Down the Garden Path

Garden paths should be functional first and attractive second.

It can be a rude awakening to discover that beautiful winding path you just put in isn't wide enough to bring your garden cart through. Paths can lead to nowhere, they can be utilitarian or decorative, they can be made at great expense or as cheap as a bag of wood chips, it's all up to you and what you want. Materials used for a path are unlimited, grass, pavers, gravel,  bricks, slabs of stone, they can be simple and they can be complex. 

No problem getting a garden cart down this beautiful path at
Goodnestone Garden, England

Not all lawn paths have to be straight, this is a spectacular lawn at
Merriments Gardens in England

Of all the paths I've seen throughout my travels in England, this is the one I fell in love with and copied for my own. This is at the very famous
Sissinghurst Castle, England

This is how mine came out, right after completion and today.

I love this path at Bateman's in England, the home of Rudyard Kipling

It's not unusual to create a path with an assortment of materials, and having a focal point in the center, such as this at West Dean, England

This path, also at West Dean was just dirt...how come a dirt path doesn't look this good at my house?

 A very common and versatile material is flagstone as used here at Great Dixter, England (top), Great Comp, England (middle) and
Groombridge, England (bottom).

One of the most common materials used is brick and as you can see from here,
brick can be formal as here at Hole Park, England or casual as
Heasleigh, a B&B in England 

It doesn't get any cheaper or easier than this path made from wood chips,
a utilitarian path to the back of one of my gardens