Play areas aren’t just for kids

From elaborate treehouses to 'sunken’ trampolines, play equipment can make a design statement in any family garden. Let the fun and games commence

Child sat in swing Alamy
Bunny Guinness has decided playgrounds can be a bit of fun for adults too (Picture: Alamy) Credit: Photo: © OJO Images Ltd / Alamy

Children, like plants, grow best outside. And if you make the outside as tempting as possible for them, you might find you can enjoy the space too.

The hub of a play space could be a structure such as a tree house, Wendy House, shepherd’s hut or willow tepee.

These needn’t be expensive. We took a second-hand garden shed and, with some paint, canvas and plywood, turned it into a bright shepherd’s hut with bunk beds for sleepovers.

At the other end of the scale, I designed a glass treehouse for a London family’s teenagers. It was based on a huge bird-box, kitted out with sound and sofas.

Small buildings are great for damp days when young tempers can become frayed if children are couped up inside, and are usually easy to slot into confined spaces.

First, decide whether you want to hide your building or make it eye-catching.

The height of structures can often annoy neighbours. Once, with space at a premium, we put a “castle”, with a flat roof and crenellations, on top of a shed.

By sinking the shed slightly below ground we reduced the total height of the structure.

Painting a structure a sludgy, dark green will make it far less obtrusive. You can also hide it with shrubs or by cladding the sides with instant ivy panels, which you can buy at various heights. A 6ft by 4ft (1.8x1.2m) panel will set you back £124 (plus VAT and delivery) from treebox.co.uk.

Treehouses

Treehouses, being above eye level and in a canopy, are generally less noticeable. Always check with your local authority before installing them, even if temporary.

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I have never designed one supported totally by the tree; invariably, we put in a series of support posts, which are then camouflaged. For the structure itself, I find durable marine or Far Eastern plywood cost-effective.

You could cover the outside with log rounds, hazel wands or halved rustic poles and “thatch” the roof with bundles of willow. Or you can go zany and paint the entire structure with flowers, leaves or climbers.

Treehouse Features Scan
Tree houses don't have to be complex to be fun (Picture: Features Scan)

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Trampolines

These are a popular option for the garden play area. If you find them conspicuous, you could buy one with a khaki cover and sink it into the ground, using the displaced earth to form a raised edge.

As well as being less obtrusive, sunken trampolines are safer too. Supertramp’s 14in Super Bouncer is ideal (supertramp.co.uk). We have shoehorned them into many tiny town gardens and, with mini hedges on top of the raised edge, they are virtually invisible. Safety, of course, is paramount. Most accidents happen when more than one child is on the trampoline, according to Chris Prentis, the founder of Supertramp.

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I sent my children to trampoline lessons and banned somersaults.

Although trampolines can be great fun, safety is extremely important (Alamy)

Swings

Swings are brilliant, but they can be dangerous. In the past, I have specified safety rubber seats, but Julian Cochrane (jcgardens.com) has designed beautiful cedar seats with rope around the edge.

His rope looks like natural hemp but is actually polyhemp as durable as man-made rope. No orange or blue polypropylene here. Cochrane also recommends rubber grass mats (smithbrothers-uk.co.uk).

These are 1.5m by 1m, and you simply lay them over the grass. Grass can grow through them and you can drive a lawnmower straight over the top. You can also put bark over it laid to a depth of just 100mm.

Zip wires and monkey bars

Cochrane sells a huge range of play equipment that looks as attractive as it is exhilarating, including 90m zip wires, climbable spider webs, rope basket swings and elaborate play frames.

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His favourites are monkey bars and scramble nets. Horizontal bars are often cantilevered out from a wall or fence, great for all ages to strengthen the upper body.

Monkey bars are perfect for improving upper body strength (Picture: Alamy)

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Family playgrounds

Having kit that the whole family can use is a bonus. Balancing beams and stepping logs arranged in a trail will improve everyone’s core muscles.

Even a sandpit can be inclusive, if it’s large enough. Digging the hole is the hardest bit. Allow 30cm for the sand under which you put a geotextile membrane to stop worms coming through and then about 50mm hardcore below this if you need extra drainage. Edge it with stepping stone logs, boulders or a woven willow fence.

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To keep out cats, cover it with a camouflage net when not in use.

Ball games

If you have the space, flat grass can be used for a tennis practice net (jaqueslondon.co.uk), French cricket, badminton or rounders. For football, home-made wooden goalposts look better than white plastic ones, if you don’t want to do with a couple of sweaters. Your herbaceous borders are likely to get thrashed, but that could be a small price for growing your own Beckham!

Planning your project

Making the space can be almost as exciting as using it. We made a mud hut, building up the walls in 60cm increments, so that each layer dried out before the next was added.

The mud we slapped on was made out of poor subsoil from the farmer’s field next door. To this we added lime, some straw and water, and mixed it all with (the farmer’s) JCB. We put an overhanging thatched roof on it and it should last for hundreds of years. It kept us busy for ages. Now the children have left, it is my favourite garden structure.