Saint Julien Park, London

Located in south-east London at 15 Tommy Hunter Way, Saint Julien Park has a playground, a few soccer pitches, baseball diamond, horseshoe pits, and a disk-golf course along the walking/cycling path that runs along the river.

There is no off street parking here but plenty of space to park on the street in front of the park. The playground is wood chip based and there are public washrooms here but they were not open when we visited.

Foxfield District Park, London

Located in north-west London at 2384 Buroak Drive, Foxfield District Park has a playground, three tennis courts, a basketball court and green space for running around.

After we reached our goal of hitting all the splash pads in the city this summer we decided to go to one of the district parks that we have not been to, and the kids were wowed. I think the bar has been raised with Foxfield District Park.

Ivy Park, Fork of the Thames, London

Located in downtown London, along the river at 331 Thames St. Ivy Park has a small playground, splash pad, and is on the Thames Valley Pathway (TVP) so there’s usually steady traffic of cyclists and walkers (great for people watching, but not in a creepy way please, lol).

As mentioned, the playground here is small, and comes with mixed reviews from my mini adventurers.

Basil Grover Park, London

I’m handing over the park review duties today. My partner in parenting thought he’d take a shot at reviewing our next park. So without further ado, here is daddy and the mini-adventurers review of Basil Grover Park.

What do you do when a park does not quite meet your adventurers expectations? Well, if you are us, you visit a park that is a proven winner from your previous visits and try to get them back to loving their adventures.

Located at 555 Wharncliffe Road S (at Wharncliffe and Commisioners), Basil Grover Park is the district playground for our area and is a firm favourite for all of our children.

The larger play structure and surrounding climbing stuff, including a neat, moving climbing structure on the right of the picture

Gibbons Park, London

Located in central London at 2A Grosvenor St., Gibbons Park has a playground, splash pad, public pool, a music park (how did we not see this before now!!) and is a central connection along the Thames Valley Pathway (TVP) paved paths for walking and cycling.

Gibbons Park Playground

Thames Park, London

Thames Park is located in central London at 15 Ridout St. S, The park has a very large playground, tennis courts, a public pool and a community garden (plots available through the city).

Front view of Thames Park playground.

I’ve been struggling over the past couple of days to write this review. On the face of it, this playground should be a home run, right? It’s a very large play structure, with plenty of features that tick all the boxes, my kids certainly loved it, BUT … as a mom of 4 children, 2 of which are toddlers, I’m not convinced that bigger is always better.

Westminster Optimist Park, London

In south-east London at 650 Osgoode Drive, Westminster Optimist Park offers a brightly coloured playground that is fun for kids of all ages.

The big playground at Westminster Optimist Park

This park also includes Westminster Pool, one of the city’s outdoor pools, which is heated, has a gradual beach style entry and has some water spray features. It’s a very nice pool to book a family swim at.

Constitution Park, London

Located in London’s north-east end at 725 Grenfell Drive, Constitution Park has a splash pad, playground, swing set, basketball court, soccer pitch and green space to run around.

Constitution Park playground

I’d say that this park is geared to slightly older kids (read: not babies and toddlers) as there is no toddler playground. Having said that, my 2 and 3 year old did manage the playground quite well and we all had fun on this family outing to the park.

Meadowgate Park, Summerside, London Ontario

Within the Summerside neighbourhood on London’s south-east end, at 1165 Darnley Blvd, is Meadowgate Park.

Big play structure at Meadowgate Park.

I’m going to save some of you some time. This park is great, fantastic playground equipment, great splash pad, public washrooms available. However….. almost every time we have been here it has been quite busy, and when soccer season is on, it’s even busier during game times (as there are 4 soccer pitches here).

Now that I got that over with, let’s start with the splash pad.

Meadowgate splash pad

Nor’west Optimist Park

Located at 48 Hawthorn Road in North-west London, Nor’west Optimist Park is super cute and knows how to build a themed playground.

The Treehouse – big playground

Today we took advantage of the reprieve of crazy hot weather and visited a park that doesn’t have a water feature but was a favourite of my kids when we stumbled upon it last year.

Riverbend Park

Welcome to one of London’s newest parks. Riverbend Park is located at 1585 Riverbend Road, in London’s west end (I’ve categorized it as both south-west and North-west as it falls, pretty much, on the north/south divide)

Riverbend Park playground.

This park has a playground with a toddler play structure and one for the bigger kids. There is also a new splash pad, swing set (standard, baby and accessible swings), basketball court, baseball diamond and lots of green space.

Medway Park

Located in North-west London at 1045 Wonderland Road N, Medway Park has a pretty cool playground, a splash pad, skate park, and is located in front of the aquatic centre.

One of the play structures at Medway Park

South London Community Centre (SLCC)

Located in South-west London at 1119 Jalna Blvd, tucked behind the library / community centre building you will find a playground and splash pad.

Toddler playground at SLCC

I am, admittedly, having some difficulty writing our review of this playground and splash pad. It’s funny the way that the pandemic has changed our views on things, and in my case, changed the way I view this playground.

Ed Blake Park

Need a playground for kids of varied ages? Look no further than Ed Blake Park.

Located in North-east London at 449 Barker St., this playground has 2 play structures, one for the wee ones and one for the older kids, a splash pad, lots of green space for running around, a soccer pitch and a community garden that you can rent a plot from the city.

Springbank Park

The playground.

Today’s adventure took us to Springbank Park in South-west London, a park that, I’d guess, most Londoners have visited or at least know about.

Located at 1085 Commissioners Road W., along a stretch of the Thames River, Springbank Park is London’s largest park with over 30kms of paths and trails, 4 mini soccer pitches, picnic shelters, a bandshell, pavilion, skate park, playground, wading pool and is home to Storybook Gardens, a city run amusement park for young kids.