Flooring slate works great in the garden too

As well as the house, flooring slate can make an excellent outdoors feature. You can use the stone to create lines that structure the design of your horticultural space. Straight paths give a formal feeling. Curved slate walkways create a satisfying flow to the garden, and you can have the tiles cut in a craggy way that gives a natural look. Indeed, by having curved walkways, you can create diagonal lines in the garden, which draws the eye. The pathway can frame rounded borders, which give a sense of undulating greenery, and this effect suits ball topiary.

You can use your slate path to cleverly draw attention to flower borders, guiding people to the areas of your garden you are most proud of. What's more, there are many pungent plants that you can grow amongst slates, so that as people's feet brush past them, there is a wonderful release of aroma. Herbs like chamomile suit this approach well. Creeping mint is another variety that also has wonderful purple flowers, and a strong minty perfume.

You can also choose flooring slate tiles to match the colour scheme in your garden. As slates can come in a variety of shades from green to purple, you can use them to contrast against a mulch or blend into a lawn. Yellow slate can look very effective as part of a Mediterranean-styled garden. Owners of gravel gardens will also know that stones change their hue in the rain, which can intensify colour contrasts. Texturing the slate also helps you to use the garden in the winter. The extra friction on the floor surface helps to counter the slipperiness of ice or frost.

At The Natural Slate Company, we stock paving slate in two different thicknesses: a Premium range of paving slate at a nominal 30 mm thickness which is suitable for driveways and heavy traffic; and a more competitively priced Select range at a nominal 20 mm, which is suitable for slate patios and pathways. If your patio only has foot traffic, this nominal 20mm thickness slate is fine to use if you install a concrete pad or you ensure that your installer prepares the ground so that there is no movement. However, it is generally not recommended to use a thinner slate outside other than in exceptional circumstances.

Don't forget, flooring slate surfaces are also great homes for wildlife. Your garden needs all manner of bugs in order to thrive, and some insects will help get rid of garden pests. Woodlice love to live under slate. They help to airate and condition the soil. Moreover, they are wonderful food for birds. Everything possible needs to be done to support our native bird populations, and creating nooks and crannies for insects to live really helps.

Editor’s Note: The Natural Slate Company (http://www.theslatecompany.net) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.