‘It’s heartbreaking’: adventure playgrounds disappearing across England

Figures from Play England show at least 21 adventure playgrounds have been lost since 2017

I like everything here but that swing makes me feel sick." Leire, 7, has a smile on her face as she pushes her friends Romeo and Gabriel. Despite the cold the three of them have hurried straight to the Grove adventure playground in their school uniform to start playing.

Walk down a quiet back street in Brixton, south London, and the Grove adventure playground appears on the grey skyline as a riot of red, yellow and blue. When a child walks in they know they are somewhere special," says Nick Lewis, who helped save the playground from closure a few years ago.