Garden Paths

Basic Questions

In most gardens, where you need to traverse a regular route you need to build in paths. However, that simple statement introduces a wide range of options and decisions.

Reducing the number of Options

To help with decision making, you need to answer some basic questions:

• First you need to decide how frequently the path is to be used (e.g. many times a day, daily, weekly or only occasionally) and the type of traffic it has to bear such as pedestrians, machinery or vehicles?


• The next question is how much you can afford to spend on the materials and labour required to construct the path. Many materials can be laid by a capable handyman but some would be better laid by professional contractors and there are some where it is virtually essential to use professionals?


• Is the path purely functional or is it to be an integral decorative feature of your garden design.


• Do you have any personal dislikes in terms of surface appearance and texture or does the path have to blend in with some other architectural features?

Considering and coming up with answers to these few questions should reduce the number of decisions and options to a manageable number.

Types of path range from something as simple as laying a few stepping stones in a lawn to creating a complex pattern from natural stone slabs or granite setts.