Category × County
19 Best Parks and Playgrounds In Devon
Nineteen entries sit under parks and playgrounds in Devon, but they are not nineteen versions of the same thing. Simmons Park and Bicclescombe Park are town parks with equipment and grass. RHS Garden Rosemoor and Burrow Farm Gardens are gardens, where the pleasure is walking and looking. Berry Head National Nature Reserve is clifftop and coast. Canonteign Falls is built around a waterfall and a climb. Pennywell Farm and War Horse Valley Country Farm Park are animal attractions that ended up here instead of under farms. If what you actually want is a slide, a swing and a bench, the real list is a good deal shorter than nineteen.
Top parks and playgrounds in Devon
Showing 1–12 of 19
Children's FarmsWar Horse Valley Country Farm Park
Parks and PlaygroundsBerry Head National Nature Reserve
Parks and PlaygroundsSimmons Park
Children's FarmsPennywell Farm
SightseeingRHS Garden Rosemoor
Parks and PlaygroundsBurrow Farm Gardens
Parks and PlaygroundsBicclescombe Park
Parks and PlaygroundsCanonteign Falls
Parks and PlaygroundsWatersmeet
Parks and PlaygroundsWest Hoe Park
SightseeingCockington Court
Parks and PlaygroundsHaldon Forest Park
The category earns its place precisely because it is broad, since it is the quickest way to see every kind of open-air option in one place, but it needs filtering by hand. Sort by what each site is rather than what it is called: garden, reserve, farm, or plain park with equipment. Note too that indoor space is flagged on just six of the nineteen, so the category quietly assumes you came dressed for the weather.
Parks and Playgrounds in Devon: FAQs
Why are farms and gardens showing up under parks?
Because most of these sites do more than one thing and a single category has to be picked. A farm park with a big play field, a garden with a family trail and a country estate with a playground all have a reasonable claim to the label. The result is useful breadth and unhelpful precision. Read the second line of each listing, which usually gives away what the place really is, before deciding whether it fits the afternoon you had in mind.
Which entries are actual playgrounds?
The town parks. Simmons Park and Bicclescombe Park answer that description most directly: municipal green space, play equipment, paths and a bench. They are the low-commitment end of the category, where you can arrive, stay half an hour and leave without feeling you wasted a booking. The gardens, reserves and farm parks are all day-out propositions that expect more of your time and, in several cases, a ticket.
What happens to this category in bad weather?
It empties. Outdoor covers all nineteen and inside space appears on six, so a wet Devon Saturday leaves you with a walk in waterproofs or a change of plan. The larger ticketed sites cope best, because a farm park or a garden usually has a barn, a glasshouse or a cafe to retreat into. A town park has a bench and, if you are fortunate, a shelter that somebody else got to first.
Is nineteen a lot for a county this size?
No. Spread across a county this large, nineteen listings will not be the whole picture, and the gaps fall where you would expect: village playgrounds and estate play areas rarely get listed anywhere. Read it as a shortlist of places worth driving to, not a directory of every swing in the county. For the nearest set of swings to wherever you are staying, a local search will still beat any directory.