Photo: Oscar Taylor · CC BY-SA 2.0Parks and walks in Perham Down
The North Wessex Downs National Landscape begins 1.1 mi from the village’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Perham Down add up to 0.8 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 42% of residents. Perham Down grades D for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
What kind of outdoors village is Perham Down?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Perham Down’s strongest suit is the North Wessex Downs National Landscape close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Perham Down grades D for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Perham Down, 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.
Perham Down is 53rd of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,300 to 1,500 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Perham Down falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 50 of the 59 others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dwygyfylchi Clwyd | A+ | 3.2 | 83% | 4.3 | 28% |
| 2 | Tatsfield Surrey | A+ | 7.5 | 100% | 3.1 | 34% |
| 3 | Troon Cornwall | A+ | 6.2 | 100% | 3.7 | 0% |
| 4 | Kingswood Gloucestershire | A | 2.1 | 100% | 3.7 | 45% |
| 5 | Tir-y-berth and Glan-y-nant Gwent | A | 22.1 | 100% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 6 | Chilton Oxfordshire | A | 5.4 | 88% | 2.8 | 70% |
| 7 | Cromford Derbyshire | A | 1.8 | 100% | 6.6 | 12% |
| 8 | Cowfold West Sussex | A | 2.6 | 100% | 3.6 | 15% |
| 9 | Gomshall Surrey | A | 1.9 | 89% | 4.8 | 87% |
| 10 | West Horsley Surrey | A | 3 | 74% | 5.2 | 40% |
| 11 | Startforth County Durham | A | 6 | 78% | 4.3 | 4% |
| 12 | Sherston Wiltshire | A | 3.7 | 100% | 1.4 | 75% |
| 13 | Sherfield on Loddon Hampshire | A− | 8.3 | 100% | 3.2 | 0% |
| 14 | Weston Rhyn Shropshire | A− | 3.6 | 100% | 2.2 | 10% |
| 15 | Distington Cumbria | A− | 4.2 | 100% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 16 | Wharncliffe Side South Yorkshire | A− | 3.3 | 47% | 6.4 | 22% |
| 17 | Wigginton North Yorkshire | A− | 4.1 | 100% | 2.9 | 0% |
| 18 | Shotley Gate Suffolk | A− | 1 | 100% | 1.5 | 34% |
| 19 | Carway Dyfed | B+ | 17 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 20 | Appleton Thorn Cheshire | B+ | 5.6 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 21 | Handcross West Sussex | B | 9.6 | 58% | 1.9 | 87% |
| 22 | Barrow Lancashire | B | 0.5 | 100% | 2.8 | 27% |
| 23 | Trevor Clwyd | B | 2 | 60% | 3.5 | 55% |
| 24 | Woolmer Green Hertfordshire | B | 1.3 | 100% | 4.3 | 0% |
| 25 | Bentley Hampshire | B | 1.3 | 100% | 2.1 | 22% |
| 26 | Tye Green Essex | B | 2 | 100% | 3 | 0% |
| 27 | Cefn Cribwr Mid Glamorgan | B | 6.5 | 100% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 28 | Sampford Peverell Devon | B− | 3 | 100% | 2 | 0% |
| 29 | Warkworth Northumberland | B− | 1.8 | 76% | 1.3 | 9% |
| 30 | Clwt-y-bont Gwynedd | B− | 0.8 | 100% | 2.1 | 19% |
| 31 | Steeple Bumpstead Essex | B− | 1.9 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 32 | Trub Greater Manchester | C+ | 1.9 | 100% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 33 | Pilning Gloucestershire | C+ | 2 | 54% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 34 | Launton Oxfordshire | C+ | 0.7 | 100% | 3 | 0% |
| 35 | Thorner West Yorkshire | C+ | 2.1 | 74% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 36 | Benenden Kent | C | 2 | 57% | 1.7 | 83% |
| 37 | Barlaston Staffordshire | C | 2.7 | 80% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 38 | Great Waldingfield Suffolk | C | 2 | 100% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 39 | Great Bardfield Essex | C | 2 | 81% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 40 | Brailsford Derbyshire | C | 0.9 | 100% | 2.4 | 0% |
| 41 | Slip End Bedfordshire | C | 1.9 | 22% | 2.3 | 28% |
| 42 | Hurley Warwickshire | C | 2.8 | 75% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 43 | Stewkley Buckinghamshire | C | 4.2 | 74% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 44 | Tickton East Riding of Yorkshire | C | 2 | 100% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 45 | Chelford Cheshire | C | 1.8 | 82% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 46 | Easebourne West Sussex | C | 0.4 | 0% | 2.9 | 100% |
