A NEW fairytale-themed play area has opened at Moors Valley Country Park.

Located at the start of the play trail, the Enchanted Woods play area has 12 pieces of hand-carved wooden equipment based on characters from stories including Goldilocks and Hansel and Gretel.

Visitors can step through a large door to visit the Three Bears House area. Here children can climb up steps, sit down at the bears’ table, complete with three porridge bowls, or splash their way through a bear paw print trail.

Inspired by the story of Little Red Riding Hood, children visiting the Grandma’s House area can crawl under the bed where the Wolf is pretending to be Grandma and speak into a sound tube to make him talk. For the more adventurous, there is a large balance beam section through Grandma’s wardrobe, or youngsters can visit another area to follow a breadcrumb trail inspired by the story of Hansel and Gretel.

Made by carpenters and artists from Bristol play design company The Green Play Project, the pieces are all carved from sustainably-sourced wood, including green oak and coppiced sweet chestnut.

Visitors were asked to pick the name for the new play area, and it was funded by car parking revenue.

Linda Laker, the Forestry Commission’s recreation manager for Dorset, said: “Enchanted Woods is a truly magical play area that will inspire children’s imaginations and be enjoyed by the whole family.

“We would like to thank visitors to the park for their support because without the funds raised by car parking it would not be possible to fund new projects such as these.”

“The forest has a unique opportunity to engage families in challenging and creative play and we are delighted to be opening this fantastic new addition to our play trail,” she added.