Windsor Great Park Offers Local Schools Free Sessions Following Industry Award
Adventure Play awarded leading industry THEA recognition in Los Angeles
Windsor Great Park opens up access to local schools during term time
Windsor Great Park’s Adventure Play has been awarded one of the greatest honours in the themed visitor experience industry by the Themed Entertainment Association.
Adventure Play picked up a THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement in the limited budget attraction category at the global award ceremony in Los Angeles on 15 March. To celebrate the award, and to provide more local children with the opportunity to experience the benefits on offer at Adventure Play, Windsor Great Park is offering local schools the opportunity to visit the attraction for free during term time this summer. Primary schools in local authorities surrounding Windsor Great Park will shortly receive details of how they can register for sessions.
Paul Sedgwick, Deputy Ranger & Managing Director of Windsor & Rural at The Crown Estate, said: “We always wanted to create an exceptional and unique play experience to stimulate children’s sense of adventure and fire imaginations, whilst at the same time celebrating and reflecting the heritage and environment of the Windsor Estate.
“To see Adventure Play globally recognised for its outstanding achievement is truly an honour and we want to celebrate this award by helping more children to benefit from having this world-leading attraction on their doorstep. That’s why we’re delighted to offer local schools the opportunity to bring pupils to enjoy the experience and hopefully be inspired by the natural world around them.”
“The whole project team worked relentlessly to ensure the playground was designed and built to the highest standards, so we are thrilled that the attention to detail shown by them all has been recognised by TEA.”
Commissioned by The Crown Estate to provide an inclusive family attraction in Windsor Great Park, Adventure Play was designed and built by UK-based specialists Creating Adventurous Places (CAP.CO) and supported by a large multidisciplinary team. It was opened in July 2023 and to date, has attracted over 130,000 visitors. Built within The Savill Garden in an area called Autumn Wood, the playground has been designed to celebrate its surroundings and is sustainably built using traditional skills, including thatching, and largely built from timber from within the Windsor Estate.
The two-acre site has been transformed with treehouse structures, tunnels, rope bridges, towers, and walkways, as well as weird and wonderful sculptures from giant musical instruments to flower megaphones, tricky puzzles, and the UK’s first roller slide. Sensory experiences can be found throughout the play area, including a fragrant planting scheme, wind chimes, a seasonal interactive projector, and tactile sculptures of the wildlife that can be seen across the Windsor Estate.
Adventure Play provides adults, children, and young people with an ideal setting to climb, scramble, and test their physical bravery levels in a safe, purpose designed space, connecting them with nature, whilst minimising any negative human impact on the environment and local biodiversity.
Thea Awards
The Thea Awards were created by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) in 1994 to help realise a key mission of the association: bringing recognition to outstanding achievement, talent, and personal excellence within the themed entertainment industry. TEA’s Thea Awards have become internationally recognised as a symbol of excellence. Rewarding excellence for the creation of compelling educational, historical and entertainment projects, the Themed Entertainment Association’s prestigious Thea Awards reinforce the value of experience design and themed entertainment approaches to engaging people worldwide.