Another day, Another Park

“Yes, I do enjoy walking at night.

The World’s a lot more to my liking then, not so loud, not so fast, not so crowded, and a great deal more mysterious.”

Cornelia Funke

For me the hardest part of anything new is actually starting it, I find once the first one is over it gets easier from there. So here is park review 1/52 of my series.

Part of this series is to show that playparks aren’t just to be enjoyed on those rare summer days and hopefully this year long personal challenge will show that across all seasons they are of great value to our children.

Usually in the North East of England the weather at the beginning of the year is pretty harsh. It tends to be a mix of stormy, snowy or just wet (the type that freezes you deep to your bones) not exactly the best invitation for getting outside into nature. This year however the first few days of the year were actually record-breakingly mild. Although by the end of the first week the weather was back to -1 °C and dark before bedtime giving me the perfect excuse to let my two year old explore a park by flashlight.

So all bundled up, hats on, big coats zipped up and baby snuggled warm in his sling we ventured to a nearby play park that is semi-lit and very accessible.

We picked Callerton Lane Play Area in Ponteland, Northumberland. This park is great for all weather however being next to the schools in the area it may be best to keep this one for times outside of the school run. It does however have ample free parking and a ton of nearby places to grab a coffee or lunch to suit all budgets.

It’s new and shiny so all the play equipment was immaculate, although lacks any connection to nature which to me feels like a real missed opportunity. This playpark replaced a really amazing park surrounded by trees, fields and had equipment that was sympathetic to its environment with grass running throughout. The highlight for me was always the slide built on the hill and being able to run through the bushes. It’s just my own personal preference for more natural parks.

The new park has fell flat in comparison to its predecessor, it’s bright green with literally no greenery or connection to nature. The fields have been replaced with an imposing multipurpose building that includes two schools and the local leisure centre but provides an opportunity to extend the day with a dip in the pool (which has its own water playpark!) or a run around the soft-play if that’s more your jam.

For me though the highlight of Ponteland is the beautiful river walk and this play park will become a welcome burst of fun for my middle child who lives for swings (It has plenty!), the favourite being the big round one. It would make a lovely easy weekend walk particularly on a warm day so you can dip your toes in the water but it was equally as fun in the dark and fairly safe thanks to the big floodlights and CCTV.

This area is very accessible and this playpark has been modified to be inclusive with the addition of a swing and roundabout.

All in all it was a great little adventure to dip our children’s toes into learning to enjoy the dark.

We would rate this a 3.5/5 stars!

Hope our first review has inspired you to get out into that dark.

See you next time,

Alice x