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Here are just a few of the stepping stones and aggregates you will find at Ashtead Park Garden Centre depending on the season and availability:

You don't have to stick with one type of paving for your patios and paths: in our garden centre we have lots&nbsp;of different types of material so you can mix and match.
Break up an expanse of sandstone by edging slabs with contrasting red brick, or put rows of sets between&nbsp;paving slabs to enjoy the natural, textured look of stone while keeping a smooth surface to walk on.
Cobbles or broken ceramic tiles are a great way of making your patio altogether more artistic by using&nbsp;mosaics and patterns. Draw your design out first and lay it 'dry' before putting down a mortar screed to do it&nbsp;for real. Double-check everything sits flush with the surrounding slabs so you don't get an awkward change&nbsp;in level.
You can also soften your patio paving with plants. Some low-growing herbs love to be walked on: look for&nbsp;creeping Thymus serpyllum, pennyroyal mint or the lawn chamomile 'Treneague' in our garden centre.&nbsp;Replace pointing mortar with compost and plant in ribbons between paving, or remove single slabs here and&nbsp;there for fragrant herbs at your feet.
Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about how to combine different&nbsp;paving textures in your garden.

Combination paving

Handsome, organic and hardwearing, stone is the connoisseur's choice for hard landscaping. Use a single&nbsp;stone right through your garden, for paths, patios and hard standings, and the whole design comes together&nbsp;in pleasing continuity.
There's a huge choice available in our garden centre, so here are some options to help you decide:
Local stone: mellow Yorkstone is the best known of UK stones and has a fabulous naturally non-slip finish.&nbsp;Granite, basalt and limestone are other locally-sourced options and very beautiful, but can be slippery when&nbsp;wet so apply a textured surface before laying.
The economic choice: a cost-effective and popular choice is sandstone, available in various colours&nbsp;including cream, grey and coloured. Surface textures include riven (with a gentle, natural ripple) to artificially&nbsp;textured and smooth sawn. It's non-slip when wet and weathers beautifully.
Artificial stone: manufactured from cast concrete reconstituted stone, artificial paving is a truly flexible&nbsp;and economical alternative giving you a vast choice of finishes and effects. Choose from contemporary&nbsp;finishes, 'terracotta' tiles, imitation wood or traditional style paving that looks just like the original but for a&nbsp;fraction of the cost.&nbsp;
Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about choosing stone for your&nbsp;garden.

Stunningly good stone

Tiles are an unusual but very beautiful choice for paths, terraces and seating areas in a garden, especially&nbsp;in small city courtyard gardens. A good trick is to take the same tiles you use inside the house out into the&nbsp;garden, making your outside space an extension of your home.
In our garden centre you'll find a range of tiles to choose from: try warm terracotta quarry tiles for a hint of the&nbsp;Mediterranean, or blue-and-white ceramic to recreate the cool peace of an Islamic garden.
Select non-porous tiles designed to be used outdoors, and work out in advance how many you'll need for&nbsp;the space, remembering to factor in a 1cm grouting gap. It may help to 'dry lay' your tiles before you begin,&nbsp;especially if you're planning to lay coloured patterns.
If you're competent at DIY it's straightforward to lay tiles yourself on a 2cm deep screed (mixed 1 part&nbsp;cement to three parts sand). Seal the tiles afterwards to protect them from weather and staining: you may&nbsp;need to re-apply the sealant every few years to keep your terrace looking good.
Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about how to use tiling to enhance&nbsp;your garden.

Tiling talent

Hard landscaping is the backbone of your garden - the architecture which sets off the rest of your design.&nbsp;Using one or at most two styles of paving throughout your design pulls it together and makes the garden&nbsp;work as a whole, so choose carefully from the selection in our garden centre in %locations%.

Stepping Stones: you&#39;ll find both pre-cast concrete or natural stone in our garden centre. Match slabs with the&nbsp;sandstone, limestone or granite of your local area so your garden blends into the wider landscape.

Rockery Stones give a timeless, fabulously textural surface. Use them to break up expanses of shrubs in your garden.&nbsp;

Salt and Grit perfect for helping potting up your plants.

Gravel &amp; Chippings are&nbsp;easy to lay and very versatile. It&#39;s also permeable, allowing excess rainwater to run through - use&nbsp;in ribbons between other paving materials to drain surface water away.

Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about using paving in the garden.

