Recycled Plastic vs Timber
A picture can tell a thousand stories….
I recently took these photos of two picnic tables in a school playground – both bought at roughly the same time.
No words needed really
Amphitheatre Seating Solutions for Schools
Bespoke amphitheatre
Role and performance play are a significant part of school life allowing children to be creative and expressive but why limit this to just being inside when it is possible to be outside in the lovely fresh air? That is why we have sold quite a few seating blocks with tiered amphitheatre style seating which of course can also double up as an outdoor classroom or a seating area. We can add in performance stages and shade covering too to protect the children from the elements if so required.
A lot of these products are bespokely made to a customer’s individual needs and how many children need to be accommodated.
So please do contact us for an initial consultation about how we can help your school playground become an all encompassing performance and creative zone.
Please also visit the page below for further examples of our previous work
How To Make An Outdoor Classroom A Sensory Space
We offer one of the most comprehensive ranges in the UK of outdoor classrooms and shelters but the lovely thing is, I don’t think we have ever sold two of exactly the same kind – they are always different as we like to make sure that we consistently offer a range of unique options and modifications that better suit the school’s specific needs rather than just supplying something “off the shelf” as it were.
And a common request at the moment is for schools wanting to provide a provision for outdoor learning but with a sensory element to it for children who have special needs or quite simply to be a quiet, reflective and calm space where children can go to relax.
So this is where the modifications and our optional extras come in which will all compliment this theme. A school needs to decide first on what size or shape building they want and here we can advise accordingly as usually this decision is based on space availability, amount of children the outdoor classroom needs to accommodate and budget of course.
Let’s look at the sensory options:
SIGHT – strong and vibrant colours work well so we could offer special multi-coloured perspex window panels or a multi-coloured archway and entrance. Planters or flower beds are a good option here too because a school can grow plants which burst with colour
art room with multi-coloured polycarbonate roof
TOUCH – we offer a range of different textured tactile panels which are fixed to the walls or lower panels which the children can easily feel and touch
Tactile panel on posts
SMELL – we could use certain types of timber which give off a natural pungent smell such as cedar but more commonly, it goes back to using planters and beds where plants with powerful smells can be planted. Lavender would be a good example of this.
SOUND – chimes can be hung from the roof which give off a very relaxing and soothing sound. Or alternatively we have a range of musical panels featuring drums, chimes and bells etc which can either be free-standing mounted onto posts or onto the walls.
TASTE – this goes back to whatever is being grown in the planters which is safe to eat.
There are a lot of options therefore as listed above which could make your outdoor classroom a unique sensory experience.
For more information, please contact us on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com
Wedding Gazebos
We have started to supply wedding gazebos to wedding venues, hotels, conference centres etc who are looking to offer this type of facility in their grounds. These wedding gazebos are simply a modification to our outdoor classroom gazebos which we supply to the educational market.
Outdoor wedding gazebos offer venues the chance for the bride and groom/couple to be officially married outdoors by a licensed registrar and they therefore offer a fabulous and romantic setting for the couple to say their vows! Not to mention offering up great photo opportunities especially if set in a beautiful setting or grounds and of course, we Brits love to be outside (rain allowing of course!). They also give the venue a competitive advantage over their local competition as not every location offers this.
The most popular shape is the octagonal wedding gazebo and we can offer these in four different sizes – namely 3m, 4m, 5m and 6m. Other options include for a two tiered roof (available either in a felt or cedar shingle tile), white painting and X open lower panels. We can supply in the square shape as well.
Our services allow for delivery and installation and we typically provide for a timber sub-frame base for the wedding gazebo to sit upon.
For further information, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com
To see further benefits, please visit Kelly Chandler Consulting
You Don’t Need A Forest To Have A Cabin
We originally sold the cabins to forest schools or schools who had a forest school facility as they were ideal for this purpose.
But it quickly became obvious that the attraction for these unique buildings was not to be confined to this one single application. They have been used over the years as outdoor libraries, sensory rooms, break out rooms, outdoor classrooms, art rooms, parent meeting facility and meeting rooms.
We now offer two sizes – the standard 5m octagonal and the smaller 3.5m.
Schools – or should we say school children – really go for them because they look different and are quite “quirky” shall we say. Schools always seem to refer to them as the Hobbit House.
