Quick! The Telegraph would like your comments on the great British sandpit shortage

[HelenMumsnet]

Morning all.

The Telegraph is planning to run a story on the not-so-gradual disappearance of sandpits from public parks and playgrounds - and they want to know what Mumsnetters think about it all.

Is there a public sandpit near you? Do you take your kids to it? And would you (and they) miss it if it closed?

Or do you dislike/avoid them - and think it's a good idea they're disappearing?

We have one in our park and the kids love it.

So do the cats i suspect

I have one in the garden as well which has a cover over it, kids love this too.

Think we would miss it if it went yes.

I would love one where we live (although we live close to the beach so maybe that's why we don't have any?) but only if it was clean and maintained well my concerns would be cat poo, needles, urine and vomit.

There is a fabulous sand pit and paddling pool / water feature in wimbledon Park. While we do not live there we go frequently as my children love it and are never out of it. Never uncovered anything yucky at all, suspect it is well maintained though, I don't know when they would get a chance to do it as there are always children in there. If it went they would definitely miss it.

In Nottingham, where I live, they're turning the whole market square into "Nottingham by the Sea" for the summer - with a big beach of sand plus water etc. It always go down a storm.

Personally I think sand is highly overrated. I have a bit of an aversion to getting sand everywhere, always have. Especially with sun cream for it to stick to. Makes me shudder a bit. DD2, who is two, much prefers some nice pebbles to play with.

There are some fantastic sandpits in Bath. The big one in the Royal Victoria Park has got new diggers this year. These are very popular. I'm not letting the Telegraph report on the others as they are Not For Tourists .

I wasn't aware such a thing existed. There is nothing of that sort around here, and if there was the sand would simply be taken and used in a garden or possibly for patio laying etc.

Them days are gone, as my Nan says.

There used to b a lovely sandpit with slides in the big park in Brighton we went to.

Is it still there?

oh there was a fabulous children's play centre in scarborough where the whole play park bit had a deep sand floor, with diggers and scoops and buckets etc. It was awesome. Sadly the council have sold the land for 'development' which now is not even going ahead because of the resession.

Some of my happiest memories were of playing in Gosforth Park sandpit when I was a nipper. I don't think I have seen one in a municipal park since I was a child,

Obviously just for you gentry folk in Lunnon town....

I wouldn't take my children to one, who knows what would be in it.

we have a fabulous sandpit near us in Finsbury Park. It is great and always full, even on rainy days. There is plenty of sand in there (enough to lose many a bucket!) and it's always well maintained and clean.

I would be devastated if it closed - so would DS. We allow our children far too little grubbing and digging time these days and as many London children don't have gardens it's often their only chance to potter about with bare feet and a spade.

All the children take their buckets and other toys and it is one of the few places in the park they really interact and share. Other park facilities promote a turn-and-turn about kind of playing, which is valuable too, but it's not as interactive as a sandpit. Most parents treat the toys as communal while they are in the sandpit and encourage their children to share them with others and swap spades etc. You rarely see this with - say - scooters or footballs. And as a parent I have met many other mothers and fathers standing at the side of the sandpit watching our children building their own worlds.

Our next two parks, Priory Park and Clissold Park, also have sandpits, equally well-used by the local community. By the sounds of it we are very lucky.

[wipes eye]

There's a sandpit near us, the park is spotlesslt clean and really well maintained. The council digs all the sand out every so often and replaces it all. The sandpit is used in all weathers and one the most popular things in the park.

I do pay a shedload in council tax though, but at least I can see I get some benefit from it.

Whiteley Village shopping centre (near Fareham, Hants) has a lovely one. Even has an eye washout station in case of accident, and clothes brushes attached to the wall of a close by shop.

We worry too much these days! As a child I remember playing in rivers, coming out with leeches stuck on my legs. Crossing weirs for a dare. Building dens in dark corners of woods, climbing trees etc. Yes, I fell sometimes, hurt myself, scared myself. I came across condoms, porn mags, half drunk bottle of meths and dead cats. I am still alive.
Finding poo or a condom in a sandpit isn't nice, but really it isn't a big deal. Chances of 'contamination' are small, and we need to build up immune systems anyway. If something nasty is found - take it away and put it in a bin. Don't let these sort of anxieties stop your children from having fun

We have one in our local park and my DCs love it. I am a bit unsure about cat wee, etc being in it but then again they roll around on the grass where cats could also have wee-ed. I think parents are too paranoid these days.

they're building lots more natural play parks in the UK have tons of money being ploughed into it. surprised telegraph didn't know.

We have four parks we can walk to with sandpits, we use them all, DD (17mths)absolutely loves them. I try not to think too hard about the hygiene issue; if you get there first thing in the morning that sand has visibly been raked since the day before and anyway I doubt if she'll consume a full peck of dirt there. Less than a peck is ok by my reckoning.

there are sandpits in all of our local parks. I haven't noticed them disappearing. All 5 of my children have loved them - and still do - I would really miss them too as they keep the children occupied for hours with minimal involvement from me

I sometimes think about cats etc, but none of mine have been ill so far, and we have cats at home that are more likely to infect the dcs anyway.

whereabouts do you all live with your sandpitty parks?

ohdearwhatamess you must be near us as we are about 5 miles from Letchworth. Not sure if the park there does have any sand or not any more - although we go into Letchworth often we're not normally at that park. I think the paddling pool there is operating again at the moment.

There isn't any sand in our village playground - not sure where other than Letchworth is a near one.

I don't worry about stuff in the sand much although broken glass is very not good.

I know of only one sand pit locally - it is in a local garden where you have to pay to enter - so I suspect no dogs, cats, broken glass etc

I think of them as cat toilets
DS and dd not really bothered by their disappearance - we have a small one in the garden anyway

I agree with crouchingtigger.

We used to play out alone in the fields and river behind my grandparents' house. No-one was picking up the fox poo there, that's for sure.

To be honest the biggest poo risk to my kids is the walk to the park, which is absolutely littered with crap.

In comparison I'm not too worried about the sandpit.

In terms of drunks/needles etc, the park has an 8 foot fence around and is locked at dusk so they'd have to be pretty lively and enthusiastic drunks to get all the way over to the sandpit. The play area is also fenced again (against dogs). You probably get a fair bit of goose/duck poo in there but so what?

FWIW, as kids in the 60s, neither dh nor I remember sandpits in public parks. There were lots of people with home made sandpits at home though - even we had one! Heaven knows where the sand came from though I have a very vague recollection of it being replenished occasionally; probably builders' sand.

Our cats always pooed in it but it didn't worry anyone, the turds would be covered in sand by the time we found them and we'd just chuck them in the flower bed. It might be why The Parents got rid of the sandpit in the end though!