A gravel path is the most forgiving thing you can build in a garden. It drains, it curves around awkward corners, it costs a fraction of paving, and if you tire of it you can shovel it up and start again. The difference between a path that looks smart for fifteen years and one that turns into a weed-infested rut by the second summer is almost entirely in the groundwork. Get the digging, the edging and the base right, and the gravel on top is the easy part.
Plan the route before you lift a spade
Walk the line you think you want, then walk it a second time when the garden is wet and the grass is long. Paths that look right on a dry Sunday often cut across the route people actually take between the back door and the shed.
For width, 900mm is the practical minimum for one person walking comfortably. If two people need to pass, or you will be pushing a wheelbarrow, go to 1.2m. Anything under 750mm quickly feels like a tightrope once plants flop over the edges.
Then think about what the path has to carry. A route for feet and the odd barrow needs less underneath it than one taking a ride-on mower. Check for services before you dig — water pipes, cables and drainage runs are easy to catch with a spade. Keep clear of tree roots where you can, and give the path a fall of roughly 25mm per metre away from the house so water runs off rather than sitting against the wall.
Setting out and excavating
Mark both edges with string lines pinned taut between pegs, then check the levels with a spirit level on a straight edge.
For a typical garden path, dig out about 150mm: roughly 75mm for a compacted sub-base, 40mm for the gravel, plus a little for the edging. On soft ground, or where the path will take vehicles, go deeper and use more stone. Lift the turf in neat sods if you have somewhere to reuse it — stacked grass side down, it rots into decent topsoil in a year or so.
Tools worth having to hand
- Spade, mattock or half-moon edger for cutting turf
- Wheelbarrow and a rake with a flat back
- String line, pegs and a spirit level
- Plate compactor or a hand tamper
- Gloves and a dust mask for handling dry stone
Fill the trench with MOT Type 1 or a similar crushed sub-base. Tip it in two layers rather than one, watering each lightly and compacting with a plate compactor or tamper until it stops moving. The finished base should be firm enough that you cannot push a heel into it, and it should sit 40mm below the top of your edging.
Edging keeps the path where you put it
Without an edge, gravel migrates into the border and the lawn swallows it until the path widens into a puddle of loose stone.
Treated timber is the cheapest option: 100x50mm lengths screwed to stakes driven into the ground, with the top edge about 10mm above the finished gravel so it holds the stone in. Use galvanised screws and do not bury the timber completely, or it will rot faster.
Steel edging is neat, flexible and long-lasting, supplied in lengths you hammer down with a mallet; it is the best choice for curves. Brick or block edging set on a concrete bed with mortar haunched behind is the traditional look, and it suits a path running up to a front door. Whatever you pick, set it before the membrane goes down and check it against the string line as you go.
Weed membrane: useful, but not magic
Roll out a woven geotextile membrane over the compacted sub-base, overlapping the joins by at least 100mm and pegging them down. Woven fabric lets rain through while blocking most weed seeds from below. Avoid solid black polythene: it stops water draining, which is the opposite of what a gravel path needs.
Trim the membrane around the edging with a sharp knife and tuck the edges under the timber or steel so no loose fabric shows at the surface. Planting through it? Cut a cross, fold back the flaps, firm the plant in, then gravel around it.
Be realistic about what it does. A membrane deals with seeds already in the soil, but couch grass, bindweed and ground elder will happily push through it, and it does nothing about seeds landing on top. Expect a few minutes with a hoe each spring regardless.
Choosing and laying the gravel
Aim for a finished depth of about 40mm. Deeper than that and the stone rolls underfoot like beach shingle; much thinner and the membrane starts showing through. Order about 10 per cent more than you calculate — it always spreads thinner than you expect.
Which stone to use
- 10mm angular chippings — the easiest to walk on and push a barrow over, and the least likely to migrate.
- 14–20mm angular gravel — smart and crunchy underfoot, good for longer paths, slightly noisier.
- Pea shingle — smooth and rounded, cheap and cheerful, but it rolls. Avoid it on slopes or next to door thresholds.
- Slate and decorative chippingsPhoto: PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay