Markham Reserve Dog Off Leash Area

Markham Reserve is Ashburton's biggest off-leash run, roughly 11 hectares of open grass at 80 Victory Boulevard with Gardiners Creek and its shared trail along one edge. Dogs can be off-leash 24 hours a day outside organised sport, which makes this the default big-space option in this pocket of Boroondara.

The dog setup

Off-leash is allowed around the clock, but you must leash up whenever training or matches are underway on the ovals. Boroondara's standard conditions apply: keep your dog in sight and under effective voice control, carry a lead, stay on-lead within 10 metres of the playground, and pick up after your dog.

The reserve is not fenced, and the grass runs straight into the creek corridor, the shared path and surrounding streets. For dogs with a weak recall or a taste for the water, that is the one real catch here, and the Anniversary Trail's cyclists keep everyone on their toes along the boundary.

Pepsi: give a bolter a long line rather than full freedom on a first visit. The space reads as safely enclosed but it is not, and the creek is closer than it looks from the car park.

What you'll find

There are covered barbecue areas, picnic tables, toilets and drinking fountains, plus a playground for the two-legged end of the family. The scale is the real draw, because few suburban reserves give a dog this much open grass to run.

Getting there

The reserve sits off Victory Boulevard in Ashburton, with parking along the reserve edges. It is a short walk from Ashburton village and connects directly to the Gardiners Creek and Anniversary trails if you are arriving on foot or by bike.

More walks nearby

For a longer on-lead loop, the Ferndale, Gardiners Creek and Anniversary Trails Loop starts in the same corridor. If Markham's ovals are booked out by sport, Warner Reserve Dog Off Leash Area and Ashburton Park Dog Off Leash Area are the local fallbacks.

More options are on the Victoria dog parks guide and the Ashburton destination page.