The Beach Play Area

Greenspaces Phase 2

The Beach Play Area

'The Beach' Play Area was officially opened in October 2012. The Beach is fully accessible to wheelchair users, giving disabled children wider opportunities for imaginative exploratory play and recreation.

The area has been landscaped with a variety of different textured surfaces including a pebbled area and bound gravel to simulate a sandy ‘beach’. A large wooden play ship is filled with sand, with a sail canopy to provide shade.

Non-slip decking skirts the perimeter of the building, with three brightly painted wooden ‘beach huts’ sitting in a row on the decking; to be used for storing play equipment, and for pretend play as a house, a café or shop. Other play features such as musical instruments and convex and concave mirrors are installed on the brick walls of the school building.

There is a cascading water feature that flows into a cobbled stream, and a wheelchair accessible wooden bridge leading over the stream from the decking area. There is a wheelchair trampette and walled terraces looking over a wooded animal sculpture park, and a sculpture trail along the wheelchair track.

Local artists have been commissioned to create the sculptures, including a memorial 'Tree of Life' by Herefordshire artist Jenny Pickford, and a trio of sheep by Shropshire artist Christy Bowdler.