Photo: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.054% of the land within 5 km of Mere is National Park or National Landscape
The Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs National Landscape reaches the edge of Mere. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 34% of residents. Footpaths add up to 18 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 1.5 for every square kilometre. Mere grades C− for the outdoors: #26 of 30 in Wiltshire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors town is Mere?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Mere’s strongest suit is protected countryside on the doorstep. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Mere grades C− for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Mere, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
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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.
Mere is 42nd of 60 UK towns its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 2,700 to 2,900 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Mere falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 54 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lindford Hampshire | A+ | 17.1 | 100% | 4.7 | 42% |
| 2 | Rudloe Wiltshire | A+ | 7.3 | 91% | 4 | 45% |
| 3 | Bruton Somerset | A | 9.3 | 100% | 2.5 | 1% |
| 4 | Penmaenmawr Clwyd | A | 1.7 | 78% | 3.4 | 39% |
| 5 | Hartshill Warwickshire | A | 19 | 100% | 3.5 | 0% |
| 6 | Stoke Mandeville Buckinghamshire | A− | 5.5 | 37% | 6.8 | 29% |
| 7 | Threemilestone Cornwall | A− | 3.1 | 100% | 2.6 | 1% |
| 8 | Congresbury Somerset | A− | 8.5 | 67% | 3.5 | 10% |
| 9 | Jacksdale and Westwood Nottinghamshire | A− | 2.7 | 100% | 3.9 | 0% |
| 10 | Holywell Green and Stainland West Yorkshire | A− | 4 | 89% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 11 | Charfield Gloucestershire | B+ | 1.3 | 100% | 3 | 22% |
| 12 | Perranporth Cornwall | B+ | 1.3 | 75% | 3.4 | 4% |
| 13 | South Hetton County Durham | B+ | 3.4 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 14 | Hertford Heath Hertfordshire | B+ | 1.6 | 100% | 4.4 | 0% |
| 15 | Mundesley Norfolk | B | 1.8 | 79% | 1.5 | 24% |
| 16 | Charlbury Oxfordshire | B | 3.1 | 66% | 2.4 | 65% |
| 17 | Barlborough Derbyshire | B | 4.4 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 18 | Boverton South Glamorgan | B | 4.3 | 52% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 19 | Ormesby St Margaret Norfolk | B | 2.1 | 79% | 0.8 | 21% |
| 20 | Rockwell Green Somerset | B | 1 | 90% | 3.2 | 24% |
| 21 | Tollesbury Essex | B− | 2 | 85% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 22 | Chalgrove Oxfordshire | B− | 4.1 | 85% | 1.2 | 4% |
| 23 | Aston Clwyd | B− | 4.4 | 37% | 4.7 | 0% |
| 24 | Waltham Chase Hampshire | B− | 2 | 75% | 2.2 | 39% |
| 25 | Pimperne Dorset | C+ | 1.9 | 72% | 1.9 | 89% |
| 26 | Great Totham Essex | C+ | 2.8 | 100% | 1.3 | 0% |
| 27 | Hambrook and Nutbourne West Sussex | C+ | 1.2 | 28% | 2 | 69% |
| 28 | Rhostyllen Clwyd | C+ | 1.1 | 68% | 3.7 | 10% |
| 29 | Bluntisham and Colne Cambridgeshire | C+ | 2.3 | 88% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 30 | Asfordby Leicestershire | C | 4 | 57% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 31 | Alderholt Dorset | C | 1.9 | 43% | 2.3 | 31% |
| 32 | Collingham Nottinghamshire | C | 2.4 | 78% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 33 | Woolton Hill and Highclere Hampshire | C | 1.2 | 60% | 2.3 | 70% |
| 34 | Barrow upon Humber Lincolnshire | C | 1.5 | 88% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 35 | Kidwelly Dyfed | C | 2.8 | 56% | 1 | 0% |
| 36 | Trimdon County Durham | C | 1 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 37 | Buckden Cambridgeshire | C | 2.9 | 85% | 1.4 | 0% |
| 38 | Maerdy Mid Glamorgan | C− | 1.1 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 39 | Alrewas Staffordshire | C− | 1.5 | 66% | 3.6 | 0% |
| 40 | Cheswick Green West Midlands | C− | 1 | 77% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 41 | Tuxford Nottinghamshire | C− | 1.4 | 100% | 1 | 0% |
