Julia Baird in front of the famous red iron Strawberry Field gates in Liverpool, UK / photo: Gavin Trafford
The Strawberry Field visitor attraction – a unique addition to Beatles tourism in Liverpool – has reopened with a new nature-based wellbeing programme aimed at strengthening connections and addressing digital fatigue after years of lockdowns and home working.
Set in the grounds and gardens of the former Salvation Army children’s home immortalised in John Lennon’s song Strawberry Fields Forever, the visitor attraction first opened in September 2019, and then closed several times during lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, before reopening.
As a child, John Lennon lived with his aunt opposite the Strawberry Field children’s home, and often scaled the walls to play in the gardens with the children.
The attraction features the iconic red gates that lead to the historic gardens, which now act as a sanctuary and tranquil space for reflection.
Inside the new visitor centre – designed by Hoskins Architects – an interactive exhibition tells the interweaving history and heritage of the original children’s home, the Salvation Army, John Lennon’s childhood and the writing and recording of the song Strawberry Fields Forever.
Exhibits include the original piano which John Lennon used to compose and record Imagine, which is on long term loan to the attraction from the George Michael Estate, as well as a selection of images and filmed interviews from witnesses to the story, including John’s sister Julia Baird, honorary president of Strawberry Field.
“John and his friends used to climb over the walls of the Strawberry Field gardens to sit in the trees, to pick the fruit, to play and to watch the resident children at play,” Baird told Attractions Management.“
“I think it meant an awful lot to him, becoming his go to place of sanctuary when he was younger….he actually called the song, Strawberry Fields Forever ‘my only psychoanalytic poem.’ “The site has been a wasteland since 2005 when the government closed down the children’s home – nobody could have envisaged this amazing, visionary, state-of-the-art building rising like a phoenix from the ashes,” she said.
The Salvation Army – which still owns the site – runs a programme called Steps at Strawberry Field supporting local adults with learning difficulties and other barriers to work to help them with employment skills and work experience. All proceeds from the attraction are used to help with this work.
"I think John would have loved this,” said Baird. “The Steps at Strawberry Field programme offers support, a safe place and help into the outside world for students. It’s a wonderful idea that the Salvation Army is going to cultivate youngsters in the precious soil of Strawberry Field.“The gardens are my favourite part of the attraction; there are strawberry beds, a peace/meditation garden featuring the original red iron gates. People can just go there to sit and think.“Inside, the star attraction is the piano, which John used to write and record Imagine. Most people think the song was recorded on the white piano in the Imagine video, which was far more aesthetically pleasing than the Steinway that John bought directly from Germany in 1970.
“The White Room at Tittenhurst Park was prepared beautifully for the video, but Phil Spector – who was a perfectionist – said the acoustics weren’t good enough, so they had to go back to John’s studio to record it on the Steinway.”
2022 will see the addition of a bandstand in the gardens, which will be used to host music events and performances.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2021 issue 4
Editor's letter: Eco drivers
Therme Group and The Eden Project are going global, on an environmental mission says Magali Robathan
AM People: Julia Baird
On why her brother John Lennon would have loved the Strawberry Field attraction and the work it’s doing for the local community
AM People: Åsa Caap
The thrill of opening the Space Stockholm digital culture centre
Interview: David Harland & Sir Tim Smit
With projects underway around the world, the Eden Project is going global with its call to arms for the future of the planet
Museums: Getting creative
How the Young V&A will aim to provide children with the creative tools stripped out by the pandemic
Interview: Richard Land
Mixing waterslides with wellbeing, the Therme Group is creating a category all of its own while taking on the world, says the group’s chief development officer
Museums: Kunsthaus Zurich completes
A David Chipperfield extension has more than doubled the museum’s exhibition space, making Zurich a major destination for the arts
Interview: Julien Kauffmann
As Farah Experiences prepares to open SeaWorld Abu Dubai, its CEO talks COVID-19, branding and branching with David Camp
Research: Making pre-booking work
Attractions are benefiting from the switch to pre-booking, but must cater for spontaneous, disorganised visitors too, says Jon Young
Research: All creatures great and small
Zoo enrichment and research can’t just be focused on the large animals most popular with visitors, argues Dr Paul Rose. All must be represented
Research: Popularity game
Research on zoo animals focuses more on ‘familiar’ species such as gorillas and chimpanzees, rather than less well known ones such as the waxy monkey frog, scientists say
Analysis: Light in the dark
A successful winter light show can see margins upwards of 30 per cent. Kathleen LaClair and
Yael Coifman look at some of the operators getting it right
Museums: Munch Museum opens in Norway
The iconic new attraction has opened on Oslo’s waterfront with the world’s largest collection of works by Edvard Munch
Mystery Shopper: Galleries & Gourds
It has transformed the sleepy town of Bruton, UK, but does Hauser & Wirth Somerset live up to the hype? Magali Robathan mystery shops to find out
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
Julia Baird in front of the famous red iron Strawberry Field gates in Liverpool, UK / photo: Gavin Trafford
The Strawberry Field visitor attraction – a unique addition to Beatles tourism in Liverpool – has reopened with a new nature-based wellbeing programme aimed at strengthening connections and addressing digital fatigue after years of lockdowns and home working.
Set in the grounds and gardens of the former Salvation Army children’s home immortalised in John Lennon’s song Strawberry Fields Forever, the visitor attraction first opened in September 2019, and then closed several times during lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, before reopening.
As a child, John Lennon lived with his aunt opposite the Strawberry Field children’s home, and often scaled the walls to play in the gardens with the children.
The attraction features the iconic red gates that lead to the historic gardens, which now act as a sanctuary and tranquil space for reflection.
