Advice for Spring Paving

Brighter and longer days mean that our outdoor spaces have never been so important. Garden Designer David Loy, of Your Garden Design, gives his expert advice on how to get the best from your exterior paving and create a harmonious place to spend the upcoming warmer months.

1.       What considerations should you make when selecting outdoor paving?

Paving ideally should be hard wearing, attractive, easy to keep looking good and selected to match the property or landscape in which it to be used. We would usually select a natural product for a period or more traditional property, be this of either a riven (split) or sawn finish and lean toward porcelain or sawn, if using a natural stone, for a more contemporary setting. Colour choice is always dictated by tones used in the property or surrounding vernacular which gives a more premium appearance and we would tend to keep the material selection constrained to one or two main paving types as this leads to a more harmonious feel to the finished landscape.

2.       Is there a particular stone in the Artisans collection that you like to use in your designs?

We particularly like the Buscot Limestone range of paving due to its neutral, consistent colour, fine texture and ease of maintenance. This particular stone is particularly versatile, sitting well in both traditional and contemporary settings. For use in projects with more traditional feel and where the stone is to be subject to increased foot traffic or likely to become dirty such as in rural or farm settings where dogs and muddy boots can be an issue, we have found Trusloe Limestone to be an ideal solution. This is available with matching copings and steps and is exceptionally hardwearing and easy to clean. Generally we complement our paving with a lighter tone of grout or filler as this ensures the stone or ceramic is the feature.

3.       Do you like to design with curves or straight lines in mind?

We usually design with straight lines in mind, utilising the rectilinear format of the paving. Paving is orientated dependent upon whether the aim of the desired view across the finished surface is to foreshorten or elongate the space. Laying paying along a sightline will extend the view whilst laying across will make the space feel wider, useful in long narrow spaces. We usually lay the paving offset as opposed to corner to corner as this gives a more upmarket appearance and increases the strength of the finished surface where slabs intersect. Regarding curves, we do sometimes incorporate into the design, but tend to use smaller pieces to avoid excessive wastage, or have pieces fabricated to suit.

4.       Are there any addition elements, such as lighting, that really enhance an outdoor paved area?

Paving is always planned to work with soft landscaping in our designs, and as such lighting is important. We tend to up light the planted areas as opposed to the paving itself which illuminates the hardscape with a softer reflected light. Details such as steps and copings can be specified with a groove to the underside to take LED strips etc which give a lovely accent of light where required to illuminate steps and raised beds as features and provide additional light to changes in level thus improving safety when changing levels during hours of darkness.

David Loy MSGD

B.Sc Horticulture. RHS Cert Horticulture

www.yourgardendesign.co.uk