Now, however, I can tell you not only how many parks there are, but how long it takes to walk to each of them, which of them have ponds populated by ducks (very important) and whether the surface of the playground is wood-chip or that nice spongy stuff that doesn't get all squelchy when it rains (even more important).

The difference? I've had two children.

These days, I do parks.

I was telling a friend of mine recently how much time I seem to spend navigating a route between swings, slides and those elaborate climbing frames linked by bridges made of rope or chain (we prefer rope! ). As a father of two school-going children, my pal has been that soldier.

"And do you carry around a towel to wipe down the swings on rainy days?" he enquired.

"Of course, " I replied. He nodded understandingly.

But as a born-again park-goer, what I have rediscovered is that they are about so much more than that slightly hysterical, high-anxiety zone that is the toddler's playground.

On a recent jaunt to one of my local parks (the one that takes precisely seven minutes to walk to), I encountered two Filipino nannies chatting to a couple of elderly ladies who regularly hold court on a park bench beside the rose garden. The nannies kept a close eye on the children in their charge, as they ran between the rose beds, while they chatted animatedly about their families back home. After a while, one of the ladies suggested that the girls sing a song:

"A traditional song from your own country, " she urged.

After a modest amount of protest and some consultation between themselves, the Filipino women obliged. They closed their eyes and sang, softly and sweetly, in perfect two-part harmony. When they finished, they received an enthusiastic round of applause from their audience and appreciative smiles from the dog-walkers, joggers and buggy-pushers who happened to be ambling around the park that day.

It was probably that episode which prompted me to come up with the idea of pitching a radio series which would be about parks and the people who use them. The name of the series was obvious. It would have to be A walk in the park.

The great thing about parks is that they are one of the few places where people of every age, race and creed get to hang out together. Through the course of recording the six-part series, I have also been struck by the sense of ownership people have over their parks.

Indeed, if ever you needed evidence of how people can become exorcised about their public spaces, the recent saga surrounding Dartmouth Square and the threat that it could be turned into a private car park serves as a good example.

Although at just two acres and surrounded by multi-million euro period houses in one of Dublin 6's priciest residential locations, Dartmouth Square is hardly a typical example of a park for the people. Nonetheless, it is one of the 35 parks that is run and managed by Dublin City Council. This excludes the Phoenix Park and St Stephen's Green, which fall under the remit of the Office of Public Works.

Gerry Barry, City Parks Superintendent with Dublin City Council, points out that, per head of population, we actually have more parks in Dublin than most European cities.

"We are very lucky in that we inherited a lot of parks and squares which were built by the English during Georgian and Victorian times and which are still here for us to enjoy today.

We are currently renewing and redeveloping a lot of our parks which wouldn't have had much money spent on them during the hungry years of the '50s, '60s and '70s. While other councils in Dublin and around the country are more involved in acquiring land and developing parks from scratch, we are in a position where we are spending money on projects such as restoring the Red Stables and turning it into an arts centre in St Annes Park in Raheny, and building the new skateboarding facility in Bushy Park in Terenure."

Through the course of recording the series, I discovered that other cities aren't nearly as well served as Dublin. Nowhere is this more in evidence than Galway. Green Party councillor Niall O'Brolochain is Lord Mayor of Galway and the provision of more playgrounds and parks is high on his agenda.

"Galway city has grown more dramatically than any other part of the country in the past decade. Because we were really just a small town until 20 years ago, there was little emphasis on the need for green spaces and facilities, " O'Brolochain reflects. "Also, the fact that we were a rural town meant that there was a perception that all you had to do was go a few miles out the road before you would come across as many green fields as you needed. In recent years, there has been massive development and a lack of both vision and revenue when it came to developing parks and recreational facilities which have resulted in all the problems associated with urban sprawl. A big part of the problem was that all of the development has been private and there was no onus on the developers to provide recreational facilities."

O'Brolochain points out, however, that in recent years Galway City Council has begun to redress this problem. "We have invested heavily in building playgrounds in recent years.

