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Surface Choices
Flooring occupies the greatest area of the garden, and as such it will have a huge impact on both the visual aspect of your outdoor space and the practicalities required for its upkeep. The choice of flooring will depend partly on budget and the availability of materials in your locality, and partly on the look you set out to achieve. The most successful choice of surfacing will finally be a compromise between function and appearance.
Choosing your hard surface material can be difficult. Outdoors, little surpasses the beauty of natural stone, especially a local stone, which will harmonize with its surroundings. Another good material to use is frost proof flat-surfaced brick; specially made brick pavers are the ideal choice for patios and paths. Aggregates, in the form or gravel or shingle, are another form of natural stone. Other decorative hard surfaces can be achieved with a clever use of pebbles, slate or ceramics.
If such materials exceed your budget, there is a wide choice of concrete pavers. Not all are
uniform, uninspired slabs: many have subtle variations of tone to give a naturally aged look; some come in the form of ready-to-split blocks of cobbles, each of which comes away slightly differently for a more natural effect.
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Small pavers laid end-to-end visually elongate the curved path in this small garden, leading the eye through the
planting, which is contained by the well-defined path edge.
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