% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 41 | Harvington Worcestershire | C+ | 2.6 | 100% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 42 | Minsterley Shropshire | C+ | 1.1 | 77% | 2.4 | 38% |
| 43 | Leeming North Yorkshire | C− | 5 | 76% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 44 | Embsay North Yorkshire | C− | 0.9 | 38% | 2.5 | 47% |
| 45 | High Bentham North Yorkshire | C− | 0.1 | 0% | 2.9 | 45% |
| 46 | Lower Quinton Warwickshire | C− | 2 | 49% | 1.3 | 18% |
| 47 | Modbury Devon | C− | 1.7 | 39% | 1.2 | 41% |
| 48 | Whitehill County Durham | C− | 0.3 | 0% | 7.7 | 0% |
| 49 | Holt Wiltshire | D | 1.1 | 45% | 2.1 | 2% |
| 50 | Shrewton Wiltshire | D | 1.4 | 42% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 51 | Leverington Cambridgeshire | D | 2.8 | 59% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 52 | Dobwalls Cornwall | D | 1.4 | 28% | 1.5 | 15% |
| 53 | Tiddington Warwickshire | D | 0.2 | 79% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 54 | Point Clear Essex | D | 0.1 | 0% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 55 | Soughton Clwyd | D | 0.4 | 67% | 1.3 | 3% |
| 56 | Monk Fryston and Hillam North Yorkshire | D | 2.7 | 40% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 57 | Skirlaugh East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 1 | 85% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 58 | Welford-on-Avon Warwickshire | D− | 0.4 | 48% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 59 | Swffryd Gwent | D− | 1.4 | 17% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 60 | Hambleton North Yorkshire | D− | 0.1 | 52% | 1.1 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Clayhanger’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 Clayhanger
The biggest is Clayhanger Common, 33 ha (81 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
Everyone in Clayhanger lives 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 (100%)Further (0%)
Clayhanger100%
Villages its size78%
West Midlands towns77%
All UK towns83%
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 100 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Cannock Chase National Landscape is 3.5 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
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Clayhanger scores 0% on it even though the Cannock Chase National Landscape is 3.5 mi away.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
5 waymarked walks pass through or near Clayhanger
16 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Clayhanger and the kilometre around it, 2.6 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
RegionalLocal
Four Commons Walk9.7 km
Forest of Mercia Timberland Trail (Long Route)6.3 km
Forest of Mercia Timberland Trail (Short Route)6.3 km
Clayhanger Common Walk5.5 km
Beacon Way5.1 km
Close to home, the Four Commons Walk has 10 km of local walk within 2 km of the village. The regional route here is the Beacon 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 Clayhanger: May and July 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) | 8.1 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.7 | 16.8 | 16.4 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.7 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 14 | 10 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 62 | 49 | 50 | 56 | 56 | 77 | 62 | 64 | 61 | 79 | 70 | 72 |
February 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 79 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 41 nights a year. The climate in Clayhanger →
Things to do
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
Clayhanger is inland. These are the nearest named beaches, measured from the edge of the village.
library21 mi from Clayhanger’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.
Up high. Shireoak Hill, at 190 m, is the highest named top within 2 km of Clayhanger.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 1
Pit Mound0.3 mi from town
DirectionsHills and peaks 1
Shireoak Hill190 m (623 ft) · 1.1 mi from town
DirectionsNature reserves 3
Brownhills Miner Black Country Geosite0.1 ha · 0.4 mi from town
DirectionsShire Oak Park Local Nature Reserve Black Country Geosite29 ha · 1.0 mi from town
DirectionsPelsall North Common Local Nature Reserve40 ha · 1.2 mi from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 17
Crash Bang Wallop0.3 mi from town
DirectionsRyders Hayes Play Area0.7 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 15 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.
BrownhillsPelsallRushall and ShelfieldStonnallNorton CanesAldridgeClayhanger
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clayhanger | A− | 17.4 | 100% | 0% |
| Brownhills 0.7 mi | B | 11.0 | 80% | 2% |
| Pelsall 1.3 mi | B+ | 6.1 | 95% | 0% |
| Rushall and Shelfield 2.0 mi | B | 4.3 | 88% | 0% |
| Stonnall 2.1 mi | C+ | 11.5 | 82% | 0% |
| Norton Canes 2.5 mi | A− | 13.3 | 97% | 10% |
| Aldridge 2.5 mi | C+ | 3.0 | 83% | 0% |
Norton Canes, 2.5 miles away, grades A−, the best next door: 97% of its residents live within 400 m of a park.
Questions about the outdoors in Clayhanger
What is the biggest park in Clayhanger?
Clayhanger Common, 33 ha (81 acres), with 2.5 km of path. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the village or within 400 m of it.
Is Clayhanger near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Cannock Chase National Landscape, 3.5 mi north of the village’s edge. It covers 69 km² and was designated in 1958.
What are the best walks near Clayhanger?
5 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the Four Commons Walk, Forest of Mercia Timberland Trail (Long Route) and Forest of Mercia Timberland Trail (Short Route). Clayhanger Common alone has 2.5 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Clayhanger?
library, 21 mi from the edge of the village. Clayhanger itself is inland.
How many people in Clayhanger 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 Clayhanger?
May and July to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Clayhanger good for walking?
About average for paths: 2.6 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 50% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 99% (17.4 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 Clayhanger’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Clayhanger’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.