Skymaze at Cotswold Wildlife Park

Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens has been a firm family favourite for over fifty years. Set in more than 160 acres of parkland and ancient woodland near Burford, the Park is home to a remarkable collection of rare and exotic animals, from rhinos and lemurs to tigers and giraffes, all housed within a naturalistic, landscape-led setting. It's also been famed for its play offering since the 1970s . The original Skymaze, designed and built by CAP.CO in 2014, became known for its endless routes woven amongst the tree canopies. Across twelve years of heavy, joyful use and somewhere in the region of 4.5 million guests, it earned its place as one of the Park's best-loved attractions, that same popularity meant it was time to rebuild.

Concepts

We were tasked with the rare privilege of redesigning something we'd already built. We wanted to keep the spirit and layout that families already loved, but rework it with modern materials and an upgraded design to endure years of heavy use. Working alongside the Park's Grounds team and RoSpa we set out to create a fully modernised, future-proof version of the much-loved adventure playground.

That thinking shaped a taller, more connected structure rising through three levels of interconnected treehouses, linked by a network of wooden walkways, rope bridges, crawl tunnels and slides. New features, including climbing walls and the "Wonky Walkway", add fresh variety and challenge for older children, while keeping the playground accessible for younger visitors too. At the heart of the rebuild is Robinia timber which is denser, harder and free of sap which significantly slows decay and gives the structure a much longer life than the original ever had.

Bringing the story to life

The reimagined Skymaze is organised around a vertical journey through the trees, allowing children to enter at ground level and choose their own route upwards, climbing through the structure, crossing rope bridges and navigating crawl tunnels before returning to the forest floor via a series of slides.

It's deliberately intuitive with no fixed path or prescribed outcome, just the freedom to explore. At its highest point, the Skymaze opens out onto a viewing platform close to eight metres above the ground, offering a moment of pause and perspective back over the wider Park.

Planning the build

Demolition of the old Skymaze and construction of the new structure were scheduled over the winter months, timed so the playground would be ready for the busy Easter period. Much of the original structure's stainless steel work, including slides, poles and several climbing elements, were refurbished rather than replaced, carrying the memory of the old Skymaze forward into the new one and following the best sustainable practices. In total, the new Skymaze is built from Robinia structural poles, specified to withstand high visitor numbers and the British weather, with minimal ongoing maintenance.

Opening

Since opening at Easter earlier this year, the reimagined Skymaze has been met with a fantastic response from visitors, harnessing so much excitement that some families have spent more time exploring the adventure playground than looking at the animals. For us,  this epitomises the power of play and why sensitively designed spaces can make all the difference to both operators and the families using them.