In comments made in response to the Parish Plan, the point was raised that Knebworth Park has no attractions or facilities designed specifically for teenagers. The Adventure Playground and the Dino Trail – and events like our Noddy Weekend (17th, 18th & 19th August) cater for a younger audience; while parents and grandparents enjoy the House and Gardens – and events like the Classic Car Show (29th & 30th August).
This was not always the case. For much of the 70s and 80s we had a Skateboard Park just the other side of the Barns that had an excellent reputation amongst teenagers from Hertfordshire and beyond. The knowledge that it is still there, buried under the earth (when we relocated the Adventure Playground), torments my 15-year-old son!
We do aim to be an attraction for all the family and all age groups. Our recent Renaissance Dance event welcomed 8,000 young people, who otherwise might not find much to appeal in Knebworth Park this side of an Oasis concert. Of course, teenagers are an embattled breed when it comes to their entertainment. The activities that interest them do not sit easily with some of our newer neighbours. I also wonder how something like a Skateboard Park would fare under modern health and safety restrictions and current insurance czars.
But we do have plans to incorporate more permanent attractions for teenagers – for instance we have planning permission for a combined Indoor and Outdoor Playground, which will contain more for older children, across the Exit Road from the current Adventure Playground site. It is beyond our budget at the moment, and there are some stringent planning conditions – for instance we have to completely remove our current Adventure Playground before we are allowed to open the new facility – but we are trying to come up with ways to make it work. In the meantime, I recommend that, along with their iPods, teenagers bring footballs, or kites, or sketchbooks – or dare I say it, their girlfriends or boyfriends – to family outings in the fresh air of Knebworth Park!
Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com