Garden paving

Paving is one of the longest-lasting decisions you can make in a garden. Get the materials, construction and detail right and a patio will sit comfortably in place for two or three decades. Get any of them wrong and the problems start showing within a year.

At Flourish we design and install gardens across Kingston, Surbiton, Esher and Coombe, working with clay soils, mature planting, shaded plots and family gardens that are used every day. We have been professionally building patios and garden paving for years, and this guide brings everything together in one place: paving slabs, setts and clay pavers, colours, textures, sizes, laying patterns and construction, with an explanation of how we choose what genuinely lasts.

Paving slabs and where they work best

Paving slabs are most effective in main seating areas and terraces where clarity, comfort and furniture placement matter. The right slab choice depends on context rather than fashion.

Natural stone paving slabs

Natural stone such as sandstone or limestone remains popular across Surrey gardens because it sits comfortably alongside planting and older architecture.

Best suited to: traditional and semi-formal gardens, properties with mature planting, and clients who prefer natural variation in colour and texture.

What we factor in: variation in thickness and colour batch by batch, drainage and shading, and how the stone will weather over time in real garden conditions.

In Kingston and Surbiton gardens with trees and borders close to paving, riven or lightly textured stone is often more forgiving than very smooth finishes. The texture hides marks from leaf litter, bird droppings and the small movements that happen around mature root systems.

Suppliers we work with for natural stone: London Stone, Pavestone and Kebur.

Porcelain paving slabs

Porcelain is a dense, manufactured product with consistent sizing and very low porosity. It does not absorb stains the way some natural stones can, and the finish you see on day one is essentially the finish you keep.

Best suited to: contemporary garden designs, courtyard gardens and shaded plots where staining is a concern, and clients looking for the lowest practical maintenance load.

Porcelain performs exceptionally well when installed correctly, with full mortar bedding, accurate falls and an adhesive bond bridge. It is not a shortcut product and it demands good ground preparation. Cutting it on site also requires specialist blades and dust suppression, which is one of the reasons cheap porcelain installations tend to fail.

Suppliers we work with for porcelain: London Stone and Mandarin Stone.

Concrete paving slabs

Concrete slabs work well in practical areas or where budget is a key driver. They are most appropriate for utility spaces, simple layouts and secondary garden areas rather than the main entertaining terrace. Quality varies widely between manufacturers, so specification matters more here than for almost any other material category.

Stone setts and clay pavers: where the detail lives

Many of the best gardens we build do not rely on slabs alone. Setts and clay pavers often provide the structure, durability and detailing that slabs cannot.

Stone setts

Setts are small rectangular blocks, traditionally used in streets and courtyards, which tells you a lot about their durability. We use them for driveway entrances and edges, steps and risers, drainage channels, and thresholds and transitions between materials.

Granite setts are extremely hard-wearing and well suited to driveways and high-traffic areas. Sandstone setts feel softer and sit more naturally in planted gardens. Because setts cope well with curves, slopes and movement, they are particularly useful on sites with level changes or awkward geometry where slabs would struggle to follow the lines.

Clay pavers and bricks

Clay pavers are fired rather than cast, so the colour runs all the way through the material. They age exceptionally well and feel at home with older properties. We use them for garden paths, courtyards, edging and detailing, and for linking period buildings with new landscaping where slabs would feel too contemporary.

Pattern choice matters. Herringbone offers structural strength and is the right pattern wherever vehicle traffic is involved. Stretcher bond suits paths. Basket weave works well in courtyards where the visual rhythm becomes part of the design.

Suppliers we work with for clay pavers: Pavestone and Kebur.

How we choose paving sizes, layouts and laying patterns

We do not start with a fixed preference for slabs, setts or pavers. Each scheme is assessed on its own merits. Because we design and install rather than just specify, material choice, slab size and laying pattern are considered together from the outset.

Slab sizes and proportion

Large-format slabs can look calm and contemporary, but in smaller Surbiton or Kingston gardens they can feel oversized and visually heavy. We consider the scale of the space, the relationship to the house and doors, sightlines from inside, and how paving meets planting and edges. A slab size that looks right in a showroom does not always look right in a domestic garden.

