The straight and narrow

We've now put a surface layer of limestone chippings on the path running along the southern side of the house. Geotextile membrane separates the chippings from the sub-aggregate beneath.

Dogs don't like walking on chippings/gravel so we have embedded some old scaffolding planks into the chippings. The planks were treated with wood preserver and the upper face given a couple of coats of a grey coloured decking paint to give a non-slip surface. Laying the planks in a line from one end to the other would emphasize the straightness and narrowness of the area. Taking inspiration from Japanese garden design we have offset the planks which makes the path more interesting.

Although this path currently provides our main route to the garden once we move out of the grungelow it will be little used.

We bought 5 second hand dark grey concrete troughs to use in this area. They came from a house in Ferndown which had been acquired by builders to super-size. They are very heavy so our friend Richard gave us a hand to put them in position. It would have been good to have put the troughs on the fence side of the path as some greenery would soften the harshness of the fencing but this position would mean that they would be in the shade - not good for plants. Positioning them at the base of the plinth wall means that they will be in the sun.

#strawbalehouse #strawbalewoodlands #hardlandscaping