CAP.Co, the adventure play specialist, has worked with Fairytale Farm in Oxfordshire, UK, to create a new play development for the inclusive visitor attraction.
Fairytale Farm first opened in 2013 and is the UK’s first visitor attraction that is open to all. Here, disabled children come first in both the design and layout, for an experience where everything is accessible and everyone is welcome.
CAP.Co’s brief was to create something that was inclusive and accessible, with both physical challenges and sensory play. The team also wanted to include some climbing to height, to introduce an element of risk, and to play with the topography where possible.
The result is Fairy Dell, a magical play area where guests feel they have been shrunk to the size of fairies. It features an accessible walkway with a humpback bridge feature and themed rope work, giant mushroom structures, and a stainless steel embankment slide with launch and landing platforms.
The benefits of accessible play for all
Fairytale Farm is the brainchild of Nicola and Nick Laister. Their daughter Olivia has cerebral palsy, and they had always wanted to take her to a place that is enjoyable for both kids with disabilities and their other kids as well. Since there was nothing out there, they made their own attraction, bringing Fairytale Farm to life. It is a fun combination of traditional fairy tales, animals, and adventure play.
For CAP.Co, accessible play is the best play. As the company says: “When families can play together, whatever their abilities, everyone has more fun.”
Its previous work includes the design and build of the Boundless Playground in Bermuda for Windreach, a charity whose mission is to enrich the quality of life for people with special needs. Here, the firm created something that introduced a whole new level of accessibility, meaning that kids and adults of all abilities could play together.
The build
The attraction’s Fairy Dell area benefits from an undulating pathway and sloping land. CAP. After consulting with the client, Co decided that this would be the best location for the new adventure play area. The main access path cuts through the area in a ‘U shape’ creating a central space of grass, making a perfect spot for the development.
The firm’s goal was to design the most magical play environment, where visitors are shrunk to the size of fairies and invited to explore their world. There is a wheelchair-accessible walkway which has painted components to make it colourful and appealing, as well as a humpback bridge feature and themed rope work. There is also a stainless steel embankment slide with platforms for launch and landing.
The Fairy Dell’s enormous wooden mushroom has multiple levels of platforms to climb inside, with a doorway and windows that guests can peek out of at various heights. The mushroom includes a climbing wall inside that goes up through the stem and an interactive pairs game. It also links to a second accessible mushroom via a timber-slatted crawl bridge.
Plus, the team included a ground play trail with balance beams and log hop paths alongside the accessible pathway, as well as Harmony Bells, a simple outdoor acoustic instrument that children enjoy, and that produces a pleasing sound.
The finished project
“The Fairy Dell is a place that has a sense of magic and intrigue, that is accessible and adventurous and makes use of the steep terrain and differing heights of the land to deliver properly interactive adventure play,” says CAP.Co. “We’ve designed in multiple routes through the space with the centre mushroom towers delivering a real WOW factor. And of course, there are loads of sensory elements along the way.”
“We’re delighted with how the project looked when we had finished.”
Earlier this year, CAP.Co revealed The Lost Garden, a new £3.6 million playground at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. Highlights of the new play experience include giant carrot tops peeking from the ground and an oversized wooden head gardener’s chair, and more.
