Best playgrounds in Marlborough

Pollard Park Playground in Mayfield is the ground Blenheim families set aside a morning for, a giant rope net and climbing towers feeding a tubular slide and a stretch of monkey bars, with a fenced junior zone that keeps the ones to twelves inside the same reserve. It sits in Marlborough's showcase gardens, so the equipment is a short walk from the stream, the ducks and the mature trees that hold shade through a hot afternoon. That shade matters here, because Blenheim logs some of the sunniest, driest weather in the country and the play gear bakes by midday.

The suburban grounds each have their own draw. Mark Smith Reserve in Witherlea is farm themed around a rideable tractor and trailer, with a tunnel, a basket swing and a tubular slide for the pretend-driving age. Sheps' Park in Yelverton skips manufactured equipment altogether for a course of native timber balance logs to climb and scramble along. Harling Park, also in Witherlea, pairs a compact play area with a walled Japanese garden, a waterfall and a koi pond that make the shady end of the reserve the reason to linger. Oliver Park in Redwoodtown is the fenced favourite, running a flying fox beside a little sealed cycle loop that kids ride on bikes and scooters. Horton Park in central Blenheim keeps it simple, with swings and a see saw next to a half basketball court for the older ones.

Over the hill on the Sounds side, Picton Memorial Park Playground sits right on London Quay by the ferry terminal, built around a nautical boat structure with a ramp onto the main climbing deck, a supernova spinner and a water play splash for warm arrival days. Five kilometres northeast, Waikawa Bay Playground opens onto the foreshore reserve, so the swings, the slide and the climbing frame come with a paddle at the beach when the kids have finished.