Champlain Heights feels a world away from the rest of Vancouver: the winding planned community of cul de sacs and mixed-use housing remind one of a suburban town more than our usual grid and numbered avenue neighbourhoods.  

Lodged between three other parks and a school, Sparwood is never going to be a destination unto itself, which means local residents will get to appreciate its charms all to themselves: the excellent little forest that almost feels like a natural campground, the space for dogs to frolic off leash, the way the park snakes around the elementary school, the solid field and adjacent school playground (which has a mini rock climbing apparatus and a long sloping slide). 

A number of walking and bike paths intersect the park, allowing folks to travel through on their way somewhere else — though one imagines most people in the neighbourhood are quite happy to stay in the area.