Vivary Park Reviews Summary

Park Facilities

Pros:

• "A very nice park and gardens, has a shallow river running through the middle, children's playground and activities, coffee shop and ice creams available."
• "Very big, open space. Play area for kids, fantastic for dog walking. Lovely & flat for mobility scooters, wheelchairs, etc."
• "Beautifully kept park. Clean and tidy with good amenities."
• "Always kept to high standards, with changing displays throughout the seasons."
• "It's a great place to let the kids cycle/scooter about without worry."
• "Love this place. Beautiful, spacious, peaceful. A lot to do with kids - two playgrounds, fountain, high ropes, mini golf, cafe (two, with toilets) and ice-cream kiosk."
• "It has brilliant facilities including a tennis club, golf, and some extremely well designed children's play areas."

Cons:

• "The public toilets are disgusting and not looked after and kept clean."
• "However, the coffee was below average."
• "Parking is not ideal as you need to use the multistory car park opposite the park which will set you back about £1.20 an hour."
• "One thing that let's the children's play park down is that its always so muddy."
• "Toilets could be cleaner."
• "Avoid feeding the seagulls though as they can get aggressive and scare smaller children."
• "Only downside, very little parking and not free."

Accessibility & Maintenance

Pros:

• "I took my disabled Stepdad around in his wheelchair and the paths are wide and even."
• "The grounds are lovely and always being worked on and maintained."
• "The park is so much cleaner and better presented than it was when I was a teenager."
• "It is well layed out. The paths are ideal for anyone of any disability."
• "Lovely park with buggy/wheelchair friendly wide paths."
• "Paved walkways so easy for pushchairs and mobility scooters."
• "A manned gated park with a really lovely warden. Peaceful place to relax."

Cons:

• "The toilets are grim!!"
• "The main children's play park is beginning to look a little tired and dated with limited equipment for younger children."
• "Disappointed at the state of the Vivary Fountain (utterly filthy and with paint falling off in clumps)."
• "Unfortubately, dogs running around the park chasing wildlife, their owners thought it was funny and signage should be put up and dogs kept on a lead."
• "Body waste fluid and other all over the toilet areas and drug related rubbish left around."
• "Relatively clean, although there was a lot of cigarette ends left after the flower show."
• "Not a big car park, so always better to go early to get a good space."

Atmosphere & Events

Pros:

• "A stunning park which is great for a stroll around or to sit quietly to read a book."
• "A fabulous park with a picturesque bandstand, nice ice cream van, lovely flower beds and a great play area for the children."
• "Vivary Park was just lovely. Wonderful display of flowers and trees, as well as a lake with ducks etc."
• "Lovely vibrant park on a nice day, but gets really really busy."
• "Lots of events happen over the summer and Sundays have a band."
• "Bands playing in the band stand most Sundays through the summer, great atmosphere."
• "Great to sit and listen to the many, various silver or brass bands playing on a Sunday afternoon in the summer."

Cons:

• "Tom Jones belted out some good classics. At 79 he still has it. However, why were all the contractors for the Somerset event from Scotland. Not very positive for the Somerset economy."
• "Lovely formal town gardens, however my granddaughter and I went to the play park which we found disappointing. It needs updating and expanding to reflect the size of Taunton."
• "The only thing is that when online it was stated we'd be doing an assault course we thought we'd be doing a mild version of tough murder, not climbing an enlarged play set."
• "Food tents expensive as always."
• "Once u get past the new and improved crack heads Taunton has to offer the flowers looked nice, good to see our local council spending our local taxes on what really counts, if u want to have a nice day out or are looking to take your family somewhere different don't waste your time or money coming to Taunton is a dive run by corrupt greedy council members which have ruined a once lovely town, will be glad to leave this town in the dust very soon!"
• "Great effort is put into making the park a beautiful place, however is let down by some of the people that spend time here, dropping litter and engaging in behaviour that isn't exactly family friendly."
• "Went to see live music. Would benefit from more signs for direction."