Ponderosa

As with Crookes Valley and Weston Park, Ponderosa is on Izzy's doorstep. However, we only really venture there in the summer as it's usually not as populated as Weston and Crookes Valley Park.

Where?

Ponderosa is a larger park than those adjacent to it, with entrances from Upperthrope road, Crookes Valley road, Bellefield street and Oxford street. 

There is plenty of parking availability, however  Crookes Valley road has a bus lane which means parking is prohibited between the hours of 7:30-9:30 and 16:00-18:30 (please do check the signs if you choose to use it). There are other side roads to park on but some do either have time restrictions or pay and display so please check if you plan to use them. 

The Ponderosa is a lovely park in itself, with three large green fields, one by the road, one with an all weather football field, and one higher up that's just a grass field in a bit of dipped land. This field is good for avoiding joggers and walkers in general and this park is used as a cut through that people often use to get to  Crookes Valley Road. The higher up grass field does get very wet and muddy during wet seasons but its a lovely field to sit and play on during summer. The lower fields are usually more occupied as its at street level. Sometimes the field is used by a nearby school but more often than not it's a mostly empty park. However, I would personally say it's a more rough area than other nearby parks as I've met a lot of aggressive and unfriendly dogs and people around there. The lower bit is pretty flat overall but it does climb a fair bit and if you come from  Crookes Valley Road be prepared to use a lot of stairs to get down and back up. There are less steep roots but they tend to extend all the way around the park. Izzy enjoys this spot as its less congested and there's a few rocks and wooden poles to play around on. As I said earlier, in summer it's a much better alternative because when the field is empty it's like the whole park to yourself and it's not very often it's busy. Probably cos it's a bit rougher but we have been known to do all three nearby parks.  

Dogs that like to run off and roam far ahead should be kept on a lead as there's a large area of the lower fields that has no fencing whatsoever and it on a somewhat busy road, although the higher bits are fenced there isn't a gate, just gaps in the fence as entrances so be wary of this when letting your dogs off lead. 

Tramlines was hosted here in 2015 so it may be again but this only affected the lower fields.