A PIRATE ship, a magical castle and a palatial treehouse were just some of the suggestions children gave a housing developer for its new playground.

House builder Taylor Wimpey invited children from its Great Western Park estate in Didcot to come and tell them how to build their new fun area.

Boys and girls from six to 11 spent an hour furiously colouring in, cutting-out and conjuring up their perfect play wonderland at Great Western Park Community Centre.

Five-year-old Lucy Hann, who lives in Kingfisher Drive, gave the designers some serious challenges when she drew them her blueprints for the new recreation zone.

She said: “I drew a treehouse and a roundabout but my favourite bit of the playground is the slide.”

Lucy’s family were some of the first residents on the new estate when they moved in three-and-a-half years ago.

She went along to the drop-in brainstorming session on Tuesday morning with her mum Claire, dad Andrew, and her little sister Emma.

Mrs Hann, a full-time-mum, said: “We were one of the first families on the estate so we’re very enthusiastic about building the community.

“We thought the new playground would be a great idea so we all went along to give our views.

“The kids drew things, cut out pictures, used crayons and pastels and just drew whatever they liked.”

Mrs Hann herself runs a weekly community café at the community centre on Thursday mornings and added: “It’s been great to see new things open recently like the community centre.”

The new playground will be built at Primary School Square at Great Western Park.

Taylor Wimpey’s child development and education consultant Nancy Matthews said: “ We felt it was important that local children have their say as they will be the ones who use the facilities, and we want to create a playground that youngsters enjoy for many years to come.

Great Western Park will see £60m invested in transport, schools and other community facilities within the development itself and the surrounding area .

* Further information about Great Western Park is available at gw-park.co.uk