Situated in rolling Herefordshire countryside, the beautiful medieval village of Bosbury wanted to create a new community play space. The old wooden play kit had rotted out years ago, leaving an empty field – the perfect blank canvas to create a new playground designed to engage and excite.
As the parish council and village had worked hard to raise precious funds – holding fetes and applying for grants etc, they wanted to install high quality play equipment that appealed to a broad age range. During the community consultation, our design team worked closely with councillors to ensure that the village was fully involved in deciding on a play equipment ‘wish list’ which had to contain ‘thrills and spills’ and spark ‘joy and delight’. Proper Playgrounds provided free design visuals to encourage local engagement and help the village agree the key play items for their new playground.
The parish council was keen to use their buying power to embrace sustainable choices and opted for equipment predominantly made from recycled materials. Remembering past maintenance headaches and the relatively short shelf life of wooden equipment, councillors were impressed with the long guarantees provided with the new eco-friendly equipment, as the recycled plastic posts do not rot, or splinter and require virtually no maintenance.
The field was transformed from a blank canvas into a wonderful village playground, set in an idyllic location. Swings, slides, a spinner, a balance trail, tumble bars, plus toddler and junior twin play towers, meant there was something that appealed to all ages and it has become a wonderful village asset where children can socialise and run free in a safe environment away from traffic.