Inside the new visitor centre – designed by Hoskins Architects – an interactive exhibition tells the interweaving history and heritage of the original children’s home, the Salvation Army, John Lennon’s childhood and the writing and recording of the song Strawberry Fields Forever.
Exhibits include the original piano which John Lennon used to compose and record Imagine, which is on long term loan to the attraction from the George Michael Estate, as well as a selection of images and filmed interviews from witnesses to the story, including John’s sister Julia Baird, honorary president of Strawberry Field.
“John and his friends used to climb over the walls of the Strawberry Field gardens to sit in the trees, to pick the fruit, to play and to watch the resident children at play,” Baird told Attractions Management.“
“I think it meant an awful lot to him, becoming his go to place of sanctuary when he was younger….he actually called the song, Strawberry Fields Forever ‘my only psychoanalytic poem.’ “The site has been a wasteland since 2005 when the government closed down the children’s home – nobody could have envisaged this amazing, visionary, state-of-the-art building rising like a phoenix from the ashes,” she said.
The Salvation Army – which still owns the site – runs a programme called Steps at Strawberry Field supporting local adults with learning difficulties and other barriers to work to help them with employment skills and work experience. All proceeds from the attraction are used to help with this work.
"I think John would have loved this,” said Baird. “The Steps at Strawberry Field programme offers support, a safe place and help into the outside world for students. It’s a wonderful idea that the Salvation Army is going to cultivate youngsters in the precious soil of Strawberry Field.“The gardens are my favourite part of the attraction; there are strawberry beds, a peace/meditation garden featuring the original red iron gates. People can just go there to sit and think.“Inside, the star attraction is the piano, which John used to write and record Imagine. Most people think the song was recorded on the white piano in the Imagine video, which was far more aesthetically pleasing than the Steinway that John bought directly from Germany in 1970.
“The White Room at Tittenhurst Park was prepared beautifully for the video, but Phil Spector – who was a perfectionist – said the acoustics weren’t good enough, so they had to go back to John’s studio to record it on the Steinway.”
2022 will see the addition of a bandstand in the gardens, which will be used to host music events and performances.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2021 issue 4
Editor's letter: Eco drivers
Therme Group and The Eden Project are going global, on an environmental mission says Magali Robathan
AM People: Julia Baird
On why her brother John Lennon would have loved the Strawberry Field attraction and the work it’s doing for the local community
AM People: Åsa Caap
The thrill of opening the Space Stockholm digital culture centre
Interview: David Harland & Sir Tim Smit
With projects underway around the world, the Eden Project is going global with its call to arms for the future of the planet
Museums: Getting creative
How the Young V&A will aim to provide children with the creative tools stripped out by the pandemic
Interview: Richard Land
Mixing waterslides with wellbeing, the Therme Group is creating a category all of its own while taking on the world, says the group’s chief development officer
Museums: Kunsthaus Zurich completes
A David Chipperfield extension has more than doubled the museum’s exhibition space, making Zurich a major destination for the arts
Interview: Julien Kauffmann
As Farah Experiences prepares to open SeaWorld Abu Dubai, its CEO talks COVID-19, branding and branching with David Camp
Research: Making pre-booking work
Attractions are benefiting from the switch to pre-booking, but must cater for spontaneous, disorganised visitors too, says Jon Young
Research: All creatures great and small
Zoo enrichment and research can’t just be focused on the large animals most popular with visitors, argues Dr Paul Rose. All must be represented
Research: Popularity game
Research on zoo animals focuses more on ‘familiar’ species such as gorillas and chimpanzees, rather than less well known ones such as the waxy monkey frog, scientists say
Analysis: Light in the dark
A successful winter light show can see margins upwards of 30 per cent. Kathleen LaClair and
Yael Coifman look at some of the operators getting it right
Museums: Munch Museum opens in Norway
The iconic new attraction has opened on Oslo’s waterfront with the world’s largest collection of works by Edvard Munch
Mystery Shopper: Galleries & Gourds
It has transformed the sleepy town of Bruton, UK, but does Hauser & Wirth Somerset live up to the hype? Magali Robathan mystery shops to find out
Experience design company, BRC Imagination Arts, has completed a transition that sees founder
Bob Rogers pass ownership of the business to four long-serving senior executives, while
remaining actively involved with the company.
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Efteling has opened Hooghmoed, a new family drop tower designed to broaden the appeal of its
recently launched Sirene Island themed area and introduce younger visitors to thrill attractions.
A proposed Puy du Fou development near Bicester and Universal Destinations and Experiences’
planned resort in Bedford are emerging as part of a wider transformation of the Oxford–
Cambridge Growth Corridor into a major centre for UK leisure and tourism inv
Shedd Aquarium has opened the Immersion Theater developed in partnership with SimEx-
Iwerks, as part of a wider strategy to enhance the guest experience and create additional
revenue opportunities.
The UK government has announced a temporary reduction in VAT on visitor attractions and
children’s meals as part of a summer cost-of-living support package designed to stimulate the
visitor economy and encourage family days out.
As designer Yinka Ilori prepares for his first solo gallery show in London, he speaks exclusively
to CLADmag about his mission to spread joy, the power of play, and his bold approach to using
colour (including the colours you won’t see in his work).
The government of Thailand is exploring plans for a THB300bn (£6.3bn, US$8.3bn)
entertainment complex in the country’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), with officials
proposing a large-scale theme park and sports destination as part of a broader tourism and
economic development strategy.
Royal Caribbean has revealed its Hero of the Seas cruise ship, home to the most pools at sea
(nine), and a record-breaking 28 dining venues, as well as attractions including a waterpark
with two new family raft slides.
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