A patio in the Lakes has to cope with a lot of rain, a fair few frosts and, on most gardens round here, a slope. Get the base and the falls right and it will look the same in twenty years. Get them wrong and you get rocking flags, green algae and water sitting against the house wall.
PHOTO TO ADD: A finished patio on a sloping garden, ideally with a retaining wall or steps visible so the level change reads clearly. (delete this note once the image is in)
Materials worth knowing about
Local slate
Westmorland green slate and Burlington blue-grey slate are quarried on our doorstep, and nothing else looks quite right against a Lakeland stone house. It is dense, it wears extremely well, and it holds its colour. It costs more than imported stone and it is heavier to work, but on a period property in a conservation area it is often the only material that genuinely suits the building.
Indian sandstone
The most common choice, and for good reason — a wide range of tones, riven or sawn, and far cheaper than local stone. Worth buying from a reputable supplier: thin, poorly graded sandstone is porous, and porous stone plus a Cumbrian winter equals frost damage and staining.
Porcelain
Increasingly popular and genuinely well suited to this climate. It is effectively non-porous, so it does not stain or grow algae the way natural stone does, and it comes up clean with a brush. It is unforgiving to lay — it needs a primed slurry bond and a proper full bed — but on a shaded north-facing terrace it will stay looking sharp when sandstone would have gone green.
How we build them
- Excavate to formation and check what is underneath before committing to levels.
- Compacted MOT Type 1 sub-base, laid and whacked in layers.
- Full wet mortar bed — not five dabs of mortar under each corner. Spot-bedding is the single most common cause of cracked and rocking flags, and it is still depressingly widespread.
- Slurry primer on the back of every unit for porcelain and for dense natural stone.
- Falls set at roughly 1:80 away from the building, so water leaves rather than pools.
- Two courses of brick minimum below DPC maintained — never bridge the damp proof course.
- Pointed with a proper jointing compound suited to the material, then cleaned down.
The question that separates the quotes
Ask any patio contractor whether they lay on a full bed or on dabs. A full mortar bed uses more material and takes longer, which is exactly why cheaper quotes avoid it — and why those patios rock within a couple of years.
Sloping gardens, terraces and steps
Very few gardens between Kendal and Ambleside are flat. Creating a usable, level terrace usually means cutting into the slope and holding it back, which brings retaining walls, steps and drainage behind the wall into the job. We build the retaining structure and the patio as one piece of work so the levels, the drainage and the finish all agree with each other.
Where a garden falls away from the house, we would usually rather build two smaller terraces at sensible levels than one enormous platform propped up on an expensive wall. It looks better and it costs less.
Common questions
How long will a patio take?
A typical 30–40m² patio takes about a week, longer if there is a retaining wall or significant dig-out involved. Natural stone with irregular thicknesses takes longer to lay than calibrated porcelain.
Can you lay a patio in winter?
Yes, within reason. We avoid laying and pointing in hard frost because mortar and jointing compounds will not cure properly. In a normal Cumbrian winter there are plenty of workable days — we simply watch the forecast.
Will porcelain be slippery?
External-grade porcelain is manufactured with a textured surface and is rated for slip resistance. It is generally no worse than wet sandstone, and considerably better than wet smooth slate.
Do I need planning permission for a patio?
Usually not, but raised terraces above 300mm can need permission, and rules are tighter inside the National Park and in conservation areas. We will flag it if we think your project is near that line.
Get a price for your job
Tell us what you are planning and we will come and look at it properly. Free quotes, no obligation, anywhere in the South Lakes.
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