Guest Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 I am currently re-vamping my outdoor play area and am planning to have a 'secret garden'. The garden will be entered through a wooden archway. Bordering the garden is a concrete shed on which I am planning to paint a medieval castle. There is a narrow path around the shed to which I will add bark - this will be a 'secret path' which will lead back into the main play area; I am hoping to add a wooden gate (with large horsehead door knocker) to the secret path. There are lots of pots with plants and a bark pit for digging. It is a very exciting time for us as until recently we have had only a very desolate concrete play area surrounded on 2 sides by horrid mesh fencing panels 2 mtr high. The fencing panels have now been covered with brushwood screening, so it's starting to look more enclosed and 'cosy'. The concrete floor is now covered in green safety rubber flooring - so no soil or grass for digging, but beginning to have a 'wow' factor. I am trying to go for everything 'natural'. Any thoughts or suggestions?
AnonyMouse_2846 Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 ooh how exciting! Can you get hold of some big tree stumps, hollow logs etc and make a fairy garden? Or a tent or canvas to make a 'den' in there? Just a few ideas I look forward to reading others ideas and how you develop it! :-) Andrea
AnonyMouse_19782 Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 I am currently re-vamping my outdoor play area and am planning to have a 'secret garden'. The garden will be entered through a wooden archway. Bordering the garden is a concrete shed on which I am planning to paint a medieval castle. There is a narrow path around the shed to which I will add bark - this will be a 'secret path' which will lead back into the main play area; I am hoping to add a wooden gate (with large horsehead door knocker) to the secret path. There are lots of pots with plants and a bark pit for digging. It is a very exciting time for us as until recently we have had only a very desolate concrete play area surrounded on 2 sides by horrid mesh fencing panels 2 mtr high. The fencing panels have now been covered with brushwood screening, so it's starting to look more enclosed and 'cosy'. The concrete floor is now covered in green safety rubber flooring - so no soil or grass for digging, but beginning to have a 'wow' factor. I am trying to go for everything 'natural'. Any thoughts or suggestions? Well if it's secret - then nobody knows what should be there! Seriously though, in B&Q they have a set of huge metal keys, the children say the belong to the giant. They only cost a few pounds but in the catalogues the charge a fortune for them. I think it might be fun to have a few solar lights hidden about so that on darker murkier afternoons they would work? How about a fairy door screwed to the wall or a wooden head sculpture the can put their hand in, wind chimes, some objects to attract insects to over winter,or over turned flower pots for toads to over winter
AnonyMouse_439 Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 How about some bunting made from hessian and string, you could brighten it a bit with some gingham or ribbons/raffia.
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 we have a dragon called Norbert who guards the garden when the children have gone ! (also a solar powered fountain which they love! Cosy do some fab little houses made from coconut shells
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 bench or something to sit on , plants to attract the butterflies.. insect homes.. can be a pile of logs in a corner , somewhere for bugs to live (and be inspected ) maybe an area that could be changed .. a large pot or wooden box with a lid that holds a secret item.. would allow the area t be used in several ways depending on the contents.
Guest Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 SO many ideas! Thank you everyone! I had forgotten that we have the 'giant' keys so they will be coming outdoors tomorrow :1b ; also my husband made 9 fairy doors several months ago, so they are waiting to be found a home. I'd love a fairy garden - how can I make this appealing to the boys? Finleysmaid - what does Norbert look like (apart from a dragon, of course ) What is he made from? A lovely idea! That would certainly appeal to the boys - maybe I could incorporate one with the castle mural. The box, the bunting, the solar lights, wind chimes - can;t wait to get started! x
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 bit like this....only i picked him up from a dodgy garden centre for a fiver! http://www.statue.com/Products/Dragons/Little-Dragon-Rexy-Garden-Statue.html
Guest Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 bit like this....only i picked him up from a dodgy garden centre for a fiver! http://www.statue.com/Products/Dragons/Little-Dragon-Rexy-Garden-Statue.html I have fallen in love - with a dragon called Norbert! He's SO cute!! I have just emailed all our local garden centres begging for broken statues or the like! Fingers crossed I will find Norbert! Thank you! By the way - where did the name come from?! x
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 where did the name come from?? obviously not a harry Potter fan then.. Hagrid briefly had a dragon he called Norbert 1
Guest Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 Ahh ... no not really - though I did get half-way through one of the books - but just to be familiar with the children's interests. I think I got the gist! Thanks for the enlightenment . I think Norbert is a perfect name then!
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 i am one of those sad twits who went to sainsbury's at midnight to get the book...ssshhhh dont tell!
Guest Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 i am one of those sad twits who went to sainsbury's at midnight to get the book...ssshhhh dont tell! Aww ... won't say a word .
AnonyMouse_5970 Posted November 24, 2013 Posted November 24, 2013 i am one of those sad twits who went to sainsbury's at midnight to get the book...ssshhhh dont tell! Ooh Finleysmaid! Our little East Anglian town is where all the HP books were printed. A few years back, we had the scandal of one of them being 'leaked' before publication and pages being found on the local common! Sorry, gone off topic a bit!
Guest Posted November 25, 2013 Posted November 25, 2013 Some large tyres filled with soil, which can then be used as planters or for playing with
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted November 25, 2013 Posted November 25, 2013 Some large tyres filled with soil, which can then be used as planters or for playing with just a little aside to this....you might want to avoid putting edible crops in tyres....they are said to leak chemicals into the soil (they do make fab sandpits though) 1
Guest Posted November 25, 2013 Posted November 25, 2013 just a little aside to this....you might want to avoid putting edible crops in tyres....they are said to leak chemicals into the soil (they do make fab sandpits though) That's interesting - thank you!
AnonyMouse_11396 Posted November 25, 2013 Posted November 25, 2013 Some fab ideas already, just want to know when I can come and play. Magic dust in pots, chests, cauldron type pot with spoons for stirring, giants shoes or boots left for a starting point of a story. Fabrics to dress up, to make capes, etc. have fun.
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted November 25, 2013 Posted November 25, 2013 This all sounds lovely have you got a good carpenter who could make you some giant or fairy furniture? 1
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