Shute Park: the oldest park in Hillsboro, and still the most useful

Shute Park has been a park since 1906, which makes it the oldest in Hillsboro. More usefully for a family, it is three things on one site: a playground, an aquatic centre and a library branch.

That combination is unusual and it is the reason to choose Shute Park over somewhere closer. A morning can be a swim, then lunch, then an hour in the library when the weather turns or when everyone has had enough of being outdoors. Few parks give you an indoor option on the same visit, and with small children an indoor option is what turns a ruined afternoon into a good one.

The age of the park is not just trivia either. Older parks tend to have mature trees, and mature trees mean shade — which in July is a feature, not a detail.

What to think about before you go. The aquatic centre and the library keep their own hours and the pool may need booking, so check both before building a day around them; a closed pool is a much harder conversation than a closed playground. Weekends are busier here than at smaller neighbourhood parks.

Best for: a whole morning or afternoon, unpredictable weather, and families who want a plan B on the same site.