New adventure playground for shops complex

A new £1million adventure play area is to open in Spalding this summer, creating more than 40 jobs and potentially bringing more visitors to the town.

Springfields Adventure Land, part of Springfields Outlet Shopping, is a replacement for the former PlayBarn which closed in September 2015.

It will feature a JCB Young Drivers Zone, giving children a chance to drive around in yellow pedal diggers, as well as a slide and scaffold-themed climbing frame, a Hobbit-themed Tree Top Village with eight wooden towers and a suspended net.

Other attractions at the new one-and-a-half-acre site will also include a sand-based play area and rockpool water stream, a mini-golf course surrounded by dinosaurs, gold panning mine, miniature railway and Adventure Land Express train.

Ian Sanderson, director of SLR Outlets which manages Springfields, said: “We love seeing people enjoying our unique blend of shopping and leisure.

“But we wanted to create an even better day out for all the family and so Springfields Adventure Land, combined with great shopping brands and a wide choice of restaurants and cafés, will give families more reasons to travel from further afield, stay for longer and return more often.”

Planning permission for the play area, with the promise of new full and part-time jobs, was granted by South Holland District Council in September 2017 after an officer’s report claimed it would “enhance existing tourist and leisure facilities within the area”.

The scheme would also see the PlayBarn become an American-themed diner, picnic space, moveable stage and ponds for remote-controlled boats.

The report said: “The proposal represents further investment in the Springfields complex and would generate new employment opportunities for residents.”