A trampoline lives outdoors all year, so the weather and the soil decide a good deal about which one you should buy and where it should stand. Belfast has a wet climate, an open lough, soft clay under its low ground and hills to the north, west and east. This guide goes through each in turn.
Every local fact here has a source, and each source is named and linked: the Met Office for weather, the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland for the ground, BERG for the product. Where no figure has been published for Belfast, we say that instead of filling the gap.
Belfast gets roughly 940 to 980 mm of rain a year. The Met Office averages for its Newforge station for 1991 to 2020 come to about 939 mm, falling on about 156 days. The Stormont Castle station averaged about 977 mm on about 158 days over the same years. Both sets of figures are gathered in the Climate of Belfast article, which cites the station records.
In plain terms, it rains on more than two days in every five. Three things follow for a trampoline.
Storm Éowyn, on 24 January 2025, is the measure most people here remember. The Met Office's report on the storm lists gusts of 92 mph at Killowen and 85 mph at Orlock Head, both in Co. Down, under a red wind warning that covered all of Northern Ireland. The Met Office called it the most severe wind storm in Northern Ireland since Boxing Day 1998.
Neither of those stations is in the city, and we have not found a published gust for one that is. So we give no Belfast figure. The lesson does not need one: a trampoline standing on legs with its net up is a large thing for the wind to get hold of, and a storm like that one will move it if nothing is holding it down.
BERG's manual puts it briefly: "Strong winds and gusts can displace the trampoline." Its storm advice comes down to this:
Both kits fit any make of trampoline standing on grass. Ground anchors do not hold in a patio, concrete or gravel. Check them after every named storm and tighten or re-seat any that have lifted. Ordered with a trampoline they travel free; on their own, delivery is €11.99.
Four galvanised steel corkscrew anchors with four webbing straps and buckle tensioners. The straps go over the frame and can be tightened again when the ground softens.
Adjustable, and easier to take out again.
€55was €59.99
Eight galvanised ground stakes, 30cm long, one over the frame at each leg. Eight covers most round trampolines up to 14ft.
More fixing points. Not adjustable.
€55was €59.99
BERG does not publish a wind speed at which a trampoline is safe or unsafe. Nor do we. When a named storm is forecast, treat it as the signal to check the anchors and bring the net down.
Belfast is built on two very different kinds of ground, and the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland (GSNI) has mapped both in its Engineering Geology Map of Belfast and Surrounding District.
Sleech. This is the local name for an estuarine clay found in low-lying parts of the Lagan valley and around Belfast Lough. The GSNI map describes it as "typically soft or very soft" and "highly compressible". A GSNI account of geohazards in Northern Ireland puts it at over 15 metres thick in the docks area and 3 to 10 metres in the commercial and inner city areas, and gives the leaning Albert Clock as the classic example of what it does to a foundation.
Boulder clay. Over much of the rest of the area the map shows glacial till, a well-consolidated mix of everything from clay to boulders, described as firm to stiff.
We are not going to say which of these is under any named street or district. A map at that scale cannot tell you about one back garden, and nor can we. What the map does tell you is that clay of one kind or another is common here, and clay is slow to let water through.
For a trampoline on legs that hardly matters, because nothing is dug. For an InGround or FlatGround it is the main question. Both sit over a hollow in the lawn. BERG's manual requires "adequate drainage" to take rain water away and a check that a high ground-water level will not leave water collecting in the hole. Whether your ground meets that is for an installer to judge, standing on it. We do not install, and we do not publish hole sizes or drainage methods: who installs a trampoline in Belfast explains how that part works.
The city climbs out of the Lagan valley towards the Belfast Hills in the north and west and the Castlereagh Hills in the east. So sloping gardens exist here, as they do in any city with hills round it. We make no claim about which neighbourhoods have them. You know your own garden.
BERG's manual is firm that a trampoline "is installed on level ground", with the legs equal in height and resting firmly on the ground. It names no slope that is acceptable. In practice:
BERG makes three types. Here is how the rain, wind and ground above bear on each, with a few models from our catalogue as starting points. Each card links to that model on TrampolinesIreland.com, where orders are placed.
Asks least of the soil: no digging, so clay and drainage barely come into it, provided the spot is level and firm. It asks most of you when the wind gets up, because it stands highest and always carries a net. Anchor it, and take the net down before a storm. Above-ground trampolines start at €449.
Above ground · Round
Above ground · Round
Above ground · Rectangular
Sits close to the lawn, so the wind has much less to catch. It can be bought with a net or without. The price of that lower profile is the hole: it depends on the installer's view of the drainage and the ground water at your spot. InGround trampolines start at €339.
InGround · Round
InGround · Round
InGround · Round
Lies flush with the lawn, with no step up and no ladder, and catches far less wind than a trampoline on legs. The round models have no net. Like the InGround, it stands or falls on drainage, judged on site. FlatGround trampolines start at €699.
FlatGround · Square
FlatGround · Round
FlatGround · Rectangular
If an installer tells you the ground will not drain well enough, believe them. The same level spot will take a trampoline on legs. To weigh the ranges once the type is settled, see Favorit, Champion and Elite compared or the guide to choosing a trampoline in Belfast.
Want a second pair of eyes on it? Send us a few photos of the garden and the measurements of the level part. Mention anything this guide has raised: a corner that stays wet, a slope, how open the garden is to the wind. We will suggest a type and size and give you a price delivered to Belfast. There is no charge and no obligation.
Book a free garden consultation or ring 028 3756 8930. One honest limit: photos let us judge fit, size and type. They do not let us judge drainage, and for an in-ground model that still takes an installer on site. Delivery is set out on the Belfast delivery page.
Roughly 940 to 980 mm a year, falling on about 156 to 158 days. Those are the 1991 to 2020 averages for the Newforge and Stormont Castle stations. For a trampoline, how quickly your own ground lets the water go matters more than the total.
The Met Office recorded gusts of 92 mph at Killowen and 85 mph at Orlock Head, both in Co. Down, on 24 January 2025, with a red warning across Northern Ireland. We have not found a published gust for a station inside Belfast city, so we do not quote one.
BERG's advice is to anchor the trampoline, to move it somewhere more sheltered if you can, and to take off the safety net and the padding before a heavy storm. Check the anchors again afterwards. We sell two anchor kits at €55 each.
It depends on the spot. The Geological Survey of Northern Ireland maps soft estuarine clay, known as sleech, under low-lying parts of the Lagan valley and around Belfast Lough, and stiff boulder clay over much of the rest. BERG requires adequate drainage and a ground-water check, and an installer has to judge that on your own ground.
Not on the slope itself. BERG's manual says a trampoline is to be installed on level ground. On a sloping site, use a part that is already level or have a level area made first. BERG publishes no slope that it accepts, so we do not quote one.
A FlatGround or InGround trampoline, because it sits at or close to lawn level and there is far less for the wind to catch than on a trampoline on legs. A safety net catches wind on any type.
Send a few photos and the size of the level area. We will recommend a type and size for your ground and give you a price delivered to Belfast. Free, with no obligation.
Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm