Balmaha Play Landscape
Balmaha Play Landscape was completed in May 2004.The main impetus for the design of the play space was the connection between land and water and the way that people through history have lived in the local environment.
The central area represents a beach as the focus where water and land meet, where boats are hewn from mature trees and launched to fish the plentiful waters. The stilted structure echoes the ancient crannogs, which were built out into the water as living spaces where families, livestock and belongings could be easily defended. At low water, remains of ancient crannogs can still be seen on Loch Lomond today.
The crucial relationship between people and plants provides a fascinating history as well as one of the greatest challenges for our future. Throughout history people have depended on common areas of wild habitat to search out herbs, plants and trees used for food, structures, products and medicines, and more recently the oak coppice of this area was used to fuel nearby iron smelting and bark for tanning leather which then became the drive belts of many factories of the industrial revolution.
Balmaha sits in some of the most naturally beautiful and biodiverse areas of our country yet children are often separated from it. The ‘play area’ is designed therefore to be an integral part of the landscape with trees, plants, boulders and pathways giving opportunity for children to experience and care for their natural environment.
There is a deliberate avoidance of standard, prescriptive play park equipment in favour of mounds, dips, copses, wetland, and special places as a move to provide opportunities for children to operate in a more authentic “natural” environment. The use of natural materials and undulating surfaces aims to provide a stimulating landscape, where children can experience the irregularity of life, and develop the real skills and abilities to assess risk. The design of the area aims to create a play landscape that is a context for imaginative play and a space that adults will enjoy sharing with their children.
This project was initiated by the local community through the Buchanan Community Partnership who, supported by the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Community Futures Programme produced a local action plan that prioritised the creation of a local play area. Since play areas emerged as a priority in almost all the local action plans for the 24 National Park communities, a National Park ‘Play in the Park’ group was formed to develop a play space strategy and action plan for the whole area. Part of the evolving strategy is to encourage some initial pilot projects, of which Balmaha Play Lanscape is the first.
The successful implementation of this project has been the result of partnership working between The Buchanan Community Partnership, the National Park, and Stirling Council. Funding was raised from a number of sources, including:
Stirling Council.
Landfill Tax Trust.
Leader Plus.
Scottish National Heritage
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.
Stirling Council Local Community Development Fund.
The total cost of the Play Landscape was £45,000.
The main designers for the project were Judi Legg, Play Space Designer, and Mike Hyatt, Landscape Architect. The construction team included sculptor and community artist Kevin Blackwell, who designed and made the dugout canoes, Jude Richardson, environmental artist, who designed and planted the willow maze, and Martin Croft and Ronnie Sinclair, trainee stonemasons who built the turfed stone wall. The main contractor was Landscape Solutions (Scotland) Limited.
The Play landscape is inspected and maintained by Stirling Council Children’s Services (Play Services).
