Stanmer Park Playground

If you’re based in Brighton and haven’t made the trip up to Stanmer Park yet, you’re missing out. The playground itself is solid — slides, swings, a climbing structure — and the whole thing sits right on the edge of the forest, so there’s actual shade when the sun shows up. Kids aged 2 to 12 tend to get a good run out of it, and parents can actually sit on a bench and breathe rather than hovering the whole time, since the layout keeps everything visible. There’s parking, loos, and a cafe nearby, which makes it doable as a proper half-day rather than a quick stop. Bring the dog too — the walking trails through the woods are genuinely lovely, and the open grass fields mean nobody’s fighting over space.