You did it

Splendid grass and colourful blooms are all an attractive garden needs, but little finishing touches, such as a stone path, can transform your humble estate into something out of a gardening magazine. Stone paths are easy enough to build on your own; you just need an empty weekend and plenty of stone.

Tools of the trade:

• Stakes and rope to outline the path
• Shovel
• Weed barrier (available from most nurseries)
• Sand
• Stone
• Baby sledgehammer
• Chisel
• Safety goggles
• Broom

Step one: Plan your path. Most people build paths from the gate to the front door or from the door to the pool or fish pond or particularly magnificent patch of garden. Once you know where you want to put it, you need to decide whether you want it to curve or go in a straight line, then you need to outline it with your stakes and rope.

Step two: Get excavating. You don’t need to dig a trench, just remove about five or six inches of top soil and put down the weed barrier. Try to reuse the top soil in other parts of the garden.

Step three: It sounds counterproductive, but now you need to add some sand (not the top soil) back into the path. Fill your little excavation about halfway and tamp it down.

Step four: Place the stones. Get them as close together as possible without them overlapping or grating on each other. You may need to break some stones to get them to fit. Don your safety goggles and begin by chipping out the line with your chisel and sledgehammer. When the line is sufficiently demarcated and the break prepared you can shear it off.

Step five: You want your stone path to be even. You can tamp down the stones using a moderate to heavy sledgehammer.

Step six: Fill the gaps with sand and gravel, if you have any. Sweep the sand into the cracks to make sure no gaps remain. Water the path to get it clean and bask in the success of your hard work.