Estes Children’s Cottage
Our gardening continues to expand with a third above-ground planter bed added to the one area of the play yard where we get the most sun. In 20 years our trees just outside the fenced-in area have grown so that having shade is no longer a problem, and in NC that is necessary.
We still maintain our sand pit, adjacent to our mud kitchen, adding new discarded appliances, like the microwave, and toaster oven. Both of those areas are still the most popular places for interactive play. We have a paved trike trail that surrounds our small bamboo forest, that is an endless destination for dramatic play, particularly acting out some of our fairly tale books, with the bridge in the middle of the bamboo.
When we first created our play yard we used the dirt dug out to form the sand pit to make a man-made hill, because all children need a hill to climb. Our slide is imbedded on one side, and a climbing steps are imbedded on another side. Through the years it has gotten so much use and now that it is totally shaded the grass just will not grow on it.
After spending money on countless sod replacements, this year my husband, and our designated play yard person of upkeep, came across an outdoor carpet, that was green and low nap and he put it on the top of the hill to hopefully stop the erosion that kept occurring. From a distance it looks fine visually. We have also a few years ago added a tunnel from a give away swing set and he added that to crawl under the hill. So there is an added addition to our hill, and the kids can still ride their push toys down the hill all the way to the mud kitchen.
We still have no commercial equipment on our play yard, and it truly is a yard to play in. We recently have had water issues with our house where the Cottage is located, and so we had to take down a very large tree in our front yard. We had the people who took the tree down cut it up into smaller log type seats, and my husband created a stump jump with all of the logs in a circle. It is used sometimes as an alternative place to play, and it has become very popular to some parents who choose to stay after we have closed and have their child play in the stump jump.
We have 3 family events throughout the year with one being held at the Cottage. We had good luck with our gardening efforts this year getting tomatoes daily during peak season, and we now are doing cool weather crops for fall. Our play yard is a main draw for new parents.
