A revamped playground in the heart of an Oxfordshire village has been given the thumbs up by excited schoolchildren.

The playground, in the centre of Beckley, near Oxford, was refurbished with a £45,000 National Lottery grant.

Schoolchildren from Beckley Church of England Primary School were the first to test out the new facilities at the Woodperry Road play area's re-launch on Friday morning.

Jamie Carruthers, 11, said: "It's great. It's quite challenging and good for all ages. I quite like the zip wire — it is quite fast.

"The playground wasn't great before.

"It was quite old and a lot of the equipment didn't really work that well."

Harry Nichols, 10, added: "It is really fun. You get kind of dizzy on lots of things and the slide is quite fast."

The playground, which sits behind Beckley Village Hall, had been slowly disintegrating for 30 years before three weeks of building work began last month.

Village children now have a choice of climbing frame, swings, slide and swinging crows nest to play in.

Samantha Hawkins, clerk of Beckley and Stowood Parish Council, which donated £5,000 to the revamp, said the old equipment would be shipped to the Philippines so that children there could use it.

She added: "The playground serves children from toddlers all the way up to 15 year olds. Even the adults have used it.

"The children loved it. They were saying 'wow' and they all started screaming when they ran on to it. It was brilliant."

Kate White, a teaching assistant at the school, said: "The children have loved it. They were all excited. The zip wire seemed to be the most popular thing.

"It is a wonderful facility for the children to have."