A new, large-scale play attraction is set to open at Applewood Countryside Park in Banham, Norfolk, on July 23, following more than a year of planning and construction.
The Apple Harvest Adventure Play area will launch ahead of the UK’s peak summer holiday season, offering visiting families additional on-site entertainment in the form of giant wooden sculptures and interactive structures.
The new development adds a major fixed attraction to the park’s existing amenities, which include a range of camping and glamping accommodations.
Applewood Countryside Park currently offers 110 tent and touring caravan pitches, six glamping pods, and five shepherds cabins. The park, which operates year-round and is situated next to Banham Zoo, received the Camping, Glamping & Holiday Park of the Year award at the 2024 East of England Tourism Awards.
The play installation was designed and constructed by Norfolk-based company CAP.CO, which recently received a Royal Warrant for its work on projects at Sandringham and Windsor Great Park.
The new play space features five large, custom-built wooden structures situated among mature trees and set into a rubber mulch safety surface. Features include a giant tractor with a slide, monkey bars, crawl tunnel, control panels, and a climbing trailer.
A crate tower designed for toddlers and an apple-picking trail offer varying levels of challenge for different age groups.
“We already offer a wide selection of quality accommodation and amenities, as well as various events throughout the season, so it seemed like a logical step to increase the fixed on-site attractions,” said Applewood’s director, Kiera Goymour.
She explained that the design reflects the site’s heritage. “The name comes from the site’s previous incarnation as an apple orchard, so we opted to really lean into that in creating the new play area too.”
CAP.CO’s project manager, Laura Barrett, said that the team was intentional in referencing the site’s agricultural past.
“The central concept of the apple harvest really inspired our design team,” said Barrett, also known as Playful Planner Laura. “It isn’t something we’ve worked on before, so we have all really enjoyed the process, especially now that it has come to life with the on-site installation.”
The structures were fabricated off-site at CAP.CO’s Scottow facility and delivered in early July. The team plans to enhance the play area further with additional landscaping, seating, and accessible sensory boards.
For outdoor hospitality operators, this project illustrates how a site’s natural and cultural heritage can be leveraged to create branded, family-oriented amenities that add long-term value and broaden appeal.
By investing in fixed, thematically relevant attractions, operators may increase both return visits and length of stay, especially when paired with year-round availability and partnerships, such as Applewood’s collaboration with nearby Banham Zoo.
Featured image by Applewood Countryside Park