St Martins Park

St Martins Park is a quiet neighbourhood playground on Saint Martins Road in St Martins, the Christchurch suburb two kilometres south of the city centre.¹ What families come for is the space: a broad mown lawn ringed by tall hedges and big old trees, with the Port Hills rising behind it.

Equipment

The council's equipment register lists five pieces, spread across the lawn in their own small pits rather than bunched together.²

• A straight slide over loose chip
• Four swings on a red frame, one of them a baby seat²
• A multi-seat spring rocker
• A roundabout

It is a basic set that suits toddlers and younger primary kids. Reviewers single out the roundabout as one that still spins properly, and say children who like ducking in and out of the trees and shrubs along the edges get as much fun from those as from the gear. One reviewer brought their own children here for years and now brings their granddaughters.

Practical Info

A small gravel car park sits off Saint Martins Road, and the play pieces are well back from the road across the grass. Hedges screen the neighbours, but the park is not fenced. There are a couple of benches and plenty of lawn for a rug or a ball game, though the equipment stands in the open with no shade sail. No toilets are in view, so plan around that. The entrance sign asks people to keep bikes off the grass.

Beckenham Park Playground and Mabel Howard Reserve are both a short walk away, about 550 metres each.