St Clair Cheltenham Reserve Playground | Review

Torrens Road, near the corner of Cheltenham Road, St Clair

The St Clair Playspace was built as part of the huge residential development on the former Cheltenham Racecourse site, and opened in August 2016.

It’s a fabulous playground catering to kids of different ages, and sits beside beautiful wetlands. However, there are two major points that stop it from being on our Adelaide Top Parks & Playgrounds list.

More on this later, first the positives.

These wooden carved poles incorporating native animals and drums, give the playground an interesting tribal vibe, and great connection with nature.

There are many nature play elements like the timber stepping logs below and it’s pleasing to see that over the last 2 years the vegetation has really grown to make the playground blend well into the natural setting. There are no shade sails above any of the equipment but as the trees get taller there will be more natural shade in years to come.

Toddlers have some cute equipment to play on with the springy see saw above and the little climbing house below which little ones can play inside or on top of – lots of imaginative uses.

The little green car above can seat a few friends for a drive and the equipment below with an animal theme is great practice for climbing, steps and sliding. See if they can spot all the different animals.

Cute photo op with this below.

Cute animals pop up in different places with the springy ride below. A path meanders around the playground; some equipment has soft fall surface while bark chips are used everywhere else.

There’s a baby swing above and other swings below.

This little spinner is fun for those that like to get a little dizzy.

This rope bridge below is great for balancing and those practising tightrope walking.

For the older kids this climbing frame below will challenge them – that arched monkey bar will test them out.

The blue rope climbing frame below is another one for older kids but has the lower level for younger kids to try out too.

There’s a bbq and picnic table with shelter, and large grassy area just beyond.

The playground is right near wetlands and you can follow the paths to walk right around it. You’ll see plenty of ducks and birds here.

Be aware that there is no fence between the playground and the wetlands where there is water.

A short walk away, closer to Cheltenham Parade, there is a basketball court and also a dog park.

Now for the two things to be aware of.

1. Even though this is a great playground with equipment to keep kids happy for quite a long time, plus there is a bbq and picnic table encouraging you to stay for a while, there are no toilets. This playground was built for the benefit of the community living in this residential precinct, but unless you happen to live right near the playground, it means your play will be interrupted if someone needs to go to the toilet. Anyone with little kids will know that when you need to go, you really need to go quickly, so it’s very unfortunate there isn’t a toilet. We do not know if there are any plans to install one.

2. The fencing along Torrens Road (below) is very low in height. When the playground was initially opened there was no fencing so we are glad that this has been added. However, the fencing is only 90cm high and the top of the pull-lever to open the gate is only 120cm high. This means that many toddlers would easily be able to reach this to open the gate. Torrens Road is a very busy road for traffic. If you are supervising more than one child on your own, please be aware that if your child is say around 80cm tall (or even shorter), they could easily stand on tip-toe and reach the gate opener.  Some little kids could easily scale the fence too. To be honest, I have reviewed many playgrounds, and this would have to be the lowest playground fence I’ve seen along a busy road, and has me completely puzzled why it is so low. Coupled with no fencing on the other side where the wetlands water is, this playground requires careful supervision with younger kids, especially ”runners”.

This is such a shame. The playspace has great unique and fun equipment which suits kids of different ages – with the addition of good fencing and a toilet, this playground in this beautiful setting could easily be in our Top Playgrounds list and would be utilised by more people in the community.

Location: Torrens Road, corner of Cheltenham Parade, St Clair (where the old Cheltenham Racecourse used to be)

See our Top Parks & Playgrounds Around Adelaide

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At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.

 All photos are by Play & Go.

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