Memorial Garden to Diana, Princess of Wales

Within the securely fenced garden, mysterious curving pathways encourage running and games of hide and seek, draw the visitor simultaneously inward and away to adventure and discovery. The ground plan in this playground is clever and intelligent and it deserves a closer look.

a hidden corner of the play area secluded within a grove of trees and shielded by hand made twig fencing

The layout makes a relatively small space seem larger than life and imbues it with an aura of mystery and a sense of movement and excitement. As a play area, it stimulates the imagination as well as succeeds in provoking and providing for active physical play. The appeal seemed universally successful with children of varied ages, ostensibly up to age 12, although most of the children there were not surprisingly a bit younger than that.

Within this playground teeming with children and their watchers, the underlying elements of the Japanese stroll garden are hard at work. Thus we experience the garden unfolding around us as we advance through it. New scenes are revealed at each turn, offering fresh and unexpected physical challenges and experiences for the children as well as endless opportunities to return again and again as a child grows and matures and thus plays at changing developmental levels from year to year.

continued next time

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