We were invited to dream up a new destination play landscape for this quirky palace and its listed landscape, and to design additions to the current visitor facilities to enhance the retail and hospitality offer and improve accessibility and toilet provision.

We worked collaboratively with the client to tailor the new play and visitor offer to the needs of particular target visitor segments, and tested these with the public at market research sessions.

The play proposals are inspired by the many varied inhabitants who called the palace their home over the centuries, from Tudor Kings who hosted large banquets and practiced jousting on the palace grounds, to a glamourous family who moved in during the early 20th century and filled the palace with new life, lavish parties and exotics pets. A new Tudor play village leads to a water play landscape and a large splash pool area inspired by art deco patterns and rippling motions, where visitors can feel the thrill of splashes and water jets.

The existing visitor centre is proposed to be extended with discrete additions that respect the vernacular language of the garden buildings