Natural Play & Wooden Structures
Bespoke timber play towers, tree platforms, rope bridges, trails, playhouses, huts and outdoor classrooms, designed and built in house to BS EN 1176.
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Bespoke Timber Play Structures & Landscaping in Bristol
Crafting beautiful timber structures and habitat rich spaces for play and wildlife, for schools, nurseries, local authorities and private gardens across the South West.
Monkey Business Design Ltd
We build the fun and attractive things other people only sketch
From our base in Bristol we design and build habitat rich landscapes and beautiful timber structures for play and leisure. We are keen to bring your ideas to life, however weird or wonderful, and to do so very competitively.
We work on design and build or renovation projects from a few thousand pounds to £300,000+. If you want to explore ways to reduce the environmental footprint of your project, or create more resource for wildlife, then we are probably a good match. Read more about our step by step approach.
- £10m public and product liability insurance
- BS EN 1176 play safety standards, with independent inspection
- In house design, carpentry and landscaping teams
Our Services
Three things we do, and do properly
Landscaping Services
Surveys, planning and design through to surfacing, decks, gabion and sleeper walls, paths and earth moving, always with softer surfaces over hard ones.
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The Habitat Project
Ponds and wetlands, wildflower seeding, hedge and tree planting, coppicing and woodland management, nest boxes, habitat piles and access infrastructure.
Explore the habitat projectRecent Work
Projects you can click into
Brockwell Park, Wick
Gloucestershire, 2026
Wick and Abson Parish Council in South Gloucestershire invited us to transform their popular park. We designed as a focal point a handsome Galleon with lots of ups and downs, moored alongside a large spiders web. We also built an agility trail and a twin tower play structure for smaller children.
Snapdragons Nursery
Weston Road, Bath
Following repair works to play equipment at two Snapdragons childrens’ nurseries, we were commissioned to design and build a mini adventure space at their terrific Weston Road site, along with a pretty shingle-roof hut.
Redcliffe Children's Centre
Bristol
This popular city centre nursery has a great mix of structured and free play. The centrepiece is a pair of tree platforms linked by a rope bridge. We created this play structure as the centre piece of a larger project with a bike track. There’s an artificial grass mound and tunnel, living walls, mud and sand play, rubber surfacing and other play equipment. This platform has a shop window below. The cut out leaf shapes have coloured acrylic which project autumn colours inside the space when it’s sunny.
Chris has recently built a majestic cedar shingled roof for the sandpit at our nursery school. Not only does it look beautiful, and remind our children of the barn at Leigh Woods, it will be great in all weathers. Chris has also done plenty of other work for us, including a full playground redevelopment and is always on hand to support with maintenance and upkeep. We’re pleased with the quality and value for money that Monkey Business provides.
Sam , Head of Redcliffe Nursery School
Stoke Lodge Primary
Bristol
The school PTA invited us to build a canopy that could shield a whole class from the sun and rain - an outdoor classroom effectively. Despite a tight budget we managed to exceed expectations with this cable drum and S-shaped bench design anchored deep into the tarmac surface.
We all LOVE the shelter and seating - the children have been using it every day this week.
Will Ferris , School Head, Stoke Lodge Primary
Manor Road Community Woodland Boardwalk
Bath & North East Somerset
A boardwalk replacement for Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Parks department, completed to budget and to time, improving accessibility around a much loved local greenspace.
We are very happy with the finished boardwalk, which was completed to budget and time, and will improve accessibility around this much loved greenspace for the local community. Chris was enthusiastic and personable from the initial kick off call all the way through to project completion. Monkey Business were a pleasure to work with.
Correne Murray , Bath & North East Somerset Council (2024)
Blue Lodge Wildlife Pond
South Gloucestershire
A wildlife pond and wildflower area designed and dug from scratch, photographed one year on with established marginal planting and a meadow edge teeming with insect life.
We now have a wonderful wildlife pond and wild flower area that is teeming with insect life. Thank you!
Rupert Barrington , Pond customer, South Gloucestershire (2024)
Why Choose Us?
Easy to work with, and easy on the environment
We are really easy to contact and work with (just read our reviews) and everyone in the team wants to design and build really fun and attractive structures and rich habitats.
Our commitment to reducing environmental costs and maximising ecological opportunities is central to our design process and work practices. Our small size and low overheads mean we can usually offer a great deal more for your money than our larger competitors. All our design and build work is in house and we have full control of your project from start to finish.
Our Clients
- Schools and Early Years Nurseries
- Local Authorities
- Developers and Architects
- Visitor Attractions and Inns
- Residential customers
- Commercial customers
Based in Kingswood, Bristol and working across Swindon, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Bath and Somerset.
Testimonials
18 five star reviews and counting
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Ready to talk about your space?
Whether it is a school playground, a park, a nursery garden or a private plot, tell us what you have in mind. Initial site visits are free and come with no obligation.