Equpment by Henderson.
Surface: wood chips.
Updated April 2022. Old review here.
When I first reviewed this playground in 2019, it very nearly qualified as a hidden gem, but it had recently lost most of its trees thanks to windstorms and insects. The decrepit state of the equipment, which under the cover of trees had seemed quaint and cozy, now just felt sad.
Fast-forward to 2022, and a whole lot of work has been done:
A new two-level climber
Small monkey bars and spinner
More seating, partially shaded
Wood chips instead of sand (hallelujah!)
A water feature in the sandbox
Several new trees planted, which should start providing shade in the summer of 2058
The splash pad didn’t get a refresh, which is fine because it was already pretty good. Put it all together and Gledhill is now probably a top-five playground in the niche category of “parks with a footprint not much larger than the surrounding houses”.
The Henderson climber really looks impressive in such a small playground. It replaced what used to be two separate structures – one for littles and one for bigs – but the clever thing here is that the new climber is for both ages simultaneously: the toddler climber sits underneath the big-kid climber. With no stairs directly from the lower level to the upper, there’s no risk of a toddler accidentally ending up at the top of the big slide.
Put it all together and the Gledhill improvements have pushed this playground over the 80 mark, and into official hidden gem territory. Worth a visit, especially once splash pad season starts.
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