Two years ago the Olympics hit London and what a Summer it was! Living so close to the Olympic park meant that we felt that we were among all of the action and even got to watch a couple of the events. As I walked through the Olympic park back then I felt the electric vibe, the atmosphere was amazing and everyone was smiling and in such a happy mood So when i heard that The Olympic was opening up a play area I couldn’t wait to go back to Stratford an explore it with the boys.

Living just over 9 miles away from it means that it is easily accessible for us, just only 34 minutes away in the car or a 25 minutes train journey it’s not long before we reach the park.

Although the Olympic park has been open to the public to walk through and enjoy the surroundings for the past year, last month they opened up a play area in the North Park near the Copper Box called Tumbling bay. The playground features rock pools, sand pits, wobbly bridges, slides, swings, tall tree houses all made from twisting logs and timber. The boys and I decided to pay it a visit yesterday and i must say that we will definitely be back again especially with our bikes and a picnic.

When we first arrived at the Olympic park we walked in through the entrance that was just in front of the stadium and we came across a small play area with sand, a slide, a swing and a rope bridge, the children quickly ran off to explore. Oliver loved balancing across the rope bridge and the children had lots of fun running up and down some moulds on the ground.

Just near to the play area we saw some ladders that went down to the river, we went over to explore and found out that there was a climbing wall down there.

Although it is advised that no one under the age of 10 should be using the climbing wall, I think if your supervising your children and know there limits then it should be fine. Oliver really enjoyed climbing but i made sure that he didn’t go far up.

We decided to make a move on and explore more of the park, as we walked away from the stadium towards the copper box there was an outdoor gym to try and lots of little walkways to go off and explore, the pavements are very big and wide so perfect for a family bike ride.

We found the tumbling bay playground in the North park and at first we thought it was quite small, the boys played in the sand and walked over the wobbly bridge

As we was walking around behind the wobbly bridge we saw the water pumps and thought that it would be best to keep the children away from them as i didn’t have any spare clothes incase they got soaked, I saw some wobbly logs to balance on and we followed around the back and found the real Tumbling bay playground, the boys couldn’t believe their eyes!

It was timber galore! Swings, slides, rope bridges, treehouses and rope ladders, the boys ran off to explore and have fun.

I didn’t see Joseph, my middle boy at all once we got in there, but I did catch a glimpse of him high up in the tree house walking along the rope bridge

There is one thing that Oliver loves and that is a swing and there are plenty of them hanging from the bottom of the rope ladders

 

There is lots to do at the Olympic park, all set within pretty landscaped gardens amongst the winding riverways of the river lea. We can’t wait to get back with our bikes and to spend the day cycling around the park enjoying the surroundings and resting up within in the pretty gardens.