Everyone likes to have a garden that reflects their image, their tastes and their desires. It is a pleasure to spend a moment to relax in the shade of a remarkable tree or near a flower bed.
Plants play a major role in our gardens, but certain elements such as paths or walkways allow us to highlight them or simply access them to better enjoy them.
In the course of the beds
Often when we design our garden, it is preferable to place our beds in order to hide undesirable points of view, to obtain the best views of our living rooms, but also to highlight the entrance of our home or to dress up a mass of grass that is too large. Clumps bloom here and there to finally create harmony and different atmospheres that make you curious and want to move around the land according to the moods. Several solutions are offered to you to meet all your needs.
Japanese steps
Discreet but also very decorative, the Japanese steps allow you to walk in your garden without any maintenance constraint, you just have to pass the mower in order to mow the grass integrated between the tiles. They are indeed reconstituted stone slabs or natural stones placed on a bed of sand and between which grass is sown to create a path. Currently slate palis is frequently used for this type of landscaping, but gneiss slabs are just as aesthetic.
Paved walkways
Walkways that are more frequented and that must meet the need to enhance a building should be made of slabs or pavers. These materials, laid on sand or thin screed, require more preparation of the base but also represent a longer life span with a much higher load resistance.
Reconstituted stone slabs and pavers are often preferred to natural stone, which takes longer to install and is more expensive. This type of walkway, which is at least one meter wide, must serve specific areas to be useful.
It is often used to access a front door, an outbuilding, or as a passageway around a house. In this case it also plays the role of a cleanliness strip, it avoids the dirt of the bottom of the wall and cleans the foundations by avoiding water stagnation.
Stabilized and sanded driveways
The main advantage of stabilized driveways is that they are much less expensive to install and are often less wide than a flagstone driveway. They allow for easier curves and bends.
However, maintenance on this type of layout is more important and repairs must be carried out when the pathways are often used. In addition, they should be avoided on steep slopes to prevent sand from washing away during heavy rains.
Although new stabilized products seem to be more efficient, this type of pathway is mainly used on large properties because the costs of realization are lower and allow to realize longer lengths.
Some advice
When building a pathway on your property, think carefully about the role it will play. If it is a simple walkway that is useful on sunny days to enjoy the landscape, there is no need for an imposing pathway. More expensive to create, requiring more maintenance and not necessarily more aesthetic, it is not justified.
If, on the other hand, it is a high traffic area, don't hesitate to put in a walkway worthy of the name, which will age much better and will have a very practical side in addition to its aesthetic function. The stone tone being a very requested color for the old houses whereas the gray begins to break through for the more modern houses.
A driveway should generally begin and end at right angles to facilitate mowing. Moreover, when it makes a change of direction, it is preferable to justify it with a bed, a tree or an arrangement, in order to integrate it well, to accentuate the attraction of the eye further and to push the curiosity to continue our discovery of the garden.
