I have been to a few fancy playgrounds in my life. However, nothing has rivaled the Terra Nova Adventure Play Environment in Richmond. If you ever wanted to see what a $1 million playground looks like, this is it.
I’m not sure how the city of Richmond got approval to spend $1 million on a kid’s playground, but I’m glad they did. Sally and her cousins had a great time playing there.
The “play environment” represents a major departure from other contemporary playgrounds in that most of the features are custom designed (you expect that for $1 million) and manufactured using British Columbia sourced Yellow Cedar and sustainable design practices, rather than conventional, ‘off the shelf’ metal and plastic products. The Terra Nova Adventure Play Environment is organized into two distinct zones.
The Paddock which was once home to horses and stables, now includes:
- Tandem 35m long ziplines (8yrs +)
- 3m high big swings (8yrs +)
- A pivot swing (5yrs +)
- A twisting stainless steel hillside slide!(5yrs +)
- A rolling hill to hop, skip and bound down (2yrs +)
- A meadow maze (2yrs +)
The Homestead, the site of a former farm house, includes:
- A custom designed 10m tall Tree House with four platforms, a central rope ladder, and a stainless steel spiral slide (8yrs +)
- The Log Jam: A climbable timber structure (5yrs +)
- An aerial rope walkway (5yrs +)
- The Spinnery (5yrs +)
- A farm inspired water and sand play area (2yrs +)
- A timber swing for the young ones (2yrs +)
If you ever find yourself in the lower mainland of Vancouver, you should definitely take a side trip to Richmond to check out the Terra Nova Adventure Play Environment, especially if you have kids. They’ll love it, and you’ll just have as much fun on the zipline as they will.
