How far do you live from a park?

[Curlewwoohoo]

Inspired by another thread about what age you let your kids go to the park alone. Several posts it sounds like the park is very close, which means kids can play alone at an earlier age.

We live in the centre of a market town, we have 3 parks but they are all 20 minutes walk, with some main roads. I can't imagine letting the kids go alone until maybe the summer before senior school. They would need to have some street sense. And maybe a phone.

So, how close is your park?!

My back garden backs onto the local park in my village

One is over my back fence and another is one street away.

5 mins walk, still don't let my kids go there alone and it isn't normal to in my part of London not till teens anyway my oldest is 12 and doesn't go there alone

Two minutes. I’m in London and my DC would go there alone from about age nine - with a strict time that they had to be back.

Regional park, doesn’t have play equipment as it’s a nature reserve, the kids locally do play over there as it has lakes and sculptures - 4 mins walk?

Equipment, 5 mins walk but I wouldn’t go there. There is a skate park 7 mins walk, again wouldn’t go there. The one after that is 15 mins walk and we let our boy go when he was 12 as he was walking to school past it anyway.

Despite the regional park, I don’t live rurally. I’m just outside London.

2 within 10 minutes walk, plus 15 minute walk to regional park with canal and lakes

About a mile I guess. 15/20 minute walk away. A very small play park. But the beach is a 3 minute walk.

I didn't let the kids go on their own until secondary age.

About 3 minutes crossing 2 cul de sacs in one direction then 10 minutes to the bigger one which is similar but has a main road to cross (with traffic lights and a button). Also 2 more about 10-15 minutes in other directions. Our town is great for parks with safe crossings to get to them. By my dc school there’s 2 parks either side then another over the stream bridge. We actually have loads now I think about it. Some I let dc go to alone from age 9, others tend to have older teens so we avoid those.

my 9yos are twins so they went together for 30 minutes max. Not often, usually I went too or older dd went.

500 meters or so.
but dc (teens) prefer to hand out with friends at a different park which is 3 miles away.

It's at the end of the road, so about a minutes walk. However you have to go across a busy road and under a motorway to get there. I cannot see the park from my house. Also the playgrounds are way IN the park, probably 10 minutes walk and the park itself is huge..about 70 acres. My children are >5 so right now I cannot imagine at what stage I'd let them go off without me. We live in a city and it just doesn't feel like something I'd let them do any time soon. Which feels sad. When my sister's children were small their park was about 5 minutes away and they'd go together when they were still in primary school. Be nice to feel comfortable with that but can't see it happening whilst we're here.

5 minute walk, no roads to cross. My DD has been going there with her friends from the age of nine. Suburban area of London.

30 seconds, which was annoying in the summer hols as we had DS's friends knocking for him all day every day.

3 minutes away. Small park, quite nice but some undesirable people there🫣

One is 20-25 mins walk and the other about 15 mins. No main roads to cross so I don’t know maybe from about 10 she could go to the further one alone. The other I’m more reticent as it involves cutting through some woods and the walk is quite isolated.

There is one straight opposite my house. It would take seconds to walk there, and a larger one at the bottom of the street, around a two minute walk.

0.8 miles.

I live across from a recreation ground so DS was lucky, he could practically hear me shout him.

Next door. You can tell when the weather is warmer by the sound of kids playing there

We live 10 minutes walk from a large, well known deer park. I walk in the park most weekdays. Weekends are rammed with visitors so the locals tend to avoid it. It’s a beautiful place and it’s one of the main reasons we chose to live here.

Not super close tbh. We've got four which are within 10 mins walk of us. Not close enough that I'd let really little kids walk there alone tbh. But there are houses right by the parks. I'd be a lot more relaxed about it if I lived that close.

1 is less than 10 min walk. No main roads. But is dire state and we never go.
Another has just been renewed but its next to a ' half way house' full of delinquents and druggies. We went 1st time kids loved it. 2nd time saw 2 syringes. Never went back.

But we have loads of other localish ones but are a drive away ranging from 10 min drive to 30 min ( dcs favourite)

2 min walk. DD only 7 so too young to go just with friends but maybe in a couple of years or so she’ll be able to go without an adult. Very busy park lots of adults around.

Right in front of my house. Small village. Booted kids out alone from very early age along with all the other free range village kids. All very normal here to see very young kids out.

400 m/10 min walk

About 3 mins to our closest, and can get to a few others within a 5-10 min walk.