|
Princess of Wales Memorial Playground
Teepees, pirate ships, crocodiles lazing on the beach, totem poles carved by Native American Indians all mark out the imaginative Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Playground, in Kensington Gardens.
The £1.7 million playground has some conventional play equipment - swings, slides and climbing frames. It also has, however, more subtle features designed to stimulate children's imaginations.
In the beach cove, concrete, sand-blasted to look like the real thing, carries tiny footprints and imprints of fossils. Submerged in the main pool are plugs which allow children to alter the direction of the water flow. A nearby rock bears the imprint of a mermaid's tail, together with her handprint.
On the pirate ship, a fully rigged, three-tiered, hand-crafted wooden galleon, there is a hidden passage between decks, and children can attempt to refloat the beached vessel by shifting sand out of the hull on a trolley system.
There is the Movement and Musical Garden, where children can create tunes on a variety of interactive instruments; the Tree House Encampment, suitable for wheelchair users; "tree-phones" where children can communicate across the playground. Even the sheep - hand-carved wooden figures that double as seats - are friendly-looking.
An earlier playground on the site was funded by J M Barrie, whose Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens was published in 1906. Barrie lived in the area and walked daily in the gardens. The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground, designed for children up to 12, maintains this historical link, although designers have taken great care not to turn it into a theme park. Images from Thirties' illustrations of Peter Pan are etched into the glass in The Home Under The Ground, where the Lost Boys live, which houses the lavatories and the playground attendant's office. The pirate ship and the crocodile (made of stones from a Welsh quarry) also echo the children's tale. The link, however, is a loose one.
Jennette Emery-Wallis, an associate with Land Use Consultants, the landscape architects for the project, said: "We wanted to create an innovative playground, rather than take the traditional approach of tarmac and play equipment, which tends to be sterile. Everything here is natural; the paths are all bound gravel and the play areas are bark chip. Willow fences divide many of the play areas. The aim is to let children decide in which way they want to play, rather than having the way they play dictated by the landscape." Those who knew the late princess say that it is a playground that she would have adored. She loved Kensington Gardens and often walked or jogged there. Sometimes she would sit quietly under a tree reading a book, enjoying rare moments of anonymity. "Diana would have loved the complete and unstructured freedom of this playground - it was so important to her in the way she lived her life; the things she fought for," said Rosa Monckton, one of the late princess's closest friends.
"It's wonderful to have a park for children to have proper adventures, rather than stand in queues waiting to go on things. It is about as far from municipal and as close to Swallows and Amazons as you can get. There is something here for all children of all abilities. Diana had a particular affinity with children and she would have loved this for everything it is."
The playground pays some homage to the past. The entrance takes visitors past the Victorian drinking fountain, and the Elfin Oak, a gnarled, partially hollow stump from Richmond Park, carved by Ivor Innes in 1930 with the figures of fairies, elves and animals. Ultimately, the park will be a feature on the seven-mile commemorative walk designed to remember the life of the princess.
nearest Underground stations: Notting Hill Gate or Queensway (5 - 10 mins walk from each one) |
Clapham
Features
