Walking

Wellbeing

One Mile Walks!

By Matt Overd

Published on January 29, 2025

6 min read

One Mile Walks from Walking Pace

One Mile Walks is a new programme from Walking Pace all about going outdoors, getting moving and enjoying walking. We create and promote great walks about one mile long with detailed access information. Access has always been a theme for me, One Mile Walks builds on previous work to increase access to the outdoors, including working with the Youth Hostels Association to develop self-led walking maps, with many shorter routes designed to provide confidence for inexperienced walkers.

One Mile Walks is also a response to the culture of higher, faster, harder, longer and more extreme, which positions short walks as lesser than, or as stepping stones to something greater. And a ‘short’ walk can be anywhere up to four miles – which is not short for many people.

Are all the walks one mile?

One Mile Walks are between 0.5 and 1.25 miles, with no recommendations for walking further. They are not merely a shortcut of a longer route. They are good, ideally circular, one-mile walks that will not leave you feeling like you are missing out for not wanting to, or being able to, walk further. They are great for lunchtime, to explore a beauty spot, or to sightsee in a historic town. You may have your own regular mile which forms part of your routine, or maybe you have challenged yourself to walk a mile a day for a month.

As an experienced long-distance walker, I can feel just as refreshed and connected to nature on a good One Mile Walk as I can on a ten-mile hike.

Though I was almost certainly influenced by my wife’s recovery from a broken knee. When every step is painful the impact of taking a wrong turn, walking on uneven ground, or going ‘just’ an extra 200 metres from the car park is huge. That is why One Mile Walks are measured from car parks and public transport. Additional distances, such as to safe road crossings, are also included, so walkers know exactly how far they actually have to walk.

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Working with Local Communities & Partners to Find More One Mile Walks

In local communities One Mile Walks nudge people outdoors, to get the benefits of walking and making great use of Open Spaces. We have produced a set of example walks for the Sussex town of Crowborough. The town is close to the largest open access space in the South East, the Ashdown Forest, yet all of the walks are within the town’s boundaries, sending the message that good walking can be found close to home.

There are eight walks in the Crowborough series through woodland, parks and on local streets and footpaths. There is also a town centre circuit and a walk through a recreation ground. For many people these will be places known and loved, but others may have never considered these as great locations for a walk. As well as being a resource for Crowborough, the booklet provides an example of what a One Mile Walk can be and of the supporting information we are providing.

The One Mile Walk approach is also being adopted by organisations in Cumbria who aim to enhance their current walking programmes by providing more walking options. The programme has two objectives, to get local people out walking in high population areas such as Carlisle and Barrow in Furness, and to highlight great walks in tourist hotspots, providing guidance to help visitors stray from the car parks and take in the stunning scenery, towns and villages.

One Mile Walks works best through collaboration. We promote great walks from organisations across the UK, and we are working with partners to include a One Mile Walks element to existing programmes, such as health and wellbeing walks and walking festivals. We are also working with land managers to develop new One Mile Walks on their sites.

As well as being good walks, One Mile Walks are excellent for people new to walking. They are also great for people with small children, people recovering from illness or people with a mobility restriction.

I met the daughter of a man recovering from a stroke, they walked regularly and needed benches every two-hundred metres or so to rest. She had found one safe place that worked for them, and would love to have a change of scenery, but did not know where else to look.

We are working with health authorities, doctors and physios to promote One Mile Walks for health and recovery. One Mile Walks also support tourist boards, attracting people to an area and guiding them through attractions and points of interest on foot.

Not all One Mile Walks will be suitable for all. One Mile Walks are accompanied by detailed information so that people with specific wants and needs can find walks they will enjoy.

Want a cafe? Need routes without stiles or quick access to toilets? Need to know how much force you’ll need to open gates? The information you need is there. And the data we are collecting about the accessibility of paths, gates, bridges, obstacles, etc. provides a useful insight into the overall accessibility of an area. This evidence can support advocating for improvements to open access to the outdoors for more people.

A great example of a One Mile Walk in Midhurst

This circular One Mile Walk from Midhurst, West Sussex, is a great example of a great One Mile Walk. It has car parking, toilets and a bus station at the beginning. I really enjoyed this walk and so did my children, it includes a bit of wetland, a bit of woodland and a riverside path. Points of interest include historic ruins, a mill pond with waterfowl, historic buildings and the town with cafes, pubs and shops. The paths are mostly good, the route is not too steep and whilst not waymarked is reasonably straightforward to follow. Good news for me, I will get to walk it again as the access information collected for One Mile Walks has evolved since creating this route.

This route can also be found on OS Maps

Through collaboration we are creating a library of well described One Mile Walks across the UK, and through working with diverse communities we can innovate to improve the data we collect and the way it is presented, so that great walking can be even more accessible.

What is your favourite one-mile walk? Send it to us here

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By Matt Overd

Matt is an outdoor enthusiast, writer of walks and third sector leader. Access has always been a theme in areas including health promotion, community resilience, conflict resolution, first aid education, extra-curricular enrichment, the arts and heritage. Matt can be found outdoors or working to get more people outside and enjoying the benefits nature and walking.