Cordova Bay Road Playground- Saanich

I have no idea if this playground actually has a proper name, so I'm calling it Cordova Bay Road Playground. It'll come as a surprise then, that it's a tiny little playground perched on the edge of Cordova Bay Road between the road and the beach. We have driven past this little park many times but have never managed to stop and so it was exciting to finally visit it. Good things come in small packages!

There is roadside parking and a wall which protects playground users from harm and the playground itself is surrounded by trees which provide some shade. If you peek through the trees you can see down to the sandy beach or out across the sea in one of BC's stunning scenic drive views.

On a base of gravelly sand, the playground has a small climbing structure, a climbing frame car and a swing set with a toddler swing and a big kid swing. The climbing structure is a sweet thing with steps, a short metal slide, an alphabet climbing wall feature and underneath it has an ice-cream style serving hatch. I took a photo through it but the light was too bright to capture the amazing sea view. They should trim the trees in line with the hatch so that anyone bored of pretending to serve ice-cream can sit back and admire the view.

There is a picnic table and bench here, some grass, some shade and of course, if this place isn't the challenge that your kids need, there is a path down to the beach. This playground is an adorable little pit-stop!

Majestic Park Playground- Saanich

So we were cruising around today in an area that doesn't seem to have a huge number of playgrounds and just as I made some off-hand comment saying just that, we drove right by Majestic Park Playground. You can find the park on Majestic which can be accessed from Shelbourne or Ash in Saanich.

With parking places right along the road, Majestic Park is very well equipped for its size. There are washrooms, a tennis court, a baseball diamond and lots of picnic tables. There are some benches around too and whereas there is no shade actually at the playground, there are shady places nearby where you could set up camp under a tree.

On gravelly sand, the playground is well equipped though slightly older and worn. The main big kid structure is the type that you see all over Victoria, with metal bars and a bright curly plastic slide. There are lots of ways to climb up, an arched ladder, a normal ladder and tires, and the structure is made up of several climbing platforms. There are two slides, a double straight metal slide and a higher curly plastic one. In this part of the playground there are also an old school metal seesaw and a digging machine.

As well as this larger structure, there is also a double big-kid, double toddler swing set and then there is a smaller play area across the path. This is of a different style and has a low climbing structure with a ramp, a couple of climbing platforms, an activity feature and a toddler appropriate slide. This isn't however a structure that I could leave my toddler on by herself because the top platform- rather curiously- has an entire edge open, so no rest for toddler parents here!
There was also a climbing thing- not sure what it was meant to be- perhaps a big climbing worm, but my 3.5 year old son loved it- till he got stuck. No rest for bigger kid parents either!



All is all this is a good little place to stop. It's not the best playground ever but the package of everything at the park makes it an easy place to play. Oh, and it's got a bus stop right out the front by the parking for easy access.

Hyacinth Park Playground- Saanich

We got a hot tip this week to go to Hyacinth Park Playground which is in Hyacinth Park on Marigold in Saanich. We drove around a bit before discovering that the best way to get access to the playground is to take Hyacinth Ave, which is a 'no-through-road' that runs off of Interurban. It has a nice little parking area and is right next to the playground.

Well, the hot tip paid off as this is a great playground. Hyacinth Park is pretty big with sports fields and there is a building there which may or may not have washrooms- we didn't make it over to that side. There are walking trails behind the playground that run onto Panama Flats and they definitely looked tempting had we more time to explore.

On a bed of gravelly sand, the playground has something for everyone. There is a climbing frame car, a double 'duck' seesaw, a double toddler/double big kid swing set, a bouncy thing and two climbing structures.

The smaller structure has steps up to a low climbing tower and a nice double width metal straight slide down. There are a couple of different climbing options to get up. The bigger climbing structure has a good range of things to climb up including hanging mushrooms and an elevated ladder to hang from. There are steps, parallel bars and a nice arched bridge in the middle- always a hit with little ones. There is a low double width straight metal slide and a high climbing tower with a curly metal slide.

