Adventure Play at the Georgian Townhouse

The Georgian Townhouse is a hidden oasis in the heart of the city of Norwich. There's a bar, restaurant, 24 boutique bedrooms and plenty of function space, as well as a lovely enclosed walled garden.

The historic market city of Norwich has a number of different architectural influences with Georgian, Tudor and Medieval buildings all on display as you wander through its streets. During the Medieval period, Norwich thrived as it grew to become the second largest city in the UK. Much of Norwich’s history is still visible as you explore, with many historic buildings still either fully or partially intact.

The Play

Our brief was to replace an existing play area and extend the space to incorporate more play, whilst bringing a new dimension to the play experience for visitors. The design is a playful interpretation of those unique architectural influences, offering physical challenges, imaginative and social play, aimed particularly at younger children.

Within the play area, there are two main structures. A themed play tower with slide, scramble net, climbing wall and fire pole. A market stall / shop front with a bespoke interactive pairs game to encourage social play. These individual features are supplemented by additional play elements such as a secret tunnel table with log seats, and a balance trail linking all elements. This creates options and cyclical play routes to ensure the play area acts as a draw for families to return for repeat visits.

It allows the children to have great fun and the parents to relax and enjoy the hospitality of the Georgian Townhouse.

The themed play tower is a lovely wonky design, inspired by local architecture. Set on roundwood poles with various routes up and down. Including the scramble net, fire pole, slide and ladder.

The market stall harks back to the cities' market town heritage and is again Inspired by local architecture. To an adult, it's a simple market shop front. For a child, however, it's an imaginative element for social play. There's even a custom pairs game relating to the market stall itself.

The secret crawl tunnel sits underneath a rustic log table and seats for social play and clambering over. If you're serving imaginary 'meals' from your market stall, you need a place for your guests to sit down and enjoy it.

The final element is a balance trail around the perimeter of the play area, which offers a whole range of play opportunities for exploring together.

The Georgian Townhouse is open throughout the summer and if you'd like to visit yourself, you can see more on their website here.