Edenvale Reserve is a neighbourhood park on Edenvale Park Road in Mount Eden, Auckland, rated 4.3 on Google. Reserves like this live or die on the basics: mown grass, paths that drain after rain, and enough mature trees to give shade on an Auckland summer day. Auckland Council tends the parks across the isthmus, and each has its own character — some suit a kickabout, others a quiet bench — so it pays to walk through once to see which kind you have found. Dog rules also differ from reserve to reserve, and regulars soon learn when the dog walkers and after-school crowds pass through. Tucked into Mount Eden's hilly, leafy streets, Edenvale Reserve gives the neighbourhood a handy patch of green close to home.