| 42 | Mere Wiltshire | C− | 1.6 | 34% | 1.5 | 54% |
| 43 | Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen West Glamorgan | C− | 1.1 | 80% | 0.8 | 26% |
| 44 | Tarvin Cheshire | C− | 1.2 | 90% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 45 | Clifton Bedfordshire | C− | 1.7 | 64% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 46 | Weedon Bec Northamptonshire | C− | 1.1 | 87% | 2 | 0% |
| 47 | Kirkbymoorside North Yorkshire | C− | 0.4 | 55% | 1.9 | 37% |
| 48 | Thorngumbald East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 1.3 | 69% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 49 | Catterall Lancashire | D | 1 | 47% | 1.9 | 9% |
| 50 | Croston Lancashire | D | 0.6 | 78% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 51 | Harbury Warwickshire | D | 1.6 | 73% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 52 | Sherburn County Durham | D | 0.2 | 0% | 4.1 | 0% |
| 53 | Berinsfield Oxfordshire | D | 0.1 | 0% | 2.1 | 11% |
| 54 | Terrington St Clement Norfolk | D | 1.5 | 53% | 0.4 | 0% |
| 55 | Seghill Northumberland | D | 0.2 | 41% | 3.1 | 0% |
| 56 | Repton Derbyshire | D | 0.8 | 36% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 57 | East Ayton and West Ayton North Yorkshire | D | 0.1 | 0% | 1.2 | 33% |
| 58 | West Winch Norfolk | D | 1.5 | 73% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 59 | Pickmere Cheshire | D− | 0.4 | 71% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 60 | Greetham Rutland | D− | 0.9 | 30% | 0.8 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Mere’s built-up area.
3 in 10 Mere 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).
About 1,800 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 4 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 702 residents.
National Parks and National Landscapes around Mere
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.
Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs
54% of the land within 5 km of Mere is National Park or National Landscape, more than 92% of UK towns.
2 waymarked walks pass through or near Mere
18 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Mere and the kilometre around it, 1.5 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
2 regional routes pass through, including the Monarch's Way and Mid Wilts Way.
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 Mere: 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) | 8.4 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 89 | 73 | 65 | 64 | 61 | 64 | 69 | 77 | 67 | 99 | 107 | 105 |
May is the driest month (61 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 107 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 45 nights a year. The climate in Mere →
4 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
Viewpoints 1
Hills and peaks 2
Playgrounds 4
Plus 4 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mere | C− | 1.6 | 34% | 54% |
| Gillingham 3.6 mi | B | 1.9 | 91% | 3% |
| Motcombe 4.7 mi | B | 9.5 | 74% | 25% |
| Shaftesbury 6.7 mi | A− | 2.8 | 92% | 44% |
| Wincanton 6.8 mi | B− | 1.4 | 88% | 7% |
| Tisbury 8.1 mi | B+ | 1.5 | 86% | 100% |
| Bruton 8.3 mi | A | 9.3 | 100% | 1% |
Bruton, 8.3 miles away, grades A, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. Motcombe and Bruton have at least twice Mere’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Mere
Is Mere near a National Park?
It covers 986 km² and was designated in 1983.
What are the best walks near Mere?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Monarch's Way and Mid Wilts Way.
How many people in Mere live near a park?
34% 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 Mere?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Mere good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 1.5 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 17% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 31% (1.6 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 Mere’s overall grade.
Where Mere’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.