Paths in your Garden

Paths have been around awhile.

Granite sett path – these setts traveled from Portugal in the 1800’s as ships ballast and were then used on London’s streets.

They were a very convenient group of sizes namely ;-

4 inch x 4 inch x 4 inch
4 inch x 4 inch x 6 inch
4 inch x 4 inch x 8 inch

These regular sizes enable a module to be used, which makes the overall finished visual much more attractive. It’s also easier to lay – below you see a radius layout using just 4 inch x 4inch x 4inch setts.

Seeing as we have snow today, I thought it might be an idea to talk a little about paths and paving materials. Not all paving is equal as they say, concrete for instance is often more slippery than say asphalt ( there is a standard called CBR – California Bearing Ratio, this is basically a coefficient of slipperiness. Often only used for roadways and cars.)

So lets take a look at some paths

This gravel path works great, except when frost is just coming out of the surface, when it gets very sticky.

Gravel paths are both attractive, economical and if laid on a suitable base long lasting, a simple rake and roll often restores the path to its near original state. Keeping on top of surface weed growth is essential.

Paths should be at least 5ft wide to allow a couple to walk side by side..although,in a garden this is often impractical.

This beautiful path leads all the way around the garden, making it a fabulous way to explore the differing views created.

This scented path uses camomile planted within the ‘p-shingle’.

We used old railway sleepers and camomile to create this pathway, the camomile grows and covers the widened joints. When you walk on the camomile a lovely scent rises up.

A more formal gravel path – this is a white limestone and approximately 4ft 6 inch wide – just wide enough for two people to stroll (promenade) around together

Here the path is dressed in graded white limestone, this creates a much more formal garden for the client.

The next is designed in a series of straight lines using a brick module.

Here a zig-zag brick path leads from one section of the garden to another

Using stock bricks that compliment the house colours is a good way to ‘link’ a garden design to a house. Walking on a larger sized clean gravel, is both fun due to the noise and a safety feature as you can hear someone or something approaching.

Here we used a larger stone size to add that lovely crunching sound as you walk on the path

Perhaps the most expensive form of path, the steps are laid in natural random rectangular stone, which is expensive to purchase and time consuming to lay..

It was a hot day when they completed these steps….

To finish with some of my favorite materials. I’ve always tried to use natural materials on projects as the colour does not fade with time, they are often long lasting – if laid correctly. They always look soft and blend in so well with the surroundings..but natural comes with a significant cost increase..

A quick word about patios, if you are using the patio for entertaining a normal table with four chairs requires an area of approximately 10ft 6 ins ( 3m) x 10ft 6 ins (3m) to accommodate the table and chairs.