December 17, 2019
Fountains Abbey
In a blog post a few weeks ago we showed you some of the plans for the adventure play extensions at the wonderful Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal in North Yorkshire. One of the focal points was the miniaturised version of How Hill Tower that had been reinterpreted as a play space. This is now complete and we'll show you that shortly.
The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed a little part of the overall plan that was called the 'Skyline Lookout' and this is now complete too. It's quite a simple tree deck with an amazing view.
There was already an existing lookout point in the location, that gave fantastic views across the site, including of the Abbey itself as well as across the valley towards the (real) How Hill Tower.
With this in mind, our aim was to enhance this space by offering a greater vantage point, utilising the grand tree which sits at the centre of the existing stone circle. The tree deck is of a mid-level, accessed via a spiral staircase that wraps itself around the tree, hugging the trunk.
As you can see from the pictures below, it enhances the views both across the valley and also back towards the play space. As is our preferred way, the design is totally bespoke and hand-crafted with natural chestnut timbers to help blend in with the existing look and feel. The completed deck is an unobtrusive structure that gives visitors a sense of height and excitement. As it gently ages, the timbers will silver down a little to become even more part of the landscape and feel as though it grew organically.