There are now quite a few options you can choose from – an insulation package if you wanted to heat the building and to conserve energy, internal shelving (if being used as an outdoor library), solar pipe in the roof to allow in more natural light, an extended decking and X gate balustrading handrail system, extra lower level windows and the educational renewable energy equipment including solar panel, wind turbine and energy board. There are a choice of colours too for the felt shingle tiles on the steep pitched roof.
Typically they sit on a timber sub-frame base which we are able to supply and install.
For more information on these popular buildings, please click on https://www.hideouthouse.com/portfolio-item/hideout-house-cabins/
Optional front veranda
Repairs To Trim Trail Play Equipment
If this is a familiar sight at your school with certain pieces of play equipment off-use, then you might need to consider an alternative. We receive many requests each week from schools for us to quote for repairing their play equipment and it is mainly their trim trail or adventure trail products which are in need of a little tender love and care. The reasons for this are pretty standard too – the timber is beginning to rot or decay and is therefore becoming unsafe, children are getting splinters, the timber shakes (cracks) are too big and have become finger traps, it has failed a health and safety inspection, it is no longer fit for purpose etc
Although you probably cannot visually tell but if the correct procedures have not been adhered too on the original install to protect the timber sections in the ground from any moisture ingress, it is very likely that the timber post sections below ground are completely rotten too.
It is possible of course to replace these sections or products but sometimes you might be throwing good money after bad.
So what is the best alternative?
That is an easy question to answer – use recycled plastic instead of timber! And that is why we are ever more so nowadays installing play equipment made out of this marvellous material. It has so many benefits in that it doesn’t rot or decay, it lasts about five times longer than timber, it is very eco friendly (as it is made out of recycled plastic waste) and it requires very little on-going maintenance (music to the ears of all site managers up and down the country!).
Price wise, it is typically not that much different to timber but of course a lot of the overall cost is within installation and safer surfacing (if so required). But if you consider the above benefits, it represents excellent value for money and you are saving the planet at the same time.
We have even set up a new website to promote this range of play equipment in recycled plastic called Inspire Play
The future of play ground equipment is already here so if you would like to know how this could benefit your school, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com
Trim trail using recycled plastic
Sir Alexander Fleming Primary School Win RHS Gardening Team of The Year 2023
This is a nice story with a happy ending.
Last year we were approached by John Ratcliffe from Sir Alexander Fleming Primary School who was looking for some kind of shelter to enhance their outdoor area
His brief to us was as follows:
The Hazels
This area was created two years ago as a wildlife and outdoor learning area. It only has 2 mature trees, an oak and a birch, so our initial task has been planting saplings. We have beech, birch, cherry, apple, plum, pear, hornbeam, rowan, willow, walnut, sweet chestnut, oak and hazel. This is obviously planting for the long term- we call it our “future forest”, but we are seeking to enhance the area in other ways too.
We have created pollinator patches for the bees, tyre ponds, a willow dome, built a woodstore out of pallets, created a den building area, and have plans for constructing a woodworking area and setting up a live stream wildlife camera.
Due to the lack of tree cover, we are desperately in need of a shelter in the area. The ideal place would be where our current fire circle is, as it is already our gathering place and a hub for our activities. It would be great give us an idea of the coasting- we have some funding from the council and the school, but also want to make our own mark on the gazebo with installing our own seating, etc. We are really seeking to establish as a model to inspire other schools.
I really hope you will join us on this exciting journey, and I look forward to hearing from you soon
Well a year on, they have just won the prestigious RHS Primary School Gardening Team of the Year UK Champions. Their project and entry details for this competition can be seen by clicking on the link below but of course we like to think that our shelter we supplied to them played a small part too!! Well done to everyone at the school including the children of course on such a fine effort
If you would like to feature something similar in your school garden, then please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com
Prices, Quotes and Site Visits
We are lucky enough to receive many enquiries from schools and other establishments who are looking to buy our products or kind of products. We will always endeavour to get back to you within a couple of days from your original approach and we do appreciate also that schools are sometimes at different stages of the buying or selection process – some are a bit unsure of what they want or where the product would be best suited at the site perhaps – whereas other enquiries can be a lot further on down the line, know exactly what they want and have the funding in place.
