Context

Willen Lake is Milton Keynes' most popular park, attracting 800,000 visitors per year. The park offers a choice of activities such as water sports, fishing, archery, cycling, high ropes, a playground and, since 2017, a pirate-themed Splashpad packed with over 60 products to entertain all ages and abilities.

Work undertaken

Ustigate Waterplay supplied and installed water play features for all age groups, teenagers and a toddler area at Willen Lake.

Pirate-themed immersive aquatic play

Splash 'n' Play’s Splashpad design is pirate-themed to entice imagination and provide a truly immersive play experience with 60+ unique aquatic play products strategically placed between two sections to cater for all age groups.

Toddler bay soft water play

Ustigate installed a variety of products in the toddler bay which give out soft water movements for young children to run their hands and feet through.

This includes Race from the award-winning Water Journey collection; a set of two watercourses that allow children to compete with loose floating objects by manipulating the speed and direction of water via interactive weirs.

As well as being a lot of fun, this product is also highly educational, enabling children to learn the cause and effect of their own actions, whilst stimulating their communication and social skills through taking it in turns, and playing together well.

Teen water play features

The teen section has a Supersplash, Sea Serpent and Sail Boat - three iconic play features that give out intense water movements for a high-octane play experience for older children. There is also a row of run-through water tunnels, along with plentiful ground sprays and cannon fun to accompany Willen Lake’s great pirate scheme.

The colours blue and orange have been utilised for the EPDM surface area; utilising the colour blue for the majority of the area to represent the ocean, and the colour orange to create island shapes to reinforce the pirate theme.

Outcome

The facility is inclusive with everybody’s aquatic play favourite provided in a zero standing water environment, surrounded by wide and easy to access paths that invite every age and ability to Splash 'n' Play. The PWTAG-compliant recirculation system guarantees children have the highest quality of water to play in.