Help to fill in a big hole.

[Spindle7]

Hi

I have a big hole in my garden from where we had a trampoline for many years. Just looking for inspiration of what to do with this space.
The hole is approx 4m×3m. The surrounding space is approx 6mx5m.
Any ideas would be appreciated. I have 3 weeks off work so looking to crack on with this project.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

You might find that when it was dug out you lost most of the top soil, do you fancy keeping the hole, or filling it? Divide it by four and have a compost heap in each section for a year and in four years you will have the basis of a nice bed. If the sub soil is reasonable, or capable of improvement, you could dig part of it deeper, make a pond, and use the spoil to fill the rest.
You can buy top soil in bulk, the prices vary hugely depending partly on who you deal with, partly on quality and partly on delivery distance. Same goes for things like mushroom compost. If someone wants to lose something it may be free, I know a lady with horses who lets me collect as much well rotted manure as I want. On the other hand I see in my local paper people advertising they will deliver a trailer load for £50, and I bet they charge the horse owner to take it away.
A bit of boarding and glass and you could make two lovely back to back cold frames, more salad than you could eat.
Depends on what you want from your garden though, nice and flat, mow it over, minimum maintenance, or a project to keep you busy out of the house and produce lots of veg. or flowers?

 

[Mike313]

If it doesn't flood, you could line the sides with stone and put in some seating with a fire-pit in the centre - a sunken seating area where you could sit around a fire, have a BBQ and a beer . . . . . although it looks a bit far from the house to be ideal . . . .