Leighton Park Playground- Victoria

Guest review by Suzan

Behind the Safeway at Fort and Foul Bay there is a little park tucked between Leighton and Bourchier with a brand new playground.

The playground is spacious and perfect for little legs of all kinds to run around - in fact, adjacent to the park is a large and lightly treed field for our four legged friends to romp around in. While we were there, there were no dogs, but in the past we have met several lovely and child friendly animals there. Parking is in a residential area, so it's not too busy. To get in to the park there is a path on either side and once you are there, you do not have to worry about traffic or anything. The play area is wood chipped, with some cement sidewalk areas and lots of grass.


Now, on to the fun parts! There are three separate play structures. The first is a typical swing set, two swings for big kids and two bucket style swings for babes and toddlers. The primary plus about these swings is that the toddler and babe swings are in the shade in the early afternoon, which is extremely hard to find in a park in Victoria. (see photo below) The second structure is a toddler size boat featuring a double slide, a chain ladder, a funky whistle device that sounded a bit weak (but not too loud thankfully), plus two steering wheels for kiddos to be captains at.
The third structure is a crazily high fun area - kind of hard to describe. First, it's high. Not for a toddler kind of high. My kid climbed it like a monkey and was WAY over my head- not for a squeamish parent by any means. The three ladders leading up are three different styles requiring different climbing styles (which, of course, my little one HAD to try). These lead to a small platform which is where a wonderfully long and fast slide awaits. Now, I have a thing about slides and let me tell you, this slide is pretty darned good. Slippery, yet has an extended flat lower area to ensure little ones don't go flying off the end. Plus, it is north facing, so little legs and hands don't get that lovely scorching burning sensation because it's in the shade! Now, this is not all! There are monkey bars, an awesome twirling device that us adults can go on without feeling like oversized chimps (like the little teacup thingy at Willows Beach - you know what I mean, admit it), three poles attached to bases to twist on, and two tribalish hand drums tucked under the slide. Last, but not least, there is a great six foot freestanding climbing rock with great handholds for all ages to climb up. We saw three other kids of assorted ages while there, and something about climbing rocks appealed to each of them.


The only negative with this park is that there is just one park bench right now. There used to be more before the renovation, but I'm not sure if they will have them back or not, likewise with a picnic table they had there. There are no washrooms nearby, with the exception of the ones at Safeway and two Starbucks approximately two blocks away.
Overall, we had a great time and look forward to heading to this little tucked away gem for more playtime. Hopefully we'll see you there!

NOTE: At the time of writing this, the structures are complete and playable but the landscaping has yet to be finished, so beware of metal posts and try not to get tangled in the red fencing ;)