Salhouse Broad

Salhouse Broad is a popular part of the Norfolk Broads and the wider National Park. There are over 40 acres of beautiful natural surroundings, teeming with wildlife and offering amazing views across the waterways that surround it.

Working with The Friends of Salhouse Broad, which is a community organisation that helps to preserve and improve the area, we were commissioned to create a small, natural play area to sit gently in the location, set back from the broad itself.

Our solution was a fun-packed stand-alone climbing structure with a local twist!

Having engaged with the local Rainbow’s group and listening to the Friends of Salhouse Broad (link), the brief was to include as many traditional elements of play as possible on a limited budget, but also to diversify the offering to ensure it was unique to its stunning natural surroundings

The solution you can see here is a simple structure with some lovely detailing.

The loose Norfolk Broads theme is carefully incorporated through the inclusion of butterfly and dragonfly silhouettes plus oversized bulrushes and water reeds to add a unique touch that makes this bespoke play structure completely ‘of-its-place’.

This comes to life in the 3D images you can see here

Tucked away in a naturally occurring clearing, the adventure play can be accessed from the West by the existing woodland path. Situated adjacent to the main open area above the broad, the location of the play also helps centralise all activity into one area.

When you see the final built play structure, you can see that, following consultation with the relevant local bodies, the location of the proposed play was carefully selected to minimise visual impact and is not be visible from the waterside.

The play has been cleverly designed to maximise its fun, despite its limited size and includes a climbing wall, activity decking, clamber net, monkey bars, all with a nature-based theme. The detailed finishing includes shaped flat board cladding, grass mat safety surfacing in key areas. It's already open and being enjoyed by kids of all ages.