Stoke Gabriel Pre School, in Totnes, Devon, has built a natural play area in their village orchard using funding from Community Spaces. However, the group were so keen on making this a community based project, they have got the entire community involved in making the play area.

The group ran community workshops to create hand-carved, wooden benches for the play area. The benches were designed and created by the local residents – with careful guidance from a local woodworker. The workshops were held during the day, so the non-working; older members of the community were able to take part in creating something for the youngest members of the community.

A true sense of community spirit was felt by everyone, especially, Caroline Curtis, the Project Manager for Stoke Gabriel Community Park, “Thank you for your support of the project, which will make such a huge difference to the children, parents and grandparents of people who live in and around Stoke Gabriel. I feel privileged to have worked as the Project Landscape Architect and Administrator and have received such positive feedback and support for the project from people living, working and visiting the village. None of this would have been possible without the funding from Community Spaces.”