Backyard Fort with Bridge

We have this funny cement pad in our backyard; I have no idea what it is or was for. It's pretty out of the way, but it does pose a slight hazard as there isn't a barrier around it and it drops straight down (about four feet) to the lower part of our yard. It'd be pretty brutal if a kid fell as the cement wall down is pretty rough too.

I've dreamed for a while that it would be fun to somehow attached a slide to the cement pad, maybe even one that rounds to the left, so kids can go up our yard stairs to the top of the slide and slide down. After searching on-line I realized, slides are expensive!

I had shared my dreams with the hubby and one day he came home and mentioned that this odd house off a main street (where you can also drop your old appliances off) had a wood fort (completely taken apart) play structure complete with swings and a slide for sale for $75. He wasn't sure what sort of shape it was in, but I told him the slide alone was worth more than that, so it'd be worth trying.

Somehow my husband got all the pieces back to our house and began assembling it. Good thing he's mechanically inclined as the only instructions we were given were in French!

What also showed me that "you get what you pay for" was the entire thing needed a good pressure washing, scrubbing, and probably needs to eventually be stained. My man got the section with the ladder, slide, and canvas roof set up, and discussed with me where in the yard the entire play structure could go permanently. This conversation was easier said than done as the place I suggested, the hubs told me that is where his shed will go. I pushed several times, but he wasn't budging, so I knew I needed a new idea.

My little one was having a blast playing in just this section of the play structure, even without the swings and the monkey bars. Somehow I got to thinking about if we just used the slide, ladder, and roof section and not the monkey bars and swings section, and turned it just so, it would fit in the back corner of our yard next to the cement pad (this coming from someone who doesn't see objects in a 3D way). Then my husband could build a small bridge from the cement pad right onto the platform of the fort. It would be so fun for kids to have a space that seemed hidden from the adults!

The other benefit is we haven't been able to get anything to grow in this back corner and it's really a neglected space of the yard. It's too hard to water to keep grass there or really any living trees or shrubs. I once suggested to the husband to build a stacked raised garden bed, but that didn't interest him at all, so he was on board with this idea!

My burly husband got to digging holes, cementing in 4x4 pressure treated wood posts and cut off the entire top section of the fort.

He needed me to assist a little when it came to attaching the top of the fort to the new bases, so I did my best to hold everything level enough for him.

Here is the space from the cement pad to the platform of the fort before Evan built a bridge. Looks a little scary doesn't it?

We purchased big bark chips and spread them all under the fort. Then he built the bridge (of course using old fence wood), so now it just needs a small screen or hand rail for the side of the bridge, and it's ready to go!

It's been a big hit already and of course I have more ideas for a lever and pulley system to haul up treasures in a bucket from the ground to the platform, I want to screen off two of the walls under the fort that will protect kids from the cement wall and so they won't climb up the red rock filler on the side, but for now, it's usable!