Laying patterns are functional as well as visual

Pattern affects strength, movement tolerance and how forgiving paving is over time. Random or coursed layouts read as relaxed and traditional. Linear patterns suit contemporary schemes. Herringbone provides genuine structural strength under vehicle or repeated loading. Setts used as borders lock slabs in place at the perimeter, which is a detail that protects the whole patio over the long term.

Paving textures: riven, sawn and flamed explained

Texture affects grip, cleaning and how paving looks after several winters. Riven stone is forgiving and natural, with shallow variation across the surface that hides the small marks that come with garden life. Sawn stone is clean-lined and contemporary but less forgiving of dirt or staining. Flamed stone offers excellent slip resistance and durability, and is the texture we specify most often for steps, around pools and on shaded patios.

Paving colours: trends versus what lasts

Current trends favour pale greys and light porcelains, but these show staining quickly in shaded gardens and in plots with overhanging trees. A colour that photographs beautifully in a brochure can look tired by its second autumn if the conditions are not right for it.

Timeless choices that hold their look across changing fashions include warm buffs and honey tones, mid greys with natural variation, earthy sandstone blends, and clay reds and brindles. These tones forgive the marks that any garden eventually picks up, and they sit comfortably with planting through every season.

Paving construction: what sits beneath the surface

Paving performance is determined far more by its construction than by the slab itself. Two patios laid with identical slabs can perform completely differently depending on what sits beneath.

Porcelain is typically non-permeable. Sandstone may be permeable or non-permeable depending on the specific stone. Clay pavers are often used in permeable systems alongside sandstone slabs where SuDS provisions apply. We work in line with BS 7533 (the British Standard for the design and installation of pavements) and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) guidance, both of which set the technical baseline for paving that lasts and drains correctly.

Adhesive bond bridges: why they matter

An adhesive bond bridge is a thin layer applied to the underside of dense paving such as porcelain and sawn stone before bedding. Without it, slabs effectively rely on gravity to stay in place, micro-movement develops, and water tracks between layers and gradually undermines the build. With it, full adhesion is achieved between the slab and the mortar bed, and longevity improves significantly. It is a small detail that separates paving that lasts a generation from paving that fails within a couple of winters.

Common paving problems and their causes

Rocking slabs, standing water, failed joints and cracking are almost always construction-related rather than material failures. The slabs themselves are rarely the problem. The bedding, sub-base, falls and joint detail are where the issues lie, and once one of those starts to fail the rest usually follows.

Repair or rebuild?

Localised issues can sometimes be repaired. Widespread movement or drainage failure usually requires rebuilding. It is not unusual to be called out to a patio that is only five or six years old where the only honest answer is to take it up and start again, because the construction beneath was wrong from the start.

What does garden paving cost?

Paving costs vary significantly and are driven by excavation, sub-base, drainage, detailing and access, not just the slab. Two patios of the same size can have very different costs once ground conditions are factored in. A flat plot with side access for a barrow can be a different proposition entirely from a sloped clay site where every tonne of excavated material has to come through the house.

For a sense of what affects price, see our page on the costs of garden design. For a finished example of what proper installation looks like, see our sandstone patio in Sheen.

A practical note on maintenance

All paving needs some maintenance. Low maintenance is realistic. No maintenance is not. Even porcelain, which is the lowest-maintenance option in domestic landscaping, benefits from an annual jet-wash and joint check. Anyone selling you a no-maintenance patio is selling you the wrong product.

Approved installer status and supplier relationships

Flourish is an approved installer for both London Stone and Pavestone, which means we are vetted, listed and recommended on each company’s installer directory. Beyond those two, we work regularly with C E L Silverlands, Marble Mosaics, Mandarin Stone, All Green and Kebur. Each brings something different to specific schemes, and the right supplier is matched to the project rather than chosen by default.

In summary

Good paving is not about fashion. It is about materials, construction and design working together so a patio sits well in its garden, drains correctly and lasts for decades.

For related reading, see our companion posts on multi-stem trees, on refreshing a garden with new planting, and on the wider patios, paths and driveways service. If you are thinking about a new patio or paving project, get in touch to arrange an initial conversation.