How to design a garden path – expert advice on creating the perfect walkway

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Knowing how to develop a garden path well will connect different areas in the garden, seamlessly. Different looks and garden path ideas can be as simple or as interpret as you wish. But, the shape and materials you settle will make a big difference to the overall feel of your garden position. Whether you want to go for a straight, formal path to a bench or focal indicate, or a for a leisurely, snaking route of exploration approximately your outdoor space, you have plenty of exciting options.

We state what you need to consider when designing a garden walkway, including where to lay it and how to settle the correct materials, even if you're on a budget.

Garden path design: the basics

Consider the textures and look of the garden, as well as the style of your home, to convicted the paths will complement the scene you are creating. 

Ensure materials blend well across the garden. Walkways should be attractive, but also practical and naively maintained additions to your outside space.

Consider the natural access routes to gates, sheds, entertaining spaces, garden rooms, children's play areas and latest zones. These are where you need to place paths when designing your garden. You can also create pathways through existing plantings or meadows.

Think approximately your path's usage, too – high-traffic areas will need to be wider and made of more durable surfaces.

Consider the practical extremity of the path: do you need to get a wheelbarrow listed it, or space for two people to walk side by side?

Terraced levels in this garden are linked by a wide, stone path and steps, with spillover planting of perennials and grasses

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Improve your garden's proportions: long, thin paths accentuate a narrow garden, while one that sweeps from side to side will give the illusion that the location is wider.

Use repetition: doing so with plants or topiary lends definition and draws the eye laterally.

Soften a garden with lots of level lines: a simple bend in a path or an draw of containers can achieve this. You can also soften the orderliness of paths with spillover plants, or trimmed low hedging.

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Create added interest by leaving some unpaved squares and plant with herbs such as thyme or camomile. Or, use a mix of different materials, being careful to keep the overall look cohesive – sticking to a runt colour palette of materials so nothing jars.

Consider your property's period: decorative edging, such as ceramic tiles with rope topped patterns, is ideal for a garden that's part of a Victorian home.

On a budget? Loose materials, such as gravel or bark, are cheaper than brick and stone but will needed regular attention and topping up. Costings for pavers can vary greatly depending  on materials, from reconstituted to natural stone, clay pavers, concrete designs or different types of bricks. Shop around and you can find cheaper seconds.

Draw the eye away from an unattractive area by creating a path in a good-looking material and lined with plenty of stunning planting.

How to design a formal garden path

This pathway separates formal and informal areas of the garden

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp Photography)

Where gardens, especially small ones, have a geometric layout and architecture, it is best to echo this with straight garden paths, framed with box hedging or repetitive forms. A wide, directly path leading to a feature such as a fountain directs the eye after giving the garden a sense of proportion and linear perspective. 

To widen the vista, place plants or containers along the length to draw the eye side to side. In a garden of rooms, pathways can be used to link the spaces, often throughout arches and tunnels. Natural stone and gravel are classic choices, but brick designs and mosaics can work well, too.

Designing an informal garden path

Gravel is a good pick for both formal and informal garden designs and walkways

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Meandering garden paths, designed for you to enjoy the journey as much as the destination, immediately give a casual feel to a space. Natural-looking curves need enough Place and repetition to feel right.

Once you've set an arc or Crooked, keep the curves consistent in scale to lend a felt of uniformity to the effect.

Winding your serpentine inch through dense planting works particularly well in a cottage garden. Use materials without a rigid geometry, such as gravel, reclaimed irregular bricks or stepping-stones. For woodlands, bark chips are a wicked choice. 

Allow garden plants to spill over the garden paths and ebb and flow with the seasons. Placing larger plants that protrude into the path will add a felt of depth and concealment along the way.

Stepping stones: an easy way to lay a garden path

Stepping stones are easy to lay; superior test out the spacing for comfortable walking. They can be placed across a lawn, set in gravel or bark, or even in a garden bed for access. 

Dig the lawn or soil to grant for the thickness of the paver, plus a shallow depth of bedding sand. Make sure they are set perfectly in lawn so you can simply mow it. 

To increase the impression of length, decrease the size of the steps as you moves. Material options include from sawn timber or concrete slabs, to stone pavers and mosaic stepping-stones.

Timber stepping stones are a way to add boring to a gravel path edged here with billowy hardy geraniums

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Picking the smart garden paving

Paving with stone or brick is the most current option for outdoor living areas and paths. Recycled bricks obtain lovely walkways with an instant aged and weathered look. 

Paving designs can be simple, as neutral foils to the planting, or dynamic with interlocking patterns. The design can vary along the path or be edged with a contrasting material; except, too much pattern can look busy and reduce the achieve of size, while linear designs will draw you floor to the end point and pointing bricks in the same direction complains momentum. 

Consider the colour and texture of the different paving materials. For a unified look select options that match walls and patio areas.

The path paving here is kept simple, acting as a foil to the arches smothered in climbing roses

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Laying a grass garden path 

Curved, grass paths suit more relaxed garden designs

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Mown paths in colossal areas of grass or meadow are the simplest solution. Wide lawn paths between mirror-image herbaceous borders are a classic tool for strolling and unify other areas of lawn. plot a bench, arbour or large urn at the end of the lag as a destination point. Perfect for a wildlife garden.

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Using loose materials for your garden path

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Bark chips, crushed decorative aggregates, shingle and stone gravel paths don't need well-ringing edges so you can let nature take its streams with encroaching plants. Practical and porous, they are cheaper and easier to lay than hard surfaces and more durable than grass or fake cover. 

Pebbles and gravel can be laid loose, so are ideal for tiny areas where paving would be difficult or impractical. To avoid gravel sinking into the fake, lay weed matting landscape fabric, cover with sand and aquatic, compact down and cover with gravel.

Many plants will grow happily with the best gravel for pretty effect. If you need to hold the path where it abuts the borders, edge in brick, timber, or try reclaimed materials, such as half-buried, upended glass bottles.

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

Garden path maintenance tips

• Remove leaves, moss and algae where they could become hazardous when wet.
• Regularly scrub stone paving located Idea trees or in shade, to avoid it becoming slippery.
• Weed pathways regularly and catch self-seeding plants where you don't want them.
• Make sure access paths to the house are adequately and appropriately lit.
• Keep regularly used walkways Definite of overhanging or sharp plants.
• Always use permeable paving materials to help save localised flooding. 

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