Parks in Richmond for Family Outings

I get asked this one constantly, usually by a friend with a four-year-old and a two-hour window before nap time. The honest answer is that Richmond has far more park than people realise, because we are a delta town ringed by dykes with farmland behind them, but a lot of it is not set up for a family outing. Plenty of it is a gravel path beside a slough with no shade and no washroom. Perfect for me on a bike at seven in the morning. Much less useful with a stroller and a kid who needs a toilet.

So here is my working list, in roughly the order I recommend it.

What I am judging

Four things, none of them scenery. Washrooms, because that decides the whole afternoon. Parking, because several of these fill up on a sunny Saturday and there is nowhere to circle. Wind, which people coming from Vancouver underestimate every time; the western edge of the city is open to the Strait of Georgia, and it can be pleasant in Broadmoor and genuinely cold at the tip of Steveston on the same afternoon. And food within a five-minute walk, because a snack failure ends a day faster than rain does.

Terra Nova Rural Park, if you only go to one

Northwest corner of the city, out where Westminster Highway runs into River Road. The draw is the adventure play area, which is the least municipal-feeling playground in Richmond. Big timber structures, a lookout, slides set into a mound, sand and water to make a mess with, and enough scrambling that kids sort themselves out by age without an adult refereeing. I have watched a seven-year-old lose an hour in there without once asking for a phone.

What makes it work is what surrounds it. Working farm fields, community garden plots, an orchard, and a path that carries you out to the dyke in about ten minutes. You do the playground until they are done, then walk to the water and look at the mud flats and whatever birds are working them, and the walk reads as a reward rather than a chore. I ride this stretch most mornings, and it peaks in the hour before sunset in late summer.

The lot off Westminster Highway is not big. On a clear July Saturday, come early or come another day. There is not much shade over the play structure at midday, so bring water and hats.

Garry Point Park, for wind, kites and an argument about chips

The far western tip of Steveston, past the end of Moncton Street. Open grass, driftwood, a gravel beach, the Fishermen's Memorial needle, and a small Japanese garden tucked away in one corner that is the quietest five minutes in the neighbourhood. It is the best kite park in Richmond by a distance, mostly because of the same wind that will make your toddler miserable if you dress them for the forecast instead of for the shoreline. Fleece in July. I mean it.

Food is the reason this one lands well with kids. Garry Point Grill & Fish 'N' Chips sits right at the edge of the park, which saves you a walk when someone has hit the wall. With more patience, carry on along the waterfront to Pajo's Fish & Chips out on the wharf and eat over the water, though from about noon on a summer weekend you are queueing and the tables go first. Heading back through the village there is Timothy's Frozen Yogurt and Screamers Soft Serve & Treats, and plenty of Steveston afternoons end in a negotiation between those two. Sweet Surrender Gelato is what I pick when nobody else is voting.

Parking is a big gravel lot that looks generous and is not. The overflow move is to leave the car nearer the village and walk in along the water.

Minoru Park, the one that survives bad weather

Right behind Richmond Centre, between Granville Avenue and Westminster Highway, and the only park on this list you can reach easily without a car in any weather. Richmond-Brighouse station is a short walk. Minoru Lakes with the bridges and the ducks is the obvious part, and it is genuinely lovely in fog. But the real reason it is my rain hedge is everything crowded around it: the Cultural Centre and the main library on the north side, the aquatic and fitness centre, the arenas, the little heritage chapel. If the sky turns, you move indoors without getting back in the car.

It is also the flattest, most stroller-friendly loop in the city centre. Paved paths, benches, big trees, a playground. Parking is shared with the sports facilities and gets tight around game times on weekend mornings, which is the thing that catches people out. Otherwise it is my default when the weather cannot decide, which in Richmond is most of March.

South Arm Community Park, in July and August

Off Williams Road on the south side of the city. Ordinary for most of the year, and then in summer it turns into one of the best-value afternoons in Richmond, because the outdoor pool opens. Playground next to it, community centre with programs running, ball diamonds, plenty of grass. Bring a picnic and plan on three hours rather than one.

Check the schedule before you drive over. Outdoor pool hours move around with the season and I have been turned around at the gate before.

Steveston Community Park, for kids past the playground stage

A few blocks in from the water, around Moncton and Chatham. Ball diamonds, a track, tennis courts, a skate park, the community centre and its own outdoor pool in summer. This is also where the Salmon Festival lands on Canada Day; that morning the entire neighbourhood is here and parking is a lost cause.

My honest take is that this suits eight-to-fifteen-year-olds better than little ones. The skate park does a lot of the work. Smaller kids do better at Garry Point or Terra Nova. On the way out you are a few minutes from Steveston Bakery on Moncton Street, which solves the bribe problem, and Outpost Mini Donut Company is in the same orbit if you want the louder option.

Richmond Nature Park, for the low-effort day

Out at Westminster Highway and No. 5 Road, sitting on peat bog, which makes it completely unlike everything else on this list. Wood-chip trails through bog forest, a duck pond, and a nature house with displays that hold small kids longer than you would expect. It is shaded, it is quiet, and it is one of the few places in Richmond where wind is not a factor at all.

Two warnings. The mosquitoes from roughly June through August are serious and I am not exaggerating, so bring repellent or come in the shoulder seasons. And the loops are short, so this is a one-hour park rather than a whole afternoon. Pair it with something else; the parking is the easiest of anything here.

The neighbourhood parks I use more than the famous ones

Garden City Community Park, up at Garden City Road and Westminster Highway, is a big flat open space with sports fields and a playground, and it is where I go when I want somewhere unremarkable and half empty on a Tuesday. Garden City Bakery has been my stop more than once on the way, and COBS Bread in the Blundell plaza does the same job on the south side.

Paulik Neighbourhood Park, off Granville, is a heritage garden rather than a play park. Roses, hedges, a short loop. Wrong for a five-year-old with energy to burn, right for a grandparent and a slow half hour. Hugh Boyd Park out in Seafair is open ground for a scooter and a soccer ball. London Farm, at the foot of No. 2 Road, pairs a heritage farmhouse and garden with a stretch of the south dyke, which makes it my pick for a family with mixed ages and mixed patience.

For dog people, and I am one, King George Park has the off-leash area I use most, and the scattered off-leash corners elsewhere in the city make a trip work when you have a dog and a kid at once. Biscuit has opinions about all of them.

A few practical things

• The dykes are gravel, not pavement. A jogging stroller is fine. A light umbrella stroller will fight you.
• Dress for the shoreline, not the forecast. Richmond weather at No. 1 Road and Richmond weather at No. 5 Road are not the same weather.
• By transit, Minoru is the realistic option. Steveston needs the bus or a car, and Terra Nova really needs a car.
• I still carry a bit of cash for the small ice cream and snack windows, out of habit. It has never once hurt.
• Washrooms thin out at the outlying parks in the off season. The community centre parks are the January answer.

Grey sky and ninety minutes, go to Minoru. Clear sky and four hours, go to Terra Nova and walk out to the dyke. That covers most weekends here.

The short version

Terra Nova first, for almost any age. Garry Point when the weather is good and you want the water and the wind. Minoru when it might rain or you have no car. South Arm and Steveston in July and August, for the pools. Richmond Nature Park when you want a quiet hour with no wind at all. It took me an embarrassingly long time to stop over-thinking that question.