Category × County
18 Best Parks and Playgrounds In Hampshire
The practical question across Hampshire's eighteen parks is how much of the day each takes off your hands. At the long end, Moors Valley Country Park and Staunton Country Park — both marked free in our records — are the kind of place where a family can spend most of a day without repeating themselves. Itchen Valley Country Park, Avon Heath Country Park and Lakeside Country Park are a morning or an afternoon, which is often exactly what you want. Three entries are not really parks: a house and garden at Hinton Ampner, a working farm at Longdown Activity Farm, and an animal collection at Liberty's Owl, Raptor And Reptile Centre. All three decide the shape of your visit; you do not. Five of the eighteen carry an indoor flag.
Top parks and playgrounds in Hampshire
Showing 1–12 of 18
Parks and PlaygroundsStaunton Country Park
Zoos and Wildlife ParksLiberty's Owl, Raptor And Reptile Centre
Parks and PlaygroundsMoors Valley Country Park
Children's FarmsLongdown Activity Farm
Parks and PlaygroundsItchen Valley Country Park
Parks and PlaygroundsHinton Ampner
Parks and PlaygroundsAvon Heath Country Park
Parks and PlaygroundsLakeside Country Park
Children's FarmsFinkley Down Farm Park
Parks and PlaygroundsSouthampton Common
Parks and PlaygroundsThe Forest of Bere
MuseumsBreamore House and Museum
Two of the eighteen carry a free marker. The rest mostly have nothing recorded either way, which is a gap in what we know rather than a statement about them, so look it up at source before travelling. The other thing worth thinking about is arrival time: popular sites on this list fill up on a good Saturday, and a full car park at eleven changes the day whether or not you had a plan for it. Early is easier with young children in any case.
Parks and Playgrounds in Hampshire: FAQs
Which one takes an entire day?
Moors Valley Country Park and Staunton Country Park are the pair with the scale for it, and both carry a free marker, so nothing is lost by leaving early if it goes badly. A full day outdoors with children needs more than space, though. It needs a lunch plan, somewhere to sit down, and a second activity to switch to when the first one stops working.
What is worth having in the boot?
A picnic, because relying on a kiosk being open is how a good morning ends in a bad mood. Spare socks and a full change for anyone under six. A ball or a kite, since open ground with nothing to do in it gets old faster than parents expect. And wellies, which turn mud from a problem into the entire point of the visit.
Bad weather — what then?
Only five of the eighteen have indoor space flagged, so this category thins out badly once it is wet. Liberty's Owl, Raptor And Reptile Centre and Hinton Ampner each hold an indoor flag as well as an outdoor one, which puts both ahead of an open park in the wet. Beyond that, a park in the rain is a short brisk visit with dry clothes waiting in the car, not an afternoon.
Are these any good with a toddler?
Very, provided you pick a contained one and go in with modest ambitions. Toddlers do not need a big landscape. They need something to climb on, a bit of water, some ducks and a bench for you. The farm and the animal centre suit that age, since the interest sits at eye level and the walking is short. Save the large country parks for children who walk properly.