IT’S not just the children who can climb, crawl and slide at Cotswold Wildlife Park’s new adventure playground.

The huge wooden structure, which is next to the existing playground, is also open for teenagers, parents, and grandparents who fancy getting to grips with the new equipment.

Skymaze offers interconnecting treehouses, slides and jungle bridges climbing to a bird’s eye view of the park and its existing playground.

Be warned though – throwing yourself around in an adventure playground is not as easy as you remember.

I was filled with a level of fear I had never felt before as I hung from the top of the death slide.

It was about 15 years since our last plummet, and my sister and I were screaming as we dropped a few feet on the big metal slide.

There was also a gentler slide but I still got that terrifying falling feeling as we flew to the bottom.

Crawling through tunnels was more painful than I remembered, and my knees were aching by the time I had travelled just a few metres.

It was worth it though, as it got us through to even more fun sections of the playground.

The fireman’s pole has always been a favourite for children, and it can be rather daunting for some of them.

I held my breath when I stood on see-through floor a few metres up in the tower.

Much to my delight though I didn’t fall through the glass, and I went on to enjoy wobbling around on the playground’s jungle bridge.

After we had finished in the playground, far from being able to run around like we used to, my sister and I retired to a picnic bench to recover with an ice cream.

It was the perfect way to refuel before exploring the rest of the park.

The narrow-gauge railway took us to see a whole host of the park’s animals including the giraffes, ostriches, rhinos and camels.

And after getting our energy back, we also explored the park to see even more creatures, including lemurs, crocodiles, penguins, and snakes.

We also made the most of the park’s restaurant facilities, which completed our day perfectly.

Skymaze is the park’s biggest ever investment in the playground area.

A mini manor treehouse for toddlers is also being built in some of the smaller trees.

Managing director of Cotswold Wildlife Park, Reggie Heyworth, whose father started the park in 1970, said he is excited about the new adventure playground.

“I’ve been meaning to do something great for the playground for years,” he said.

“But, being a Wildlife Park, we always seem to be directed by the need for a new enclosure for the animals! “Anyway, we finally got round to transforming our gift shop two years ago, smartening up our restaurant last year, and now it’s the turn of the playground. “We are all really excited about this new development: it manages to be incredibly exciting, fun and original, but also really in keeping with the natural beauty of the Park and very traditional too. It’s better than “new”; it will never be old.”

  • COTSWOLD Wildlife Park is two miles south of Burford in Oxfordshire. During the summer, the park is open from 10am until 6pm with last admission at 4.30pm.

 

Adult tickets are £14.50, children’s and senior citizen’s tickets are £10. Children under three go in free.

For more information visit www.cotswoldwildlifepark.co.uk.