Camperdown Park Playground is a fully fenced, nature-based playground in Camperdown's leafy 12-acre park, tucked under mature fig trees in Sydney's inner west. The 2016 Play by Design upgrade swapped plastic for timber and rope — a standout climbing net with a lookout, a play tower with slide, swings and two sandpits — and the fig canopy keeps it shady right through summer.

Why We Love It

• Standout Corocord climbing net with a lookout platform — a challenge that pulls in the 5-12s while the timber play tower keeps the toddlers busy.

• Two sandpits split by age — a smaller one for the littlies and a larger one with a net structure for older kids, so siblings aren't scrapping over the same patch.

• Fig-tree canopy overhead — natural shade most Inner West playgrounds can't match, with seats ringing a big old tree for parents.

• Timber-and-rope, nature-based design — a double swing, bird's nest swing, four-person seesaw and a wooden bridge, built from natural materials rather than the usual primary-colour plastic.

• Cafes that overlook the play — Gather on the Green runs picnic rugs and table service out to the park benches, so a coffee is never far away.