Parks and Open Spaces

Facilities

Public Toilets:

There are public toilets on the adjacent Sandham Gardens site.

Refreshments:

Ice cream and soft drinks are available from the Ice Cream Shack (operated by Heritage Attractions) on the adjacent Sandham Gardens site and the park is just a 5 minute walk from the town centre.

Other Information:

The site is adjacent to the Sandham Gardens attraction and Sandown Bowls Club.

Steven Jenkins Rainbow Park

The playground was first opened in 2001 in memory of 6-year-old Steven Jenkins who sadly died in 1999 was refurbished in 2021. Equipment in the park includes: 

• Tree Top Towers Multi-Play Structure (including accessible slide) 
• Magic Toadstools
• Swirl Roundabout (accessible)
• King Cole climbing frame and slide (low level)
• Castle Climbing frame and slide
• Donkey Springy
• Tea-cup twister
• Crazy Twister
• Junior swings
• Basket swings
• Make it rain and Xylophone play boards 

Skate Park - "The Fort"

 The skate park was opened in 2008. Equipment installed includes:

• Two flat banks
• Two quarter pipes
• A 9ft x 8ft roll in
• A table top
• A grind rail
• A set of three wide steps 
• A large flat area for freestyle. 

 

 Multi-Use Games Area 

The area between the Skate Park and the Rainbow Park is multi-use. Equipment, aimed at those over twelve, includes:

• Multi-Use Games Area with Football Goals
• Multi-Use Games Area with Basket Ball hoops.
• Climbing Area
• Free Rider
• Tornado Carousel
• Basket swing.

Los Altos park is an area to park land to the west of Sandown along the railway. The park includes a vernal pond, three large grassed areas and small wooded areas with tree canopy's.

Location

The park can be accessed via various entrances:

Melville Street, PO36 9DH,

Simeon Path, PO36 9FE

Through the carpark at the Heights off the Broadway, PO36 9FD.

By Train:

The parks Simeon Path entrance is 0.3 miles or approximately 5 mins walk from Sandown Station.

By Bus:

The nearest bus stop is at the heights where the park can be accessed through the carpark. Routes 2, 3 and 8 serve the stop.

Route 24, serves the Beachfield Road stop which is just 5 minutes walk away.

History

Sandown’s Los Altos park owes its history since Victorian times to Sheffield-born banker and merchant George Wilkinson Drabble (1823-1899). Drabble made his fortune as Chairman of the London and River Plate Bank and director of six companies in Argentina and Uruguay.

The name of the family mansion he built in Sandown reflected his South American connections. Los Altos means The Heights in Spanish. The estate remained in the hands of the Drabble family until the 1950s, when Sandown-Shanklin Urban District Council acquired part of it as a public park.

The mansion and some of its gardens survive in private hands as the Broadway Park Hotel. One remnant of the Victorian structures can still be found in the public parkland, the semi-circle of steps which once led to the lower grounds and a thatched two-storey summer house, later used as dog kennels and long since demolished.

Within living memory, a stone bridge linking the house with the steps used to cross Drabble’s Path, the walkway which runs to and from the railway crossing. The bridge has now been demolished after falling into disrepair. 

(contributed by Paul Coueslant)

Sunshine Trail

The park includes part of the sunshine cycle trail, a 12 mile circular cycle route. 

The Sunshine Trail Map and Information