We have always believed that accessible play is the best play. When families can play together, whatever their abilities, everyone has more fun. When we designed and built the Boundless Playground in Bermuda for Windreach, a charity who’s mission is to enrich the quality of life for people with special needs, we created something that introduced a whole new level of accessibility to allow children and adults of all abilities to play together.
So, when we received the call from Nick and Nicola Laister from Fairytale Farm in Oxfordshire, you can imagine the excitement within the design team.
Fairytale Farm opened in 2013 as the UK’s first visitor attraction that is open to all and where disabled children come first in the design and layout. It’s a truly inclusive experience, where everything is accessible and everybody is welcome.
It’s something of a personal project, as the Laister’s daughter Olivia has cerebral palsy and they had always wanted to visit an attraction that was amazing fun for children with disabilities but also for their children who are not disabled too. With nothing being available, they decided to create their own and Fairytale Farm was born.
Welcome to The Fairy Dell
Our aim is to create a place that has a sense of magic and intrigue, that is accessible and adventurous, making use of the steep terrain and differing heights of the land to add properly interactive adventure play.
We’ve designed in multiple routes through the space with the centre tower being a real WOW factor. And of course there are loads of sensory elements along the way.
The easiest way to show our thinking is through the illustration of how we want the site to look and feel. When it’s finished it’ll truly be one of a kind and something for everyone to enjoy.
We’re delighted with how the project is progressing and we’ll have more to share soon.