Within four years, we will have 14 playgrounds in Galway city and we also have a good parks strategy in place which will see the development of Terryland Forrest Park, Cappa Park and Lough Rusheen Park."

While recording the programme in Fitzgerald's Park, Cork's equivalent of a slightly more out-of-town St Stephen's Green, I also discovered Corkonians feel poorly served when it comes to parks. One woman who had brought her toddler across town to play in the playground there told me that she had to walk for an hour to get there and that there wasn't another park nearer to her. Another couple said that they also travelled into the playground in the park with their children because the playground in Douglas, where they live, has become quite rundown in recent years. Everyone I spoke to cited the playground in Carrigaline as the best suburban facility in Cork.

Vandalism is a constant problem in Irish parks but most of those who are charged with the management of our parks adopt a pragmatic approach.

"You have to be vigilant in the maintenance of the equipment and also try to buy the most durable pieces of play equipment available, " according to Emer O'Callaghan, Executive Horticulturist with Cork City Council.

"When I am talking to the Scandinavian company which supplies us with the equipment for our playgrounds in Cork, they often enthuse about a fantastic new piece of play equipment that they have designed but I always have to ask the question, 'Yes, but how robust is it?'" While recording the programme in the new Coultry Park in Ballymun, which is built on land which would previously have been in the shadow of one of the recently demolished tower blocks, I spoke to Dorothea Berger, a German landscape architect who works for Ballymun Regeneration Ltd.

While the park was still at planning stage, she ran a number of open meetings where local residents were invited to come along and voice their opinions about what they wanted from their local park. "We gave people some drawings and pictures as a reference point and, from there, they were able to tell us what they wanted. Some people were actually incredibly creative and had some great ideas which we were able to take on board." Some of the suggestions weren't so practical, however, such as the young boy who couldn't understand why they couldn't have a shark pond in the park!

What is noticeable about Coultry Park and the more recently opened Balcurris Park in Ballymun is that both showcase very different, contemporary urban design. Berger says that this was very much part of their brief when working with the architects.

"We wanted to give the people of Ballymun the chance to experience different types of design. The great thing is that they really do seem to have provided a talking point. Some people prefer the more sanitised steel and straight lines which are a feature of Balcurris Park to the warmer more organic feeling that you get from all the wood and curves that have been used around the park and playground in Coultry Park. I personally like them both . . . if I am looking for somewhere to go to clear my head and think, I would go for a walk in Balcurris Park whereas Coulty Park makes me feel more comfortable and protected."

One of the challenges facing each of the councils is inevitably the you-can't-please-all-of-the-people-all-of-the-time factor.

Gerry Barry says that it is all about trying to get the balance right between providing sports facilities and spaces that people can enjoy at a more leisurely pace.

"There can be a conflict and people can become heated if they think we are giving too much space over to athletics or sports clubs, but with all the talk about childhood obesity and how kids aren't getting enough exercise, we feel, as a local authority, we have a responsibility to provide facilities which gives them the motivation to run around in the fresh air."

One example where residents clashed with the council recently was when Dublin City Council pushed through plans for the new skateboarding facility in Bushy Park in Terenure.

"We had a deputation of young people who came to us and asked us to build a skate-boarding park because they don't have a publicly provided facility like this in Dublin, " Barry explains.

"These tend to be kids who aren't really into other sports, and they can fall through the net a bit, so we thought it would be a good thing if we could provide them with what they were asking for. It just happened that a lot of them seemed to live around the Dublin 6 area so that was why we chose Bushy Park as the location in which to build it. I have had some very angry meetings with the local residents over the past couple of years but I really do hope that everything will settle down in time and that it will just come to be regarded as another facility like the tennis courts and playing pitches."

I ask Barry if, out of the 35 parks he manages, there is such a thing as the perfect park? After a moment's hesitation, he opts for Herbert Park.

"It has it all really. It's not that big but it has so much packed into it . . . mature trees and vegetation, a water feature by way of the pond, wildlife in the form of ducks, squirrels and other animals, playing pitches which are used by a wide variety of teams, sports facilities such as tennis, croquet and bowls . . . and the natives are friendly, which always helps."

