Where children truly can be king of the castle
Royal-themed play area with tree houses, zip wire and slides given green light at Sandringham
THE Queen’s Sandringham estate is to play host to a sprawling adventure playground, featuring tree houses modelled on famous royal buildings
The playground, at the heart of the 20,000-acre Norfolk estate, will include swings, slides, a zip wire and raised walkways. A number of its designs were inspired by buildings on the estate, including the Grade Ii-listed St Mary Magdalene Church, where the Royal family traditionally attends a Christmas Day service and where Princess Charlotte was christened in 2015.
A secret enclosed play structure was inspired by Queen Alexandra’s Nest, a summerhouse built in 1913 on the rockery overlooking the lake.
The centrepiece of the playground will be an 8m version of the Appleton Water Tower, inspired by the Victorian landmark built in 1877 to improve the quality of the water supply to Sandringham House. It will feature a 14m tube slide, a spiral staircase, ladders, a climbing wall, water play tables with pumps and talking tubes for children to communicate between floors.
A toddler play space, comprising two play houses with connecting bridges, will also be set among the trees, according to plans submitted to King’s Lynn and West Norfolk council, which granted permission for the development last week.
The Duchess of Cambridge, who designed her own Back to Nature garden for last year’s Chelsea Flower Show, is likely to be delighted by the plans.
The Duchess has long championed the importance of outdoor play for children.
Last September, she opened a children’s playground at RHS Wisley in Surrey, inspired by her garden, featuring a rope swing, tepee hideaway and a tree house to encourage children to immerse themselves in nature.
The Cambridges spend weekends and holidays at Anmer Hall, their home on the Sandringham estate, meaning that Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two, could become regular visitors to the new attraction, which will replace an existing, smaller play area. The estate welcomes around 500,000 visitors a year.
The current play area is described in planning documents as a “vital part of the offering” on the estate but one that could be vastly improved to create “themed elements, distinct and unique to Sandringham”.
The playground has been designed by Creating Adventurous Spaces, which has been advised to plant bat-friendly flowers around the site and to install three bat boxes and two bird boxes on trees. The cost of the project has not been disclosed.