£50k play area opening at Le Friquet

Monday 17 September 2018

Children will have somewhere new to play, with one of Guernsey's businesses investing £50,000 on an indoor play area.

The new facility at Le Friquet Garden Centre will replace the existing soft play area, offering a larger selection of activities.

Work to install the new play zone will begin on Wednesday 19 September, with the area expected to be ready for use at the start of October.

Having responded to customer feedback, the new play area will feature "two distinct areas, one tailored to toddlers aged up to 5 years old, and a separate section with two levels aimed up to 10 years old."

The new activity area will include "several exciting main features" such as a 2-metre wavy slide, 90-degree crawl tube, horizontal roller squeeze and a “walk of fear” clear polycarbonate floor panel bridge, amongst other elements. 

Both play zones will remain free of charge for customers to use.

Above: The new play zone was announced at the end of last week

There are frequent cries of "there's nothing to do" or "there's no where to take children when it's raining" in Guernsey, which some parents think might be addressed by the new look play area at the popular garden centre.

Poppy said, "it's about time the children in this island had something decent like this! It's sad to think they can only have fun on a soft play area when they go off island!"

Shirley said, "how lovely, much needed down there."
Some questioned the age limits for children playing in the new facilities with Viv saying, "the play area at the moment says under 5’s but there is constantly older children in it."

Garden Centre Manager, James Robin, said, “We are delighted to offer this incredible new facility to our customers. Le Friquet has always been proud to offer an island-leading family-friendly experience and this new soft play area will continue to allow us to deliver that for a greater age range with a brand new suite of play equipment options.”