A handsome path is a striking finishing touch to your garden. It plays an active role in your design, leading a visitor through from one feature to the next and inviting you to explore. It's also practical, giving you access to borders for weeding and planting. Match the materials you use with others in the garden and you'll pull your design together so it's pleasing to look at and delightful to use.
Paths are one of the easiest garden landscaping projects, and you'll find everything you need in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre from edging to stone slabs, setts and paviours. It's a project for a free weekend – here's how you do it:
<ul>
<li>Decide what kind of path you want to build, whether it's a simple barkchip path for a veg patch or a smarter one made of brick paviours. Other options include stone flags, gravel or cobbles.</li>
<li>
Mark out your path and dig out the soil to a depth of 10cm (gravel or bark) to 15cm (paviours or stone flags). Make sure the base is level and even along its length.
</li>
<li>Install your edging: good edging materials include wooden boarding, brick paviours laid on edge, or granite setts. Fix wood in place with pegs, or lay stone edgings into a bed of mortar and allow to set.</li>
<li>
Put in a sub-base 75mm thick to act as a foundation. Scalpings, a by-product of quarrying, are ideal. Compact the base thoroughly, using a plate compactor or hand tamper, till it's level and even.
</li>
<li>For a gravel path, simply top with 50mm of peashingle – job done!</li>
<li>
For paved paths, add a layer of grit sand 40mm thick and compact into a smooth base. You can add cement, one part cement to 10 parts sand, for a more solid base.
</li>
<li>Lay paving on top, checking and re-checking that you've got it level. Then brush a dry mix of one part cement to four parts sand into the joins: the first shower of rain will make it set hard.</li>
</ul>
Please ask the staff in our garden centre in %locations%&nbsp;for more information and advice about laying paths.

Laying a path

When you're planning the hard landscaping in your garden, don't be afraid to get imaginative. You don't have to stick to just one material, and you don't have to use stone or brick: there are dozens of ways to make your paving unique to you, and your%locations%&nbsp;garden will be far more personal as a result.
In our garden centre you'll find all sorts of materials to mix and match your paths for that hand-finished effect, from regular paviours and stone slabs to cobbles, pebbles, setts and tiles for mosaics. Get creative and try a few of these more unconventional approaches to paving:
<ul>
<li>Grow plants between your paving slabs: Instead of filling with mortar, use compost and plant ribbons of low-growing thyme, chamomile or cushiony mind-your-own-business (Soleirolia soleirolii) between your paving slabs. The wider the ribbon, the more marked the effect: at its most extreme you end up with stepping stones in a sea of green. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Insert contrasting circles: you can buy easy-to-install circular mini-patios in our garden centre which slot together in ever-widening rings. Sit one of these within a conventional square patio, preferably in a contrasting colour, for an eyecatching focal point. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Cut a ribbon of water through: rills are an elegant way to bring water into the garden when you don't have space for a pond: running through a channel cut into a stone patio really brings your paving to life. If you're feeling really ambitious, try twin rills or a spiral rill leading into a central pool or bubble fountain. 
&nbsp;</li>
<li>Design a mosaic picture: Leave an area of your patio empty so you can create a picture out of coloured pebbles. It can be as simple as a star or a flower; or as complicated as the one at Great Dixter in East Sussex, which depicts owner Christopher Lloyd's pet dogs. Lay out your design before you do it, then put down a screed of mortar and press the stones into it, making sure they're level.</li>
</ul>
Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about making paving unique to you.

Making paving special

Stepping Stones & Aggregates

Rock Salt

Abbey Paving York Gold

Random Stepping Stone Rustic Sage

Random Stepping Stones

Rope Twist Edging Antique

Rope Twist Edging Rustic Red

Sunshine Step Stone York Gold

Cotswold Rockery Stone

Highland Grey rockery stone

York Stone rockery stone

Rustic Slate Rockery Stone

Classic White chippings

North Sea Cobbles

Plum Slate Chippings

River Pebbles

Pearl White Cobbles

Cornish Silver Chippings

Premium Scot Tweed pebbles

Blue Slate Chippings

Autumn Gold Flint

Welsh slate rockery stone

Timber Stepping Stones

Stepping Stones and Aggregates at Ashtead Park

Stepping Stones and Aggregates at Ashtead Park - Ashtead Park Garden Centre | Surrey

Stepping Stones and Aggregates at Ashtead Park

A selection of Stepping Stones and Aggregates at Ashtead Park

Potted bulbs for Spring colour!