Ancestral home of the Stonor Family for over eight centuries, Stonor Park has been open to the public since 1979.
During this time there has been no formal play provision, until Timberplay were called in to create a play area that would increase interest in the site, particularly with families and those caring for children.
Visitors to the Oxfordshire Stately Homes have declined over the last decade, with people now wanting more varied activities around historic houses and landscapes. By offering less formal activities many historic sites have reversed this decline, appealing to a younger demographic and Stonor Park were keen to adopt this model, investing in a play area that would make them one of the stand out attractions in the area.
Timberplay worked with Stonor Park to select a range of equipment which would appeal to children over a wide age range. Stonor were keen to attract toddlers to capture the interest of younger families looking for somewhere to visit in the day during term time.
However, older children were also a key audience, so Timberplay created designs that featured many open ended products that ensured all junior visitors would find plenty to stimulate them within the play space – named ’Wonder Woods’.
Waterplay is a great multi-appeal play element and Stoner embraced this with water channels and a playground pump. A Wobble Dish, Platform house and a bespoke Deer version of the Swinging Horse are all ideal for toddlers. A hefty Climbing Structure and Climbing Forest provide challenging fun for older children and teenagers.
The play area is due to open properly to the public in March, when the house opens for Spring and William Stonor has high hopes: “We trialled the play area last October, when we opened it for a few weeks and the reviews were very encouraging.
"Several visitors mentioned the Wonder Woods in their Trip Advisor reviews. Our own three children are certainly enjoying this new addition to the landscape and we are very confident that it will also be a big hit with our visitors.”
