George Pentland Botanic Gardens — Attraction in Melbourne

The new playground is best suited for older children and not toddlers. I'm a very relaxed free range parenting type and even I felt I had to shadow our two year old within arm's reach of most of the play equipment. The slide tower is difficult for small children to climb and the only climbing structure. The metal slide was unusable due to being searing hot. The metal round-about had similar overheating issues. There is no shade over any of the play equipment except part of the sand pit. The big log swing is great fun if you're not the toddler getting smashed in the head with it. (Poor kid, I think he still has his teeth). On a more positive note, it's well fenced from the road, has nearby toilets and drinking fountains, and has shaded tables. The wider Botanical gardens are a pleasure to stroll through. There is an unfenced lake and fountain within sight of the playground. It's fairly easy to supervise multiple children at this playground. Our 3 school aged children had a fantastic time. I will try to attend without our toddler...

Also known as the Frankston Botanical Gardens this park space is comfortably under utilised, meaning for most of the year, except on sunny weekends during summer, you'll get most of the park to yourself. It's not huge, you could probably go from one end to the other in 30 minutes of brisk walking, but within the park space there's plenty of walking trails, a lake, playgrounds, ducks and the odd piece of art (often Indegenious) to surprise you. Bbq facilities and picnic tables (open or undercover) are scattered about and there's plenty of grassy knolls to sit at if you prefer to picnic. Sadly the park does not allow dogs (Very likely because of the ducks and other birds that gather at the lake) but there is a dog friendly park just across the road, a little but further down at the...

It's okay. A mid-sized park with some parking available (I'd suggest Williams Street). There are trails, a small man-made pond, amenities, a BBQ/picnic area and a playground. There are a couple of interesting pockets, carvings and so on, which is good if you're having a wander, but It's not a place where you could walk for hours. Of course the gorgeous Frankston foreshore is only a couple of KM away (I waked through Beauty Park from these gardens to get to the trails along the beach, which was an easy enough walk) so you could easily lobby a visit to the GP Botanic Gardens into a larger exploration...