Ideas Library · Outdoor Structures
Play Structure Set Into a Bank, Not Standing on the Lawn
A play structure whose height is borrowed from a level change rather than built on legs, suited to sloping gardens and to owners who want the structure tied into the landform instead of standing as an object on flat ground.
Spaces:back gardensloping plotrural gardenterraced gardenfamily garden
Style:naturalisticfamily-friendlyinformalrustic
Where this idea works
Where this idea works
Contexts this direction tends to suit — and, honestly, where it may not.
- Gardens with an existing bank, terrace edge or change of level that is otherwise unused
- Owners who would rather not see a tall frame from the house all year
- Sites where a slope already exists and is being reworked anyway
- Play that suits slides, scrambles and tunnels rather than swings and high frames
Where it may not fit
Where it may not fit
- Flat gardens where the bank would have to be created from imported material for this purpose alone
- Slopes whose stability is unknown, or that are already retained by something
- Play equipment that needs clear space all round at height, which a bank cannot give
Planning
Planning considerations
- Let the slope give the height, which means the structure is mostly a platform and an edge rather than a frame
- Cutting into a bank and building into one are different acts, and the published records treat a reinforced fill and a gravity wall as behaving in quite different ways
- Water moving down a slope has to be given a route that is not through the play area, and that route is decided before the platform position is
- A platform at a level change is an edge, and how it is guarded is a question for a qualified professional rather than a matter of preference
- Whether the existing bank can be cut into at all is a ground question, not a garden one, and worth asking before anything is drawn
Layout
Layout considerations
- The slide runs with the slope, so the fall direction sets the layout before anything else does
- The route back up is as used as the route down, and a scramble, steps or a path has to be part of the plan
- Keeping the platform edge back from the crest leaves room for the guarding and for the ground beneath it
- Sightlines from the house matter for supervision, and a structure set into a bank can be harder to see into than one on the lawn
Materials & finishes
Materials and finishes to discuss
Named generically as starting points to discuss with professionals — not specifications, and not priced.
Consider:timber sleeper edgingstacked stone or gabion facinggeogrid reinforced fillstainless steel slideloose-fill impact surfacingturf and planted bank
- Anything retaining a change of level is a structure, and the published records treat drainage behind it as part of the structure rather than an accessory
- Timber in contact with retained soil is permanently wet on one face, which is a different condition from timber standing in air
- The ground at the top and bottom of a slide takes concentrated wear and will need a surface that can take it
Maintenance & durability
Maintenance and durability questions
- Loose impact surfacing migrates downhill and needs redistributing rather than simply topping up
- A planted bank around a structure is walked on constantly at the desire lines, which thins it in predictable places
Professional review
What to ask a qualified professional
Bring these questions to a designer, contractor or the relevant qualified professional or authority.
- Is this slope stable, and would a geotechnical or structural professional need to assess it before it is cut into?
- What retention approach suits this change of level, and how is drainage behind it arranged?
- What guarding is required at the platform edge given its height above the ground beneath?
- What impact surfacing would a qualified professional consider appropriate for the fall heights involved?
- Where does water travelling down this slope go once the bank is reshaped?
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