Every autumn, somewhere in South Devon, a trampoline escapes. It cartwheels across a field, clears a hedge, and ends up three gardens away while its owners sprint after it in wellies. The sheep are never sympathetic.
It's funny until it's yours. And the trampoline is usually the least of it. By the time January is done, garden furniture has gone green with algae, parasols have bent themselves into abstract sculptures, and anything left on the lawn has either blown away or quietly rotted into it. None of that needs to happen.
What a Devon Winter Actually Does to Garden Kit
South Devon is mild compared to much of the country, but mild does not mean calm. Atlantic storms roll in from the south-west with enough force to shift anything that isn't bolted down. Furniture gets knocked over repeatedly, cushions soak through, metal frames start to rust, and plastic fades faster when it spends months wet and cold.
Trampolines are particularly vulnerable. The frame takes the wind like a sail, and even with the legs pegged down, a determined gust can move one. The nets and pads deteriorate quickly in prolonged damp and UV exposure. A few months in a dry container adds years to the life of the thing.
What's Worth Putting Away
Pretty much anything you'd rather not replace in spring is worth storing. The usual candidates are:
- Trampolines, disassembled or whole depending on size
- Garden furniture, tables, chairs and loungers
- Parasols and gazebos
- Children's outdoor toys and playsets
- Barbecues and pizza ovens
- Planters, cushions and decorative pieces
Things that spend winter outdoors often come back looking tired and needing replacement far sooner than they should. Storing them costs less than replacing them, and it also means you're not spending a sunny April morning scrubbing green slime off chairs before you can use them.
Dry, Locked and Out of the Wind
At SOS Storage in Kingskerswell, just off the A380, we have container and indoor storage that keeps your garden kit dry and secure through the stormy months. A container is particularly good for bulkier items: you can stack furniture, slide in the trampoline frame, and fit considerably more than you'd expect once everything is in.
The site is open every day from 7:30am to 8:30pm, so you can drop things off or collect them at a time that actually works around family life. There's no need to book a weekday off to sort it out. If you want to get everything in before the first serious storm of the season arrives, now is a sensible time to think about it.
Getting Sorted Before the Next Storm
The pattern is always the same. People think about storing the garden kit, don't quite get round to it, and then wake up one morning to find a parasol in the flowerbed and a chair upside down in the hedge. The storm made the decision for them, and now they're also shopping for replacements.
Getting ahead of it is straightforward. Bring the furniture in, break down the trampoline, stack it all into a container, and leave it there until March or April when the weather settles down and the garden becomes usable again. The kit comes out in the same condition it went in.
If you'd like to know what size unit would suit you or get a quote for the season, get in touch with us and we'll help you work it out before the next storm rolls in from the south-west.