After the success of the Tree Fu Tom play area in Alton Towers' CBeebies land, Russell Play was asked to build eight new play areas as part of their new woodland themed Enchanted Village Lodges.
The design and concept of the Enchanted Village is to give the children an experience of a fun place to stay and play during their visit to Alton Towers.
The story goes that the mischievous Little Fable Folk live in the tops of the trees in the Enchanted Forest next to the Enchanted Village. "˜They love it when the children come to stay in the tree-houses and woodland lodges and play around the special play areas'.
The lodges are designed on a woodland theme with rustic timber frames and fencing, large circular doorways, a crooked roof and woodland themed interior decor to match. It is important that the play areas form an integral part of the style of the overall environment and add to the special feel of the area. This was achieved by using Robinia and Oak in constructing the play equipment and colouring it to blend with the lodges. The choice of timber also has that natural connection with the surrounding nature and woodland theme so blends perfectly.
The play areas are placed in the spacious green areas in and around the lodges of the village providing a variety of activities. There is a playhouse unit with rope access net and slide, a structure of balance beams, a rope net and timber upright climber and some timber carved woodland fairy toadstools for sitting or balancing on. These provide great opportunities for imaginative play and adventure games.
As the Enchanted Villages Lodges may have families visiting with younger children, it works well to have some small play areas situated nearby. They add to the overall fun look and feel of the resort and at the same time help keep the young ones entertained while parents relax.