This is a great playground in a great location. Lots of grass, trees for shade and multiple picnic tables.

Leeds Park Playground- Saanich

Leeds Park is one of those tiny little parks that's completely surrounded by houses and unless you had a reason to go there, you probably never will. However, if I lived there, I'd be thanking those exact circumstances and the fact that someone decided to build a teeny little playground right there. You can get to it right at the end of Leeds Place and there is limited parking but I doubt it ever gets very busy.

My photos aren't great because they were taken on the phone, but we discovered this great little playground after taking a wrong turn one night just before dusk. My son, who was fed up of accompanying us on grown-up errands all day took one look out of the window and yelled "PLAYGROUND!" So we were pretty much committed.

On a gravelly sand base, this playground is a little gem with two climbing towers connected by a tunnel. There are two straight metal slides, a low one for the little ones and a high one that is actually one of the steepest slides that I have seen. There a various options to climb up and down and a great activity wall feature. There are no amenities but I have the feeling that the clientele can probably all run home if they need a drink or quick trip to the loo.

I don't know what else to say about this playground other than if there was one of these within throwing distance of every child's home we'd have healthier, happier kids.

Howryod and Onyx Park Playground- Saanich

Squashed between Howroyd Ave and Onxy Place there is a piece of grassy land with a small playground on it. It's probably one of those parks that you would never see unless you lived nearby or had a reason to pass, which we did on Christmas Even after dark when we realized with a jolt that we'd forgotten to buy Bailey's. My dad and I cut through the park on the way back from the liquor store and I vowed to visit it in the light to review.
So that's exactly what we did on Boxing day. It was bright, sunny and cold and so we wrapped up warm in mittens and multiple layers and hit the playground.

On a base of gravelly sand, this is a surprisingly well equipped playground considering it is small and tucked away. There are swings- a toddler swing and a big kid swing, a nice high mental slide, a metal seesaw and a climbing frame car.

There are no facilities here except for a bench and a picnic table, but it's a decent sized grassy space and enough to play with to wear kids out before nap time. Our infant girl, S laughed and laughed in the swing and after sampling all the other equipment, pre-schooler, 'A' found a big stick and proceeded to happily draw lines in the sand for a long time. At last, a good use for sand, which as you know is not my favourite!

Craigflower Park Playground- Victoria

Craigflower Park Playground is the 4th playground on the edge of the Gorge that we've visited. You can access the small car park from Gorge Road W just before it joins Admirals and the playground is a hop, skip and a jump from there.

It's not a huge playground, but the equipment is in good shape. There are the usual double big kid, double toddler swings, a metal seesaw a whale bouncy thing and a teeny tiny climbing structure. The climbing frame is really just a low one-platform tower with steps up and a short double metal slide. This is all on gravelly sand.

The real attraction of this little playground is not the equipment, though it is often crowded in good weather; it's the location. Perched on the top of the Gorge, there are sweet views, grassy areas, trees, lovely landscaping and of course, the fabulous Gorge Waterway path that winds all around the water's edge. There is a lot to see and do and even the occasional event or festival to visit. And when you're there, make sure to top off the visit with a quick play at the playground!

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.

Gorge Waterway Park Playground- Victoria

We've been waiting a long time to visit the Gorge Waterway Park playground which is on Gorge just north of Tillicum. It has a little car park and every time we've pulled up something has dragged us away- urgent potty-training emergency, sudden reluctance to mix with any other humans or once I think we forgot our shoes. Sigh.
Anyway today, yes today when it was chucking it down with rain, we finally made it there......and it's adorable.
The first great thing of note is that there were beautiful big sunflowers in the flowerbeds between the car park and the playground. You don't see that many sunflowers these days and they added a lovely quality to the scene. The second lovely thing was that there were big, chunky dump-trucks and diggers strewn around in the gravelly sand which were labelled "Gorge Park- have fun" and suchlike. 'A' was so happy and even though this was the one morning that I'd finally got my act together to straighten my hair and put some make-up on my face which the rain was making short work of, we both quickly forgot the rain. He pushed the trucks around and I strolled around the pretty park.

