Briony Buckell and her family enjoy a fantastic half term visit to the wonderful Playhenge at Stonehenge
This year the fabulous English Heritage site at Stonehenge is hosting the Woodland Tribe for a couple of weeks. The aim? Create an adventure playground inspired by the fabulous local landscape and limited only by children’s imaginations.
Not quite sure what to expect and quite worried by the ever more enthusiastic suggestions from the back seat, we headed over to check it out.
On arrival we collected our wristbands and headed out to the Playhenge area just to the right of the replica Stone Age village. A little early we had a wander round the Stone Age houses and the children tried to see if they we strong enough to move the imposing replica Sarsen Stone outside the visitor centre.
A short while later we headed over the to Playhenge area and were met by the very friendly Woodland Tribe team. An excellent safety briefing was followed by a short explanation of how to use the tools and, once hammers were selected (they all have names! We got Robin and Olive), the children were set free.
The basic structures had already been constructed and the idea is that each day children add to the existing framework and put their own spin on it. The volunteers are very helpful and parents are encouraged to help out if they want to or are free to relax in a side tent (which is also set up for parents who have under 4s as a play area – model Stonehenge, play rugs and benches included).
The timber pile was eagerly pored over, just the right pieces selected and they were off. Child height saw horses allow the children to get the length of their piece cut and then its hammer and nails time.
As we were there fairly early there was a lot to work on. As you move round the site there is one section dedicated to ‘The floor is Lava’, an imaginative off ground construction which our daughter got stuck into. The next section comprised the carcass of a house/fort/den – it was mostly a shell at that point. Well the children decided that it needed walls and a lookout platform, so we got to sawing and hammering, and it was incredibly satisfying to see it come together.
There was another family in the same slot as us and, seeing what we were up, they built a ladder for some external access to the viewing platform. At which point there was a great discussion about what they thought the final effort might look like.
Once our children were thoroughly exhausted (hammering and sawing are hard work), we headed over to the café and settled in to a round of ice-cream for the children and coffee and cake for the grown ups.
As Stonehenge and Playhenge are wrapped together you can head down to the iconic standing stones. Either hop on one of the regular shuttle buses or meander across the fields and walk instead. A visit to the heritage centre is a must they have a fantastic display of artefacts and an immersive history of the stones.
We had a fantastic day out and gained some very practical skills along the way – as well as two very happy children.
Playhenge runs from Fri 17 May – Tues 4 June 2024 (excluding Thursdays).
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/