Willows Beach Park is a strange mix of the fabulous and the outdated. You don't get much better as far as views go. Check out the sea view from the swing! There are good facilities too- washrooms and picnic tables and a snack bar that was probably serving the same snacks to Victoria residents back in the 80's. There is a water fountain by the washrooms but it wasn't working when we went there.
There are three structures here and also the usual double double swing set- two for big kids and two for toddlers. The toddler climbing structure is wooden and set away from the rest of the playground. It has things to climb on, ply with and a wooden swing bridge that freaked A out a little- it's really not scary but then again A is 2.5 so who am I to say what's scary? There are twin plastic slides.
The big kid structures have lots to do. One is new and has the things for which I have no name- check them out in the glossary. It seemed pretty popular while I was there. The older structure needs updating- it's metal with a curly slide, lots to climb on but it's rusty and peeling and loses points to the playground overall- though the children playing on it really didn't seem to notice. The playground has a pebble base which I quite like.
There is a lovely grassy area behind the playground and you could throw a stone to the beach/sea, which is what we did on the way back to the car. Speaking of which, there is parking all along Willows Beach on Esplanade Street and more parking on the other side of the beach in the carpark but on nice days you might want to walk or ride a bike because it gets very busy.
Despite needing a bit of work, this is a good place to come with kids- Victoria at it's best.
This park is better for older kids than for toddlers. I didn't find the toddler part very interesting and the pebbles were the first thing that my son tried to put in his mouth. The view from the playground is great and I think most people use the park for the beach.
ReplyDeleteI remember a big wooden swing that had a platform in the middle and a chair on either side facing inwards. This was at Willows, near the Oak Bay Marina and at Beacon Hill in the "70s. Does anyone know if Victoria still has any of these and where they are? I would like to get one built for my backyard. I live in Vancouver now.
ReplyDeleteClaudia