Lindisfarne Reserve

Lindisfarne Reserve (Te Papa Rāhui o Lindisfarne)¹ is a wide, flat lawn on Lake Road in Northcote, Auckland, with a compact playground in one corner right beside the Northcote Preschool fence. New apartment blocks from the Northcote redevelopment have gone up all around the reserve, so it works best as a quick run-around for families living close by rather than a destination.

Equipment

Photos show a bark-filled play pit edged in timber. A long steel swing frame carries a belt swing and two toddler bucket swings, and next to it stands a spinning rope climber on a central mast. Further along is a tall steel climbing frame with ladders and hanging chains for school-age kids. We have not seen a slide in any photo. A Google reviewer calls it a good basic playground, which is fair: toddlers get the bucket swings, and roughly preschoolers through to about eight get the most from the climbers.

Auckland Council consulted in late 2023 on renewing the Lindisfarne Park playground in Northcote, proposing to upgrade the existing equipment and renew the footpath from the car park to the playground.² Some of the photos we hold predate that programme, so the line-up may have changed.

Practical Info

The reserve is not fenced. Timber bollards line the road edge, and reviewers note it sits on the corner of a busy road, so keep runners within reach. There is no shade over the play area, and the trees planted across the lawn are still young and staked. There are no public toilets. The reserve sign shows parking, allows dogs on a leash and marks the park smokefree. The big open lawn is the bonus: plenty of room for a ball game.

Kukari Reserve is barely 100 m away and Lenihan Reserve about 250 m, so it is easy to string two or three play stops together on foot.