Okay, so back to business. There are two main climbing structures here one big kid, one smaller kid and everything here is pretty new and well-kept. The big kid side features a great metal curly slide one high-ish tower with lots of ways to climb up including platforms, a spiral ladder, and a hanging ladder.

The smaller kid side is in a pirate ship shape with the ship's bow down low in the sand for little ones to wander around and run their sandy little fingers through the grooves in the activity wall treasure map. Behind the ship is a smaller structure with a lower platform, a spiral ladder, steps and a nice metal straight slide.



There are two big-kid swings, two toddler swings and two bouncy whales. There are benches, a picnic table with some shade and a water fountain just down the path towards the water. Interesting enough this could be viewed as an odd place for a playground -wedged between a busy road and a gorge but the landscaping (thick foliage and bushes) and the small car park mean that it feels nicely enclosed, safe and very loved.

Horner Park Playground- Saanich

You can access Horner Park Playground in Saanich from Kisber Ave, Palo Alto Street or Iona Drive. We've been there before a long time ago, I have a vague memory of search there at dusk for something that we couldn't find but we didn't have kids then so probably didn't even notice the playground. Now however is a completely different story!

On gravelly sand, this playground offers a decent sized climbing structure that would suit all sizes of child. There are three slides- a high curly plastic one, a short double plastic and a short wide metal. There are lots of things to climb up, down or to hang off including platform steps for the smaller kids, climbing wall features, a spiral climbing ladder and a wavy hanging ladder. In the middle there is an ever-popular tunnel that connects the two towers and even when they are super short like this one, 'A' seems to love them big-time.

There are double big-kid, double toddler swings, a reasonably old-school seesaw, and a climbing frame car. There are big playing fields that include a baseball diamond and a basketball court and for a park this size you'd expect washrooms but there are none here. There are benches and picnic tables and good shade near to the playground though the equipment itself is in full sun. To that end, our visit here was very short because, and I will use 'A's words here "Mummy! Too 'ot!!!"

Braefoot Park Playground- Saanich

Braefoot Park on McKenzie Ave is one of those places that you drive past all the time but that unless you have a reason to stop, you never will. We never had any reasons to stop until I caught a glimpse of playground equipment tucked behind the clubhouse thingy and I swerved across three lanes of traffic to get to it. Well actually I didn't, but it makes for a better story than if I just said 'we dropped by next time we were in the area'.

On a bed of gravelly sand, this is a nice new medium-sized playground. It features two separate play structures, one aimed at the bigger kids, one at the smaller kids and while we're on the big kid/small kid theme, this playground has the usual double double swing combo- two big kid, two toddler.

The smaller kid climbing structure features a bunch of imaginative climbing options including 'platform steps', a tower and a straight metal slide. The big kid side has some interesting rope climbing features- a sort of upside-down rope climbing cone, a rope climbing bridge linking to a separate tower and a tower with a metal slide that is nice and fast.

There is also a bouncy animal, a hanging 'wheel' feature, a climbing frame car and a balance beam. It's pretty obvious that we don't frequent this park and so it was a nice surprise to find such a well equiped playground. There are huge fields to play on, some shade and there might be washrooms in the building between the playground and the car park but if there are, they were not obvious when we were there. I don't know when this playground gets busy but it's a great little spot definitely worth visiting for a play.

Rutledge Park Playground- Victoria

Nestled between Inverness Rd and Scotia Rd just off Cloverdale Ave, Rutledge Park is a lovely, well-kept strip of urban-park. There is nice landscaping, lots of grass, a tennis court, parking on either side and a rather good little playground.

On a gravelly sand base there is the usual double big kid, double toddler swing combo, two bouncy things, a twirly thing and a climbing structure that is really aimed at the smaller kids- though it has a decent height of slide. It's a newer piece with several platform steps up, activity wall features, a tiny rope climbing wall and the aforementioned curved plastic slide.


