The DC going to the park on their own - what age?

[FrazzleRock]

We live in a friendly village and DS1 knows a lot of the children of his age, they all knock for eachother to go round to play footy on the field behind our house which has a play park too, it's one street away from us.

DS1 is 11 so is more than capable of going to the park by himself/with friends.
DS is 7 years old. Do you think he is too young to go round with the boys?
I don't feel terribly comfortable with it, even though he's very good and pretty sensible for a 7 year old. He's a bit of a bit of a clown though and has a tendancy to show off.
DP and I are working from home a lot over the summer hols. Though, if he waits until lunchtime I could probably take him out for a bit then. He's just so desperate to join in!

What age have you, or would you, let your DC out with their sightly older siblings?

Ooohhh... Isn't it quiet here today....

Not to worry, I took him out for 20 mins and I went for a run round the field while he played. Two stones and all that.

Now back to work stuff.

My two, 6 and 8 go by themselves but we literally live next door to the park and I can see them from the garden and all the windows along that side of the house. We also have a gate from our garden into the park so they don't have to go out onto the roads at all.

We live in a small village too and you often see the kids rambling in small groups. School encourages them to come and leave by themselves from yr4 also.