Overview
- The playground reopened to the public on Wednesday 5 August after a multi‑year, £3 million refurbishment led and funded by The Royal Parks charity.
- The centrepiece is a 17m by 12m wooden Galleon with two crow’s nests, a large tunnel slide and a below‑deck play kitchen, built by Timberplay and partners in Frasdorf, Germany.
- A multi‑tower Treehouse links three towers with an accessible walkway, talk tubes, musical features and a four‑metre tunnel slide to broaden play options for different ages and abilities.
- Managers have capped capacity at 450 visitors and warned of long queues during the school holidays, and the new waterplay area is currently offline because of a regional Thames Water hosepipe ban.
- Sustainability and accessibility were priorities: timber comes from sustainably managed European forests, a runoff capture system will reuse water for irrigation, and raised tables, sensory planting and new paths improve access for children with disabilities.