A £70,000 state-of-the-art play park opened at a nature reserve at the weekend.

Lee Valley Park Farm in Stubbins Hall Lane, Waltham Abbey, opened the farm-themed park on Saturday following months of work on the area which now includes a wooden vet's clinic and a farm shop. 

The playground has also seen the addition of ‘Connie the combine harvester’, which is a play frame with slide and crawl tunnels, a small tractor and trailer play unit with a slide, hay bales, a sandpit, water play, a roundabout and a tyre swing.

The latest addition follows £25,000 investment into a meerkat enclosure which was unveiled last month.

Lee Valley Park Farms Manager, James Broomfield, said: “It is a great setting for children to have some fun in the fresh air. 

"They can run around and role play being a vet or farmer and there’s an interesting mix of playground equipment for them to enjoy."

Lucy Morgan, 7, who was the first to try out the new play area, said: “It's great, there is loads to do here now.

“It's a lot of fun and very colourful, my favourite thing is Connie the Combine Harvester as it is great for climbing.”