From my experiences recording A walk in the park, most people regard their park as the perfect park and are delighted to talk at length about what it means to them. Amongst those I spoke was the sprightly 94-year-old who I met on his weekly outing to Fitzgeralds Park, where himself and his daughter do at least three laps around the park before adjourning to the cafe for a cappuccino. And the mother-of-three who has just moved into her new house in Coultry in Ballymun . . . who remembers picking blackberries in the fields at the bottom of her tower block, where her children now play in the playground.

But the person I spoke to who best defined how much a park can mean was the gentleman playing boules with a group of other retired septegenarians in St Annes Park in Raheny.

One of his companions described them as "The last of the summer wine". He himself described how he walks and cycles around the park everyday, as well as playing boules twice a week. "I love this park, " he said, "everyday I meet people here, most of the time, I don't know their names or anything about them but we all say 'hello' to each other and sometimes we might stop for a casual chat. I feel privileged to have this park on my doorstep and on a day that I haven't been in here, I feel like there was something missing from my dayf that I have lost out on something."

'A Walk in the park' series, which was broadcast recently on Radio One, are available to listen to at www. rte. ie THE PARKS Coultry Park, Ballymun, Dublin.

Opened last January, Coultry Park is the first of three to be built in Ballymun as part of its massive urban regeneration programme. It is estimated 20% of the 30,000 people who live in Ballymun are under 14. Up to 4m was spent on the eight-acre park which was designed in consultation with local people and a British firm of architects who specialise in urban landscaping.

As well as a full-size playing field and all-weather pitch, the park also has a playground which is divided into three age-specific sections. All of the play equipment is wooden and the biggest hit is the cable run . . . which kids dub "the zipper".

FItzgeralds Park, The Mardyke, Cork Situated on the banks of the Lee, Fitzgeralds Park is Cork's best-loved city park. It has a beautiful rose garden, a pond and water fountain, and a Garden for the Blind which was added during the 1980's and is designed to stimulate the senses of touch and smell. The park also houses a playground, Cork City's museum, a coffee shop and more than 20 pieces of sculpture, including an imposing bust of Michael Collins by wellknown local sculptor Seamas Murphy. The most recent commission, 'Immortality' by Tom Dorgan is a 30-foot high tree trunk and was worked on by Dorgan in situe. The park was given to the city by the organisers of the Great Exhibition of 1902 and many of the buildings used during that exhibition are still in the park. Although the park doesn't have any sports facilities, it is situated between the new UCC Mardyke Arena and the Sundays Well Tennis Club and Cork City Cricket Grounds.

Bushy Park, Terenure, Dublin Originally an estate built by Arthur Bushe in 1700, the park was bought over by Dublin Corporation in 1953 and since then has become a popular recreational spot. As well as extensive playing pitches, a playground, bandstand, tennis courts, a running club pavilion and a boules court, the most recent addition to the 20.5hectare park is the new skate-boarding facility.

Situated on the banks of the River Dodder, Bushy Park also has two ponds, an artificial island and woodland and riverside walks.

Terryland Forest Park, Galway City Spanning more than 150 acres in the heart of Galway city, Terryland Forest Park is still very much a work in progress. It is broken up by a series of roads and motorways and local environmental activists have fought hard to get Galway City Council to buy over a large chunk of land which had been ear-marked for development under a Compulsory Purchase Order. Situated on the banks of the River Corrib, the park is a haven for wildlife such as foxes, hares, otters and stoats. Future plans include the development of a playground, nursery and interpretive centre.

Local schools use it for nature and environmental projects in a part of Galway city which is poorly served in terms of recreational facilities. The ruins of an old house which has been there since Cromwellian times are still standing and, in recent years, local environmentalists organised a project called "Putting roots in Irish soil" where immigrant families were invited to plant trees in a maze in front of the ruin, which is styled on the mazes which featured in most great Irish houses.