| 47 | Blunham Bedfordshire | C | 2.2 | 77% | 2.3 | 0% |
| 48 | Offord D'Arcy and Offord Cluny Cambridgeshire | C− | 2.7 | 78% | 1.5 | 0% |
| 49 | Penperlleni Gwent | C− | 0.6 | 80% | 1.7 | 17% |
| 50 | Newton Flotman Norfolk | C− | 2.5 | 78% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 51 | Penrhyn-coch Dyfed | D | 0.7 | 100% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 52 | Hawley Kent | D | 0.7 | 24% | 2.8 | 3% |
| 53 | Perham Down Wiltshire | D | 0.8 | 42% | 2.2 | 17% |
| 54 | Billingborough Lincolnshire | D | 2.4 | 45% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 55 | Skelton (York) North Yorkshire | D | 1.4 | 77% | 1.6 | 0% |
| 56 | Meon Vale Warwickshire | D | 0.4 | 50% | 1.4 | 19% |
| 57 | Stillington County Durham | D | 1.4 | 77% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 58 | Friday Bridge Cambridgeshire | D− | 1 | 79% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 59 | Woodmansey East Riding of Yorkshire | D− | 0.7 | 0% | 1.9 | 0% |
| 60 | Langham Rutland | D− | 0.3 | 23% | 1.3 | 0% |
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Perham Down’s built-up area.
4 in 10 Perham Down 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 800 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 21 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 67 residents.
The North Wessex Downs National Landscape is 1.1 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.
North Wessex Downs
Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs
17% of the land within 5 km of Perham Down is National Park or National Landscape, more than 75% of UK towns. New Forest National Park covers 567 km² and has been a National Park since 2006.
Footpaths in and around Perham Down
17 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Perham Down and the kilometre around it, 2.2 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0).
No named walking route is mapped within 2 km of Perham Down; its footpaths are on the map above.
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 Perham Down: 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 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 89 | 59 | 57 | 57 | 54 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 61 | 87 | 91 | 87 |
May is the driest month (54 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 91 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 49 nights a year. The climate in Perham Down →
21 playgrounds
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.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 3
Playgrounds 21
Plus 16 playgrounds without a name on the map.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perham Down | D | 0.8 | 42% | 17% |
| Tidworth 1.1 mi | B+ | 3.7 | 90% | 8% |
| Ludgershall 1.2 mi | C− | 0.7 | 72% | 32% |
| Shipton Bellinger 2.8 mi | D | 1.5 | 79% | 0% |
| Bulford 5.8 mi | D− | 0.9 | 51% | 0% |
| Charlton 6.1 mi | A+ | 5.6 | 87% | 19% |
| Anna Valley and Upper Clatford 6.5 mi | C | 2.2 | 77% | 0% |
Charlton, 6.1 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: 87% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Tidworth, Shipton Bellinger and Charlton have at least twice Perham Down’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Perham Down
Is Perham Down near a National Park?
Yes. New Forest National Park begins 16 mi south of the village’s edge. It covers 567 km² and has been a National Park since 2006. The nearest protected landscape of any kind is the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, 1.1 mi away.
How many people in Perham Down live near a park?
42% 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 Perham Down?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Perham Down good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 2.2 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 37% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 8% (0.8 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 Perham Down’s overall grade.
Where Perham Down’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.