Cottage Garden Paths

The traditional cottage garden path was made from old bricks bedded into sand – it was all a bit wonky and plants would self seed prettily into the spaces between the bricks. As appealing as this image is, a brick path can be tricky– slippery in frost or the wet and in time the bricks crumble or work loose. If your heart is set on bricks, unless you are skilled at this sort of work, it is worth getting someone to lay the path for you. A mixture of edge-on tiles, brick and stone slabs gives more grip and stability. All of these materials can be bought at reclamation yards, including reject bricks, which aren’t suitable for buildings but have a nice ‘lived-in’ look for the garden. Alternatively, many of the companies that manufacture pavers, do have rustic style products in their ranges and if you choose carefully they can be nearly as good as the real thing. Gravel is an alternative path surface, but not really recommended close to the house as bits of gravel end up indoors – and it can be difficult to keep a gravel path looking reasonably tidy – especially in autumn. And in urban areas neighbouring cats will treat areas of gravel as a large litter tray. Here’s an attractive garden path defined by woven silver birch edging.