York Playgrounds and Parks for Children

For a big playground with everything to hand, most York families land on Rowntree Park by the Ouse, with a zip wire, toilets and a cafe; Homestead Park in Clifton, with an accessible swing and a cafe; West Bank Park in Holgate, with separate areas for younger and older children; and Rawcliffe Bar Country Park, with a climbing boulder and pump track. Every entry was checked against the council’s or park’s own pages on 25 October 2026.

We have not reviewed these playgrounds and nothing here is a ranking of the equipment. Each entry sets out what City of York Council, the parish councils and the park owners publish: the age range, what is there, when the gates are locked, toilets, cafes and parking.

In and near the city centre

Rowntree Park, Terry Avenue

The council describes the Rowntree Park play area as large, with a good range of equipment: play equipment for young children, climbing equipment for older ones, a zip wire and a swing suitable for disabled children. A smaller open-access area nearer the bowling greens has climbing equipment for younger children and a table tennis table, and there is a skatepark and basketball court elsewhere in the park. There are public toilets and the Rowntree Park Reading Cafe, run by Explore York, open 9am to 4pm daily (our listing). The park opens at 8am every day except Christmas Day and closes between 4.30pm in winter and 10pm in summer. It sits in the Ouse floodplain and is shut as a precaution when the river is high. The council’s 2026 parks programme includes a new net for the 6m pyramid climber. Car park on Terry Avenue. YO23 1JQ.

Scarcroft Green, Scarcroft Road

A large open green on the edge of the city centre, which the council says is open 24 hours with level paths and a cycle route. The play area has “a wide variety of play equipment suitable for all age ranges”, and there is an outdoor table tennis table, five-a-side goalposts and plenty of grass. There are no toilets listed. The nearest council car park is Bishopthorpe Road, about five minutes’ walk, and many surrounding streets are residents’ parking zones. Scarcroft Road, YO24 1BQ.

Clarence Gardens, Wigginton Road

Small, traditional gardens next to York Hospital, enclosed by mature trees, with level paths and plenty of benches. The council lists a newly refurbished children’s play area, entered from Haxby Road, which it calls a large site with a good range of equipment. Clarence Gardens holds a Green Flag Award. Cycling is not allowed in the gardens. There is no council car park nearby: the council points to a private pay-and-display car park next door, and buses run from the city centre to the hospital opposite. YO31 8NS.

Glen Gardens, Heworth

The play area at Glen Gardens was rebuilt this year and opened in September, designed with pupils from Tang Hall and Heworth primary schools. The council lists climbing structures, wobble beams, monkey bars, a timber agility trail, an embankment slide, a wheelchair-accessible roundabout, sensory panels and a supportive swing seat, for ages from toddler to 13. One of its two entrances, from the public footpath, is wheelchair-friendly. Glen Gardens has held a Green Flag every year since 2005 and is opened in the morning and locked at dusk by volunteers. Toilets and a basketball court are in the park; no cycling. East Parade car park is two minutes’ walk. YO31 0XH.

Hull Road Park, Tang Hall

A 16-acre park beside Osbaldwick Beck, about a mile from the centre, with two play areas, tennis courts, a basketball court and a five-a-side court. The park is open every day, is not locked at night and has mostly level paths. The Choose 2 Cafe is open 9.30am to 3.30pm, Monday to Friday. It won its first Green Flag Award this summer. Work is under way: an Executive report in October said new surfacing and a seesaw were done, and that an accessible play zone was out to tender, with accessible seating and surfacing due by the end of November (our report). Alcuin Avenue, YO10 3TH.

West York and Acomb

West Bank Park, Holgate

A 20-acre park on the site of the 19th-century Backhouse Nurseries, with a woodland of specimen trees at the top end. It has two play areas: equipment for younger children by the Hamilton Drive entrance, and an area with a basketball court for older children by the Acomb Road entrance. The council’s park page gives them as under 11 and over 11. Both play areas are locked at night, though the park itself is not. There are toilets, a meadow picnic area and a car park off James Backhouse Place. Access is easy except for the stepped rose garden and woodland path. Green Flag every year since 2006. Acomb Road, YO24 4NS.

Back Park, Holgate

A play area for older children: the council lists it for ages 8 to 13, with ten play units, a bike track with ramps and a ball games unit. It is open at all times, with two entrances from the surrounding footpaths. The council says there is on-site parking, and the Esplanade car park is about 15 minutes’ walk. No toilets are listed. Balfour Street, YO26 4XP.

