Montague Park Playground- Gordon Head- Saanich

Montague Park is a surprisingly large piece of green- well yellow this late in the summer- grassy park slotted into a completely urban residential area. You can enter is from at least five different points- mostly cul de sacs. We drove up Graduation Place first but couldn't park there so ended up coming at it from Sandell Place which was far closer to the playground anyway- you could also try off Lexington or Hazelton or by coming the sweetest way, through a carved path in the hedge half way down Sandell Place.

It was very hot and yellow when we visited- the last of the afternoon sun was almost uncomfortable and so we probably didn't see this park at it's best, but I imagine that it's quite pretty and popular most of the year round. There is some nice shade near to the playground and whereas it's just a grassy park- no amenities, it would be a great place to have at the back of your garden, almost like a village green.

The playground itself is small, but newer and well designed. There are swings- one big-kid, one toddler, and one climbing structure split into big and small sides. On the smaller side there are chunky platform steps that lead up to a connecting tunnel which 'A' had a good time crawling through. He crawled back pretty soon afterwards to inform me that the big-kid slide was too scary and he proceeded to go down the small metal slide on the small side. I tried out the big-kid metal slide and didn't find it scary but then again, I'm over three-feet tall. There are a whole bunch of climbing options here- things to go up, down and hang from and there are also the lovely attention-to-detail features that I adore in newer constructions- an ice cream window like the one at Vantreight Park, counting number walls and so on. This is all on gravelly sand and we didn't stay long because frankly I couldn't take 'A's incessant removing of his shoes to check that sand hadn't slipped inside. Sigh.

lambrick Park Playground- Gordon Head, Saanich

I've heard a fair bit about Lambrick Park in Gordon Head and how much people enjoy it so it was on our must-see list. I was a bit surprised when I drove up and this was it.

The Playground basically consists of a tall metal slide, a 'climbing car' and four swings- one toddler and three big kid. This is all on sand and underneath nice shady trees. Lambrick Park itself has a lot to offer, playing fields, courts, the Gordon Head Rec centre and of course the kind of facilities that go with it all.

I am of the philosophy that any playground is better than no playground but there are better ones around Victoria, even around Gordon Head, (such as Blair though no facilities and not a lot of shade and Sierra- again no facilities). The phrase 'fun is what you make it' pops into my mind when I see a playground like this because it may not be big and flashy but to some kids and probably some mums and dads, it's probably the best playground in the world.

Blair park Playground - Gordon Head

Blair Park Playground is located at Blair Street & Carnegie Crescent in Gordon Head, Saanich. It's an unassuming little park, no facilities but nicely kept and the playground is surprisingly good for the size and unassuming-ness of the park.

On a sandy gravel (or gravelly sand base- depending on how you look at it) base, this playground is reasonably new and features a climbing structure with an assortment of things to climb and hang from, and with two metal slides, one quite high and one low and wide. There are four swings, two toddler, two big kid, though the big kid ones seemed wonky when I tried them out. There are another four swings set slightly away, like they've been shunned by the rest of the playground for being a bit too old or something.

There is a metal car feature which 'A' climbed into excitedly and out of pretty quickly when he realized that it really wasn't any more than a posh bench. Finally, da da daaa (that was a fanfare) there are two quite interesting and surprising features to this playground. The obvious one is the tall rope-strung roundabout thing. I'm going to call it a cone-rope roundabout. All I can think when I see it are unfortunate school kids being tied to it by more fortunate school kids and being spun around until their faces contort like they are on the wall of death rides at travelling funfairs. Mind you, I just re-read what I wrote and it didn't make it sound very nice but it is a pretty cool feature- and I do like roundabouts as you know. The second unusual feature is a balance beam. Never seen one of these in a playground before and I would like to make some witty comment about it but I can't think of any. I'm far too balanced today.......uggg.....