The most interesting feature at this playground is the arched climbing...thing- need to think of a name for it. It's definitely for the bigger kids, 'A' took a stab at it and was caught like a fly in a web within one minute which required some untangling. We are seeing more and more of this kind of climbing structure appear which is great as they use the latest playground technology to create the most amount of playing options in a condensed space. Oh my...I sound like a magazine or worse still, an instruction manual. I'll get back to the playground...... So anyway, the climbing arch has lots to climb up and down and even a plastic hammock in case one gets tired halfway up.

Overall this is a surprisingly nice park and playground considering that it's in such a central location between pretty busy roads (Blanchard and Quadra are both stone throws away....if you can throw really well).

Okay, okay, so I can't finish off without mentioning the elephant in the room...or the park in this case. Yes, there is actually an elephant.....a large, pink elephant with no obvious purpose other than to provoke the question, what's that for?

Answers on a postcard please..............

Nottingham Park Playground- Victoria

We were somewhat lost in the Uplands the other week and driving down Nottingham Road we passed a piece of green park with a postage-stamp of a playground smack dab right in the middle of it. It seemed so small that I actually burst out laughing and we HAD to get out for a quick play.

And a quick play it was! This playground is almost like an obstacle in an obstacle race rather than a place that one would linger with the kids. We raced out of the car, across the grass, up the climbing pods, onto the platform, up onto the higher platform, down the slide......then, after doing the whole thing once more we pegged it back to the car and continued on being lost in the highlands. A perfectly good pit stop and if you need a leg-stretch sometime you should try it.

Oh......for the record. This is a new, lovely little playground in a grassy park that is pretty much a field. You can park along Nottingham. The climbing structure has some climbing options, a double plastic slide and two levels of platform. This is all on gravelly sand.

Kinsman Gorge Park Playground- Esquimalt

Those lucky enough to live around Vic West's Gorge not only have lovely views and great walking trails, but they also have 4 playgrounds scattered along the water's edge. We've been meaning to visit them for a while and managed to grab two this morning in a double play.

You can reach Kinsman Gorge Park Playground by turning into the park from Tillicum Road and taking the path west. The park itself is lovely- well-kept with grassy areas, picnic tables, lots of trees and gardens and of course nice water views.

The playground is slightly worn but it's got decent features and 'A' liked the fact that it was completely deserted- probably because it was lunch time. Split into two parts, the small kid side features a climbing structure with a tower, a ramp, several climbing options and a double plastic slide.



The big kid side has a whole bunch more climbing options, a wider, higher tower with a tunnel and a curly plastic slide and a straight plastic slide. There are things to hang from and even an old wooden balance beam along with a digger machine and several bouncy things. This whole large play area is on gravelly-sand and across the path towards the water there are 6 swings on small pebbles; 4 big kid and 2 toddler. It's worth noting for those that like to swing high that the big kid swings have very long chains- so the potential to go pretty high.

Rathdown Park Playground- Sidney

Okay, so when we visited Tulista Park Playground we took a drive around and stumbled across Rathdown Parkwhich is at Calvin and Bowerbank. We didn't have a whole lot of time to play there, but all playgrounds are worth stopping at, which we did. It's not a glamorous playground, but it's solid and offers some nice playing options. The wooden climbing structure has a ramp, a rope ladder wall and two slides- a half pipe plastic and a higher metal. There are two swings, an old-school climbing frame which is like a long ladder that goes up, across and over (need to think of a name for that one!) and there are two swings- one toddler and one big kid. The playground is on teeny tiny gravel and the park itself is well kept. There are not really any facilities here and there is not much shade but there are good picnic tables, and benches around, and parking was easy on the side road.

We visited this playground a while ago and I needed some help in figuring out exactly where it was. One of the many helpful replies (thanks ladies) gave me this nice tidbit that I thought I should share:

"There is a very large green space that is great for flying kites and driving around remote controlled toys. It is also a good place to learn to ride a 2 wheel bike since there is a very long asphalt pathway that has soft grass on both sides. The large field also tends to flood in the winter and if it freezes the kids like to skate (with their shoes on) on the ice."