With just an old slide and swing set, Crapstone Play Park on the edge of Dartmoor was practically a blank canvas. Following a new housing development, Section 106 funding was added to funding from the Parish Council to create an exciting new playground which was great news for locals, especially as the number of households in the village had grown and local children needed an exciting, safe space to play.
Proper Playgrounds assisted with a community consultation and worked closely with the Parish Council to draw up an exciting design for the new playground. The design focused on providing exciting physical play challenges including: triple tumble bars, a roundabout, swings and a large multi-user climbing frame featuring a rope bridge, 3D climbing walls, fireman’s pole, banister slides and scramble nets. Children love heights and the huge play mound in the middle of the park is a source of endless fun so playful ways of getting up and down the slope were added, including building a bespoke clamber platform, plus a rope grab to assist less confident children. A castle-themed play hut at the top of the hill helped to create a unique sense of place, referencing the nearby ancient Buckland Abbey.
The park has been reinvigorated and is more popular than ever – feedback has been hugely positive as parents and children alike are delighted with the new playground and the Parish Council are keen to expand it even further by adding a toddler play tower and see-saw should future funding allow.
