Pathways

Setts

Almost indestructible, stone setts make a hard-wearing, attractive pathway. With a large assortment of coloured setts available, you can let your creative side loose and mix shades to create multicoloured designs. Or play it safe using just one colour for a sleek and stylish footpath. Different materials will give different looks, riven, cropped, and tumbled setts will have a rustic and aged look. While sawn and textured setts will create a sleek and contemporary aesthetic.

Temple Setts - Silver Grey Granite, Allan Rowan Landscape Gardener

Gravel

Using aggregates or gravels to build your garden path gives a softer look than if you were to use stone pavers. They bring a natural texture to a design scheme, are strong and durable and work well in areas that need additional drainage. With an array of colours, shapes and sizes on the market, you’ll be sure to find the perfect gravel for your garden footpath.

Footpath Gravel

Our self-compacting footpath gravels have been made especially for pathways. The materials used are specially graded decorative aggregates ideal for areas where the traffic is too heavy for grass, but where a natural appearance is a desire.

Different colours will give different looks, use CEDEC’s Gold and Bronze or our Golden Amber gravel for a traditional look and to convey warmth, CEDEC silver will provide a sophisticated element to your path, and Green will create an eye-catching feature. Whichever colour you go for footpath gravels will give a quality finish while still providing a natural appearance.

Golden Amber Footpath Gravel, Emily Sharpe (Garden Stories)

Sawn Boulders

Sawn Boulders are becoming very sought after by garden designers. They are wonderfully random in both colour and shape and being inherently ovoid in appearance, they have a beautiful, natural look, that softens up a pathway. Sawn Boulders are costly to buy, but on the plus side, they are easy to lay as you don’t need to worry about the size of the joints. Why not add gravel or planting in between boulders to add interest and colour, creating a stunning and unique pathway.

Sawn Boulders - Lawrence Roberts (Elements Garden Design)

Mosaic

This one takes talent and a lot of time to create but the results can be incredible and almost too pretty to walk on. With a huge range of cobbles and pebbles of all different colours, you can create a beautiful and entirely unique footpath in your garden.

Mixture of Pebbles, Mike Baldwin and Derby College Students

Resin Bound Surfacing

Resin-bound surfacing has become extremely popular in the last few years and is a fantastic option for pathways. Resin paving is hard-wearing, low maintenance and fully permeable. It can be applied to slopes and used to pave small curving passages, or wide-sweeping paths, an extensive range of coloured aggregates give you an enormous choice.

Resin Bound Surfacing - Cornfield, Root One North

Paving

One of the most popular stone products to use for garden paths is the paving slab. With a fantastic variety of paving available, you are sure to find paving that will perfectly suit your outdoor space. There are so many options to consider when selecting your paving: Which material - sandstone, granite, porcelain, slate…, the texture - riven or sawn, and of course colour.

Deciding to build your pathway with stone paving doesn’t mean you can’t get a little creative. Lay your paving in patterns and edge with a matching or contrasting sett.

Imperial Setts - Blue Grey Granite, Imperial Paving - Yellow Granite, MRM Garden Design

Using Plank Paving will create a lengthening, or widening effect and a sleek and sophisticated look to your pathway.

Imperial Paving - Silver Grey Granite, James Scott (The Garden Company)

Another creative design is to leave a generous gap between pavers so that they become more like stepping stones. Fill the spaces between slabs with gravel, planting or just let the lawn do its thing.

Sovereign Sandstone Paving - Pink, Louise Cummins and Cadoline de Lane Lea

Or are you looking to get away from the traditional, linear pathway design? How about using ‘crazy paving’, sure to give you a fanciful walkway.

Caithness Crazy Paving

Clay Pavers

Clay Pavers are historically one of the earliest forms of paving and add charm to any garden. The versatility of clay pavers means that you can create interesting patterns and different colour combinations. Clay pavers provide a characterful pathway to enjoy for years to come.

Elegantia Clay Pavers

Mix And Match

Finding it hard to choose which path to take? The beauty of natural stone is the possibilities are endless; Love the sound of gravel crunching but find it a bit boring, why not add a flash of Resin Bound gravel!

Resin Bound Surfacing and White Marble, Helen Elk Smith

You could add stepping stones to your CEDEC Footpath Gravel…

CEDEC Red Footpath Gravel & Slabby Sandstone Rockery - SRUC Oatridge Campus Students

Or combine pebbles and plank paving to make a really unique walkway.

Sovereign Buff Sandstone Plank Paving & Scottish Beach Pebbles - Greencube Design

You can incorporate any number of natural stone products to make your garden footpath really special. Be adventurous - the only limit is your imagination!