Groundwork
in the Northwest

Forget swings and roundabouts, Groundwork's natural play approaches reject preconceived notions of a playground in favour of a more natural approach to play. Remember how a fallen tree trunk could provide hours of entertainment, a sprinkling of snow endless fun? We want a return to these simple pleasures, providing a space for all ages that encourages engagement with natural surroundings and taking acceptable levels of risk.

Think grassy mounds, innovative planting, timber decking, trees, water, bridges and boulders complemented by modern well designed play equipment and you’ve got an exciting and challenging space to play with unlimited creativity and imagination.

Plants can be designed into many different types of play settings, but they should also be considered as play settings in and of themselves. Individually, collectively, or in combination with people made elements, different types of plants can greatly extend the range of play activity: collecting plant parts, climbing and playing in trees, hide-and-seek games, and general exploration. Together with soil, sand and water, plants provide manipulative settings that are quite different from the static, unchangeable character of fixed play equipment.

We believe that the concept is an idea right for the times and without this kind of approach, playgrounds in the UK will continue to be as uniform as peas in a pod.

Playscape, an example of the natural play approach, won a gold award and the BBC People's Award at the RHS Hampton Court and was a special addition to the RHS Tatton Park Show.