Best playgrounds in Nelson

A concrete whale has kept watch over the sand at Tahunanui Beach since the 1960s, and climbing through its open mouth is still the first stop for most families here. Tahunanui Beach Playground sits metres from the water with a flying fox, water play, a seesaw and a skatepark next door, backed by free parking that fills fast on a summer morning. A few minutes away, Te Pa Harakeke takes the opposite approach on the old Modellers' Pond site, a natural play space built from logs and rocks rather than steel, good for kids who would rather invent their own game.

The Brook Valley holds the two most interesting builds inland. Hockey Reserve won a Resene landscape award in 2013 for a design that turns Brook Stream into play, with colourful mounds standing in for the eddies and a flying fox and bike track for older kids. Further up the same road, Wards Reserve is fully fenced around a flying fox and a pump track, which makes it the easy pick when you have a runner and a toddler at once. Over in the Maitai Valley, Branford Park pairs a small riverside playground with one of the city's few purpose-built mountain bike jump areas, so it doubles as a swim or a ride on a hot day.

Closer to the centre, Botanical Reserve keeps it simple with a slide, climbing frame, carousel and infant swings on bark, aimed at younger children with seating for parents alongside. Out in Stoke, Marsden Recreational Ground is fenced too, built around a tower slide and a dish-style eagle-claw swing that takes a mix of ages, while Fairfield Park in Nelson South is the quiet toddler stop under big mature trees. Nelson is one of the country's sunniest cities, so a hat and a shaded bench matter more here than almost anywhere, and the older trees at Fairfield and the Brook plays beat the thin morning shade at the beach.