Playing around with sticks

We’ve finally stopped planning and started putting in our new play plans for Silk Wood.

It is exciting to see an idea discussed begin to take shape on the ground. The play trail in the Old Arboretum has been really successful – but a lot of visitors have said it is not quite challenging enough. And of course families with dogs can’t take advantage of it. We’re hoping to develop 2-3 new play features in Silk Wood this year and possibly a similar number next year.

The first area is Ted’s Fright – an old quarry just off Willesley Drive. Apparently a member of the tree team almost toppled a tractor into it once and got a bit of a fright (the infamous Ted). It’s secluded and a fantastic suntrap (except on wet days).

All our play features try and use the arboretum’s inherent playfulness and landscape to best advantage and Ted’s Fright is perfect for creating some big wooden climbing frames – because from a distance you won’t even see them!

It’s also great to be able to make use of our own timber. We’re using beech, Douglas fir, oak and pine - all produced as part of our routine management. It is nice to give these grand old trees a new life even after they’ve been cut down.

I’ve drawn a plan – a pattern of tree roots made from giant trunks erupting from the ground like some kind of creature – inspired by the roots you see in jungle pictures that seem to gradually take over the place (I have a very active imagination!). There will be bits to climb on, crawl under, run along, duck behind and that’s just what I’ve come up with. Children of course will come up with a million more things to do because they’re the real play experts.

But plans on paper don’t necessarily work when you’re working with 9 metre, 3 ton trunks of Douglas fir. The contractors soon realised that my carefully sprayed marks on the ground were really guides rather than exact measurements!

As is always the way we started well – five sticks, about 15-20 tonnes in place by lunch. We got quite a rhythm going – hitch it up on the cables, swing it round (mind out the way), drop it down, take a look, shunt it a bit to the left or right and job’s a good ‘un! But the sixth piece, a large pine with rot down one side (hence why it’s no longer upright in the collection) just did not want to play ball, and neither did the birch that just happened to be growing in exactly the wrong place. Much cursing followed as we hitched, re-hitched and re-hitched as we slowly walked this giant into place, one end at a time.

After two and a half hours we finally called it a day. The piece will just have to be about 2 inches out of place – see if you can spot it….