Penistone Park is a large green park in Greenwood surrounded by tall shady gum trees. A new playground has recently been installed, and it is a delightful mix of traditional play equipment and nature play.
On arriving, Miss 4 took off and headed straight to the traditional play section with rope ladders. This area includes a double rope ladder, like one might find on a ship. Miss 4 was proud to reach the top!
Attached to this is bars for swinging. Perfect for bigger kids with more upper body strength. This joins to another section via some steps, leading to a tunnel and a small slide, a rope bridge, fireman pole and a taller bumpy slide. Miss 4 especially enjoyed the rope bridge and climbing through the tunnel.
Freestanding in the sand we found a spring rocker built for two and a sand funnel. Kids are encouraged to pop in the plug the sand funnel, fill it up, and then unplug and watch the attached paddle wheel spin as the sand flows down. With the sand damp from the recent rains, it wasn’t working so well the day we visited. With lots of sand available, you could bring sand play toys like buckets, spades or trucks along for extra fun.
Outside of the sandpit, the adjacent area is spread with bark chips and set up with balancing logs, and a wooden tent for imaginative play. Miss 4 especially loved testing her balance, clumping over the uneven logs in her gumboots.
Beyond this is a bird’s nest swing and a smaller butterfly shaped spring rocker. The base is rubbery soft fall, which is gentler on little knees if there’s a tumble. This area has a barbecue with two hot plates and a covered picnic table attached. Another covered picnic table is also located nearby beside the tennis courts. Perfect for family get-togethers or casual birthday parties.
Beside the barbecue, we found a curious little tower with bins wired together at the top. A plaque revealed this artwork is called ‘Little Ben’, and a quick Google search explained that this is an artistic tribute to the famous clock, ‘Big Ben’, in London, created by artist Phil Gamblen. This rustic tribute strikes the time on the hour and on the quarter hour between 9am and 5pm (so no wake up chimes for the neighbours!), and plays the Westminster chimes with loud thumps and clunks that are reminiscent of someone taking out the dustbins. It’s actually quite charming and quirky in its own way and ties in well with the nature play component of the playground.
Penistone Park is also a sporting facility and features tennis courts as previously mentioned, as well as two large grassy ovals, basketball hoops and batting cages for softball. The main oval is designed for football, softball, cricket and lacrosse. So very versatile.
The second, smaller grassed area at Penistone Park to the opposite side of the clubhouse was popular with dog walkers we noticed and would be great to kids walking to kick a footy around within view of Mum or Dad playing with younger siblings in the playground.
Concrete paths connect both carparks, running past the club rooms and around the playground. So well worth bringing scooters or bikes if the kids want to practice riding. We saw some boys racing around having a ball on bikes and scooter while we were here.
In summary, Penistone Park has a bit of everything to suit most active kids and families. The only thing we didn’t spot was public toilets. I believe however there should be toilets available at the club rooms, but they don’t currently show on the National Public Toilet map.
Penistone Park
Penistone Park is located on Penistone Street, Greenwood. Off street parking is available off Penistone Street and off Loxham Place.
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