Play Area
We had bought the property at Easter, 1998.
We obtained the services of Mary Barlow, Imelda's friend and architect
who not only designed the new Extension, but proceeded to obtain planning
permission for the Extension and changes to the existing cottage. As
Summer approached we felt the need to do something that didn't require
planning permission and at the same time would be a useful addition for
the future. This was the basis for the creation of a Play Area for
Sorcha. It rained a lot that Summer so Derek and I created the Wendy
House inside the old, dry cottage. We created self-assembled sections,
so that we could make, assemble and unassemble before placing them in the
required place within the Play Area.
Appropriate bases for the Wendy House and Sand Pit were dug out and concrete
was poured into them. When the concrete had set we placed the assembled
sections of the Wendy house together, added the roofing felt and painted
the structure green. The Sand Pit had the supports, sides and roof
built on it. This also aquired roofing felt and was painted green.
Finally, many bags of play sand were added. The legs of
a small swing and a big swing that we had bought with us were cased in concrete
and Sorcha's baby slide was assembled and placed near the small swing.
The following year, Derek and I added a tower
and swing structure. The frame was built first and the legs were
cased in concrete. The sides, a roof and a ladder was then added
to the tower. The swing structure had bolts fixed to the top bar
and a wooden swing and tyre were added. A steering wheel was added
in the Tower. The whole structure was painted green by a number of
people over the coming weeks: Derek, Michael, Holly, Sorcha, Imelda and
I. The bottom half of the tower was used as storage for toys and sun
loungers.
In 2003, an inflatable swimming pool that
had been bought several years previously and never used was set up. Despite
having some good Summers, in recent times, with temperatures reaching the
high twenties, in centigrade. I found the swimming pool too cold, so
in 2004, we bought a swimming pool heater and housed it in the newly constructed
filter hut, next to the pool. The
heater now pushes the water temperature to 28 centigrade. We also created a rabbit enclosure, in 2003 and bought
two rabbits and a hutch. We also created a bench so that people could
view the rabbits in comfort. Finally, in 2005, we created a small
tropical area near the pool. We concreted an area and placed a bench
and tables on top of it. Next to it, a small hill had some tropical
palms and plants were dug into it, it was then covered with matting and had some small pebbles and
sand thrown on top.
