Inspiration for garden design: Barbara Hepworth’s ‘Orpheus’

This design is based on Barbara Hepworth’s Orpheus to create a children’s activity centre. Such Inspiration for garden design takes the striking ethereal qualities of the sculpture and translates them into an exciting and dynamic adventure playground suitable for children of all ages.

The playground can be entered from a number of points. It features several turfed ‘lillypads’ allowing children to move across the space via these discs if artificial lawn. The centre of the space features a major construction built from scaffolding poles and a banked set of steps going up on side to a zip slide across the space. Descending on the other side of the space it funnels into a winding path with landscaping poles painted in bright colour for children to weave in and out of as the move through a densely planted bed if jungle Jurassic plants to the next area.

Once at the end of the path you arrive at a giant and wide steel slide. High and wide line a skateboard park ramp, this offers a fun alternative to the traditional playground slide and allows several children to use it at once, as well as children of an older age where regular sides can be size preclusive.

Leaving this area, a series of hemp ropes hang above, some with knotted ropes, so as to climb to the top, some as monkey ropes to be able to swing from one to the next. Alternatively to just pass through, to the next area, which is based on water.

A large water wall feeds a pool at the far end of the space but it needs a waterwheel to do so. In thus waterwheel come deer scarer wheel, children are encouraged to fill up containers with water in order to make the wheel turn.

The whole garden is deeply planted with lots if wildlife and sensory plating in order to become an educational tool for schools and institutions.