Design Tips: Trampolines
Trampolines are an increasingly popular feature in family gardens but, we’ve got to admit, we find them a bit of an eyesore. We’d always prefer to look out of the window at plants, attractive landscaping or kids’ play areas made with natural materials than a hulking great steel-framed trampoline.
But there’s no denying that trampolines are great for children and, of course, a garden should be a place for fun. So how can you combine a beautifully designed garden with a large and visually dominant trampoline? There are a couple of options that we regularly use that can help to minimise the impact.
You can screen the trampoline, or you can sink it into the ground. (Better still, you could do both together!)
Read on for an overview of some of our top tips, tricks and considerations.
Screened trampolines
Our favourite way to screen anything is to use plants.
To screen a trampoline, you’ll want to use something fast growing and tall. And for that, there aren’t many options that give you that bang for your buck as quickly as bamboo. But you don’t want to replace one garden nightmare with
another; the last thing you want to do is fill your garden with a triffid bamboo that takes over. Believe us, we’ve seen it time and again: one small bamboo plant spreads out to take over the entire garden. Bamboo are extremely tough plants, which spread by sending out rhizomes – aka underground stems – which can pop up metres away from the original plant. They’re strong enough to break through concrete, paving, and definitely your neighbour’s fence… So, never plant a bamboo into the ground unless you’re 100% confident that it’s not a spreading variety. It’s not always easy to get hold of that information, but you can fairly safely assume that any bamboo you can easily get from a garden centre will spread.
Check out our guide to bamboo for more info, along with some non-spreading varieties and some of our favourite varieties for pots. Once you’ve chosen a suitable bamboo plant, you can just place a row in front of the trampoline in the line of view from the house, seating areas, or any places where you want to mask the view of the trampoline. Screening with plants allows glimpses of the view beyond, so the trampoline won’t be completely out of sight, as it would behind a fence, or even a dense hedge, but masks the view. Screening plants also tend to move in the breeze, giving movement to the garden – alongside the movement of your child’s head bouncing up into sight every now and again!
Of course, one possible downside to this option is if you have young children and you really want to be able to see them on the trampoline to make sure they’re safe. In which case, consider…
Sunken trampolines
The second option is to sink the trampoline into the ground.
There are some really great kits for sunken trampolines. We often use Capital Play, though there are plenty of others on the market. There are some practicalities to consider when sinking a trampoline into the ground: drainage is the most important one – you don’t want to end up with an unintentional swimming pool. You also need to ensure that the material you’re sinking into is suitable, so you’ll need to know what sort of ground your garden is composed of. A sunken trampoline also has some safety considerations as well. A raised trampoline is usually surrounded by netting, to prevent the child falling off the trampoline. With a sunken trampoline, there is usually no netting, which can mean the children fall off it onto the surrounding areas – though, of course, this isn’t from the height of a raised trampoline. So, the surrounding landscaping is another aspect to take into consideration – if the sunken trampoline is sited next to a patio, or sunk into a lawn can make a big difference… There is no one size fits all answer for this: each parent will have a different opinion about the level of risk that’s okay for their child. But consider the setting and, if necessary, you can fit shock absorbers around the edge of sunken trampolines to help minimise any fall injuries.
A third option?
There is a final, third option: do you need a trampoline at all?
We always like to ask this to all our clients who request a trampoline. Not because we’re completely set against them, but just because trampolines seem to have become an automatic assumption in all family gardens. But there might be something a bit more unique, and more in keeping with the design of the garden, that could keep your child just as happy!
Yes, there’s lots of joy to be had jumping on a trampoline (and we saw it on our daughter’s face at her friend’s house the other day and were nearly tempted to rush straight to the nearest trampoline seller!) But that joy is equal if not more when that same little friend comes to play in our twiggy den. We’ve got plans to build a climbing frame and playhouse, with materials that will sit well within our garden, and they’re bound to have hours of fun playing on those too. Take a look at our blog post on natural play and alternative play kit ideas, to see if there’s something here that might be just as much fun…
Choosing a trampoline
If you’ve decided that a trampoline is right for you, the next step is to choose the right one for your garden. You’ll want to take into consideration:
Size
There are lots of different sizes available, from small(ish) round ones, to large rectangular shapes. Measure up your space, and make sure it won’t obstruct any routes to get past.
Purpose
What do the kids want to use it for? Bouncing is the obvious answer, but our neighbours’ children use theirs for wrestling matches. Other clients have asked us to build ones with an integrated basketball hoop.
Planting underneath
If you have a raised trampoline, what will go underneath? It will kill the lawn, or at best grow mossy and be difficult to mow. Instead of grass, could you plant up with shade loving planting, a selection of ferns, for example, or even create some habitat piles underneath to encourage wildlife. It’s very unlikely the space underneath will be used.
Quality
As with everything, there is a huge variety in quality (and price) of trampolines available. Research a good quality option and if buying new is too expensive, keep your eyes on Facebook marketplace or other selling groups. Lots of our clients have given away used (but high quality, expensive) trampolines completely for free. Always check it first for safety and make sure the springs are still rust-free and in good working condition.
Retrofitting
One of the questions we get asked the most, is to how to disguise an existing trampoline. Is it possible to just sink it into the ground? In theory, you could sink an existing above ground trampoline into the lawn, but we wouldn't recommend it as you would need to dig an enormous hole and retain it. For the cost of that, you would be better selling or giving away your existing above ground trampoline and investing instead in an in-ground trampoline kit. These are purpose made and come with the retaining structure that just clicks together