We will always help at whatever stage your school are at plus you can benefit from our 23 years of experience in this area – it is very rare nowadays that we cannot help or at least point you in the right direction. And of course we can offer alternative suggestions to what has already been proposed if we think this would be beneficial.
Of course the first question we get asked is – can we have some prices? For some of our product range, we do have specific set price lists which we can easily send out to you but a lot of the work we carry out is tailored to the school’s individual needs where we can pull on our modular build process and our broad range of options. So in this respect it is quite difficult to “package” a price list per se as every job is different. But we can certainly get a budget price to you and send you lots of relevant photos of previous jobs once we have established the following from the school:
- The address or post code of the school – we need this information in order to be able to work out a delivery and installation (if so required) price
- Details about the site itself – what is the existing surface we would be installing onto (eg grass, tarmac, existing safety surfacing etc) and is it fairly level
- Access – how near can we get our transport truck to the designated site (we usually allow for a 40 – 50m carry as anything over that is classed as bad access)
- Budget – is there a budget or budget level we should be aware of
- Timescales – when are the school looking to have the product delivered or installed
Once we have had a conversation too about what product you are wanting or are able to go through and consider the various options your school are wanting, we can usually at this stage give you an indicative price – this can be presented in a formal quote if so required with corresponding photos or drawings.
Assuming the school wish to proceed further (usually after the project has been greenlighted by the Board of School Governors), we would then typically undertake a site survey in order to firm up on our quotation and provide drawings/layouts etc if so required.
Once this firm quote has been accepted, we send out an order acknowledgement confirming the agreed price and specification. Once this has been signed, the contract is fixed.
We do try and make the whole process as simple and enjoyable as possible.
For further information on our range, please call 01832 275902 or email info@hideouthouse.com
Outdoor Classrooms – To Enclose or Not to Enclose
One of the most frequent questions we get asked the whole time is “can I use the outdoor classroom all year round?”
The answer of course is yes but there are a few considerations to take into account here. The basic specification of outdoor classroom we offer is a gazebo style with a solid timber felt shingle tile roof and this is available in different sizes and shapes. But all of them have solid timber lower level panels, a roof with felt shingle tiles and a decking floor with internal benches running internally around the perimeter. The upper section however is open sided – so something typically like below
with vertical balustrading lower panels
However, if you wanted to add another level of protection from the elements (and let’s face it the British weather is pretty unpredictable!), then we can include marine grade PU coated canvas panels to the window and door/entrance. These can be rolled up when the weather is playing nicely but they can easily be let down and secured when it is not so good.
In forest school setting
But we can offer another level or specification and this is why we always ask our customers first – what are you wanting to use the building for? Outdoor classroom of course is a generic term for an outdoor shelter or building but they are used for a whole variety of applications. So if your school was wanting to have an outdoor library, a break out nurture room or a sensory room for example then the application alone would dictate that the building needs to be fully enclosed and therefore capable of being used all year round. And what we mean by enclosed is that instead for having the canvas panels, we would supply laminated glass windows (can be double glazed too), solid timber panels and French doors which can either be made out redwood pine or a more durable hardwood Sapele. Another option up from this is for us to fully insulate the building to the floor, walls and roof. We would only recommend this option if the school was going to be running out electrics to the building and heating it. With an insulated building, it is always worth remembering that it keeps the heat out and the heat in so in the summer, the building should naturally be cooler to be in. Timber too is also a natural insulator.
with Sapele hardwood doors
Once we have established the above, we can then recommend various options and packages and draw upon our most comprehensive range of building options.
For further information on our enclosed outdoor classroom range, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email info@hideouthouse.com
New Style of Outdoor Play Equipment in Recycled Plastic
We have been one of the original pioneers in developing a range of outdoor play equipment made out of recycled plastic as opposed to using the more traditional rounded timber sections – we started off which just some simple trim trail items but this has now been extended out to include play towers, mud kitchens, playboat, sandboxes and fitness trails. We are continually adding to the range.
But we have just changed the design of these products to use a more eco friendly rounded section of recycled plastic which is easier to work with and looks very good. It is available in a standard colour of black although brown is available but this colour is a bit more money due to the extraction process.
We will soon be launching an entire new range featuring this eco friendly material as schools more and more are moving to using it.
The benefits of using this material can be found on the two datasheets given
For more information please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email info@hideouthouse.com
