Westhill Park

On Westhill Dr.

Westhill Park is a familiar one to me. My family used to drive by it every day on our way to school. It's basically a field on a slope. Nothing special. It might be fun to go for roll down, though. Just make sure you stop before you reach the road.

But there's a bench at the top of the hill, right in front of one of the four trees in the park. When I find a particularly well-placed bench, I like to thank whoever it's dedicated to. This bench doesn't have a dedication, but I certainly looked for someone to thank. Here is the view from that bench:

It's similar to the view from Chairlift Park, but much more accessible. We even saw a bus go by while we were there! It's the type of view that I'd be content to watch for hours.

Can we take a moment to observe how very much in love RN and JD are?

Also, there were literally five water bottles within lazy toss distance of this bench. Perhaps a garbage can would be a good idea (I'd say recycling bin, but that's a little ridiculous).

PPR
Good: view, hill for rolling, well-placed bench
Bad: boring, litter, too close to a road where people drive too fast
4/10

Chairlift Park

Chairlift Rd> Chelsea Ct> on Chelsea Close

Chairlift Park was sort of an annoying one. It's a 20 minute walk from the nearest bus stop and a 45 walk from the nearest park (Westhill). However, we realize that most people are not trying to see five parks in one evening. They're probably not busing either.

It is Chairlift Park's isolation that makes it such an important park. Children growing up in the British Properties have the disadvantage of having very few fun places to walk to from their homes. This park is at the very edge of the western British Properties, close to Collingwood Elementary. So, presumably, there are many kids in the area. Chairlift Park stands out alone on the map as the only place for those kids to play. It's a modest but extremely valuable addition to the community.

It has a tiny playground consisting of a seesaw, a climbing structure, and some sort of animal on a spring. When we first saw the playground, we were disappointed, but then ended up having a great time.

Besides the playground, the park consists of a tennis court, a basketball hoop, a picnic bench, and a narrrow strip of grass:

On the map, Chairlift Park appears to be a large chunk of land. However, what you see in the picture above is all you get... which is fine. It was just disappointing. We were expecting a big park complete with trails, but instead we got a tennis court with a border. We discovered that the park land actually exists, but it would require some serious bushwhacking to get through. It's completely wild, and people have been dumping their compost into it. Even one trail through the forest area could improve this park a lot.

But Chairlift Park makes up for it's wasted space with a spectacular view:

If it weren't so out of the way, I'd love to come back to this park and sit on the picnic bench and watch the freighters.

PPR
Good: playground, tennis/basketball court, view, valuable to locals
Bad: deceptively small, lacking trails, inconvenient to visit
6.5/10