Monday, May 7, 2018

villa park

One thing I love about city life? There's almost always a second option. Last week we made our way to a park and arrived full of excitement--only to discover that the city is currently planting trees there.

As glad as we were for the tree nursery, the park was closed for the planting project. I whipped out my phone, said a quick prayer for a nearby, kid-friendly park, and thanked the Lord for Roseville's parks and rec system.

Not two miles away was Villa Park (2055 Cohansey Blvd), our second option.


Here's what you need to know:
Parking: Off-street
Age range (playground): 5+
Sidewalks: Well-paved and connects with a trail
Seating: Limited benches
Bathrooms: Inside warming house
Picnic tables: 1
Grills: None
Sports field: Open field to one side of playground

The park is easy to spot from the road, so we had no trouble finding it. We parked off the street, right by the sidewalk leading to the playground. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the equipment is in pretty good condition. The playground is laid with mulch.


There's a single playground that's probably best suited for kiddos ages 5 and older. Zoey (15 months) had a great time, but only on a small part of the playground.

Titus (3) and Madi (4) also enjoyed the playground, but could only navigate about half of it with their skills at this point.


There's only one pair of side-by-side slides, one slide tunnel, and one climbing slide (not sure what this was, exactly, but Zoey loved it!). Most of the playground is climbing-heavy: monkey bars, climbing wall, and climbing "mountains." There are also some raised stepping stones.

A unique feature of Villa Park is the built-in drum sets. There are two large hand drums attached to the top of the playground and several smaller hand drums attached underneath the vaulted bridge. My kids enjoyed banging away on them.


Behind the playground is a swing set with both baby and regular swings. To one side of the playground is a bench swing.

There's an open field right by the playground. Behind the swing set is a beautiful water reservoir with a trail that goes right between two bodies of water. The trail continues to a bridge and then disappears in either direction. There was a good deal of foot traffic on the trail while we were there (morning).


While there are nice restrooms on site, they happen to be across the field and half-court. With young kids, there's no way we'd make it there in time if they suddenly needed to go.

Parents also be warned: As beautiful as the water reservoir is, it's pretty close to the play area. If you've got fast kiddos who love to make a run for it, you'll have to keep an extra close eye on them to make sure they don't go near the water. There's no fencing between the trail and reservoir.

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