North York

Homestead Park, Clifton

Homestead Park was opened by Seebohm Rowntree in 1904 and is owned and run by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which calls it York’s first free-to-access public park. It is open every day, 8.30am to 7.30pm. The council describes its under-12s play area as large, with equipment for disabled children. The park’s visitor page lists a wheelchair-accessible swing (get in touch to arrange use of hoists) and roundabout, but warns that the lower playground has rough natural surfaces that can be hard going in wet weather. There is an accessible toilet with baby change. The Hive outdoor cafe opens 11am to 4pm at weekends in winter and every day in York school holidays. Free car park off Shipton Road; pedestrian gate on Water End. 40 Water End, YO30 6WP.

Rawcliffe Bar Country Park

Beside the Rawcliffe Bar Park and Ride, this country park has a children’s play area, a free climbing boulder and a pump bike track. The council says the boulder is 3m high with more than 60 square metres of climbing, is suitable for children from age three to adults and needs no equipment or experience. The bike track has a 70-metre inner loop and an easier 140-metre outer one. The park is open access and has held a Green Flag every year since 2009. Toilets are at the Park and Ride, whose car park gates normally lock at 11.05pm (6.30pm on Sundays). National Cycle Route 65 runs past. YO30 5RR.

Ashton Avenue, Clifton

A neighbourhood play area the council lists for toddlers to 13-year-olds, with 17 play units, what it calls an “adventurous landscape”, five seats and bike racks. It is open at all times, with three entrances from the surrounding footpaths. New equipment and better access for the junior area, worth £70,000, are in the council’s 2026 parks programme, with work due by February 2027. On-street parking only. Ashton Avenue, YO30 6HW.

Villages

Bishopthorpe, Keble Park North

The council describes the Bishopthorpe play area as large, “with a good range of new equipment”. It is run by Bishopthorpe Parish Council, whose agendas record monthly inspections and an annual RoSPA safety inspection. There is no council car park nearby, so it is on-street parking. Keble Park North, YO23 2SX.

Ethel Ward Playing Field, Haxby

Haxby’s main playing field, run by Haxby Town Council, has what the city council calls “a good range of equipment for older and younger children” on a large site. The town council is converting the old netball courts into a floodlit multi-sport court and has added a new accessible entrance from the disabled parking bays, it said in August. Calf Close, YO32 3EA.

Poppleton Community Centre, Upper Poppleton

The council calls the play area at the community centre an “excellent site with a wide range of new equipment”, installed in October 2018. It sits beside the centre’s playing fields. On-street parking only. Main Street, Upper Poppleton, YO26 6JT.

Copmanthorpe Recreation Ground

Run by Copmanthorpe Parish Council, the recreation ground play area is described by the city council as a good site with a wide range of equipment. On-street parking only. Barons Crescent, YO23 3YR.

How we chose

These are the playgrounds people search for, chosen on what can be checked: size and range of equipment as described by City of York Council, Green Flag Awards, facilities such as toilets and cafes, and accessible equipment. City of York Council lists more than 70 play areas, and every one is in its play areas directory. We checked every entry against the council’s directory, the parish or town council, or the park owner’s own website on 25 October 2026. Gates, hours and cafe times change, and riverside parks close when the Ouse is high, so check before a long trip.

For more ideas, see things to do in York, what’s on in York this month, October half term in York and our guides to York restaurants and York pubs, or browse the York business directory.

Run a place that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@theyorktimes.co.uk.

Frequently asked questions

Which York playgrounds have toilets and a cafe?

Rowntree Park has public toilets and the Rowntree Park Reading Cafe, open 9am to 4pm daily. Homestead Park has an accessible toilet with baby change and The Hive outdoor cafe, open at weekends in winter and every day in York school holidays. Hull Road Park has the Choose 2 Cafe, open 9.30am to 3.30pm on weekdays, and West Bank Park has toilets.

Which York playgrounds are good for disabled children?

The council lists a swing suitable for disabled children at Rowntree Park. Homestead Park has a wheelchair-accessible swing and roundabout, though the park warns the playground paths can be hard going when wet. The rebuilt Glen Gardens play area has a wheelchair-accessible roundabout and a supportive swing seat, and an accessible play zone is being added at Hull Road Park.

Are York’s playgrounds open at night?

Most fenced play areas in York are locked overnight, including Rowntree Park, Homestead Park, Glen Gardens and both play areas at West Bank Park. Rowntree Park opens at 8am and closes between 4.30pm in winter and 10pm in summer; Homestead Park is open 8.30am to 7.30pm every day.