View from patio - July 2003

June 2003

June 2003 - water feature

As the back of the house faces north east, the area by the back door doesn't get any late afternoon or evening sun. For this reason, it was decided to build a patio behind the house, but also a paved seating area further down the garden where the last of the sun's rays lingered. Also, to maximise the amount of sun the patio got, we needed to bring it out as far from the house as possible. However, this would have created an enormous area of paving, so the answer was to angle the patio, so that the tip reached out into the garden catching as much sun as possible (see garden plan).

We also needed a path down the garden to allow us to reach our parking area and stables. As this would be in constant use every day, a winding path wasn't practical, so we decided upon a straight line running at the same angle as the patio. The budget was very restricted at this stage, so the materials chosen were 18" concrete paving slabs in a sandy colour, which toned well with the local sandstone. These were edged with red bricks. To make the area more interesting, the slabs were laid with alternating joints.

The garden slopes very slightly away from the house so the patio was raised above the garden level, with a small step down onto the path. This was achieved by first building a brick retaining wall around the patio area and filling with hardcore to the level required, before laying the slabs.

There was no boundary between the our patio and the neighbours, as this was where there had previously been vehicular access. On one side of the opening was a brick wall, so it was decided to build another matching wall to fill the gap, joining the two with a wrought iron gate which was commissioned from a local blacksmith. The gate makes it easy to visit our friendly neighbours and also adds another dimension to both gardens.

In the passage up the side of the extension to the back door I have grouped pots of shade tolerant plants (left).

For more information on designing patios try Diarmuid Gavin's Planet Patio.