Parks and green spaces

Wherever you are in Sheffield, there's sure to be a park, playground, woodland or other green space nearby to enjoy.

Sheffield's parks have been categorised into 3 types: City, District and Local.

Rivelin Valley Water Play

Children can enjoy paddling and playing with interactive water play equipment at Rivelin Valley Water Play, which can be found off Rivelin Valley Road near Rivelin Park Cafe.

Rivelin Valley Water Play is open Spring Bank Holiday onwards and closes the first weekend of September. 

Opening times:

• 11am to 5pm everyday during school holidays
• 11am to 5pm on weekends only during term time

Sheffield Botanical Gardens

Originally laid out in 1836, the Gardens are listed by English Heritage as a Grade II site and contain a number of listed buildings, including the stunning glass pavilions.

The restoration programme in 2005 was in keeping with the spirit of the original Victorian design, whilst rejuvenating the plant collections and adapting the Gardens for modern-day needs.

As well as providing a 'green lung' in this built up area and catering for general amenity, the gardens have outstanding plant collections, making them a centre for horticultural excellence and providing educational opportunities.  The project was a partnership between us and Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust, Friends of the Botanical Gardens, Sheffield Town Trust and The University of Sheffield.

Park playgrounds

There are over 100 children's playgrounds in Sheffield’s parks and open spaces.

All the playgrounds in Sheffield's parks and open spaces are inspected on a daily, quarterly and annual basis:

• we are responsible for the maintenance of all the equipment and facilities provided
• all new playground equipment complies with European Standard EN1176/7

Contact us if you have any queries or comments or would like to report any problems or accidents with any of the playground equipment or facilities.

Sheffield’s parks byelaws

Byelaws for "Public Pleasure Grounds in Sheffield" cover many of the city's parks and green spaces. These existing byelaws were fully reviewed, amended and produced in 1966 and relate to the powers in the Public Health Act 1875 and Open Spaces Act 1906.

Drones

Drones may not be flown from Council land without our permission.

Permission will only be granted where:

• use of a drone device helps reduce risk in the workplace, such as working at height
• land and building survey work
• to undertake professional services such as festivals and events media

Parks byelaws already restrict the use of powered model aircraft.

Metal detecting

As part of our byelaws for green spaces, metal detecting is not permitted on land managed by Parks and Countryside. This is to prevent damage to green spaces and reduce risk of injury to park users.