My courtyard garden is the perfect size for 2 non-gardeners, but it was so depressing and uninspiring. When we first moved in 2 years ago it was overgrown and tired, but we’ve completely transformed it with our DIY gravel patio, as you can see below.
The first step was to call in Henry (my brother, the gardener) for a quick makeover, so we could at least have some patio to sit on. He trimmed back all the evergreens on the right-hand side and cleared out all the remaining greenery to make the space bigger. So, we had a bigger space, but not much of it usable.
But as we are thinking of moving house, we didn’t want to spend too much transforming it. And so it stayed like this until we had the idea to install a DIY gravel patio at the bottom to extend the seating space, and gravel down the left hand side for plant pots and seating.
The bottom of the garden was now an empty flower bed which we wanted to turn into a gravel patio. As it was stepped up, we decided to put sleepers along the edge of the existing patio as a retainer, and then levelled the soil and flattened it with a tamper to create a solid base. Next up we laid a weed membrane and pinned it in place across the patio and down the left-hand side of the garden.
We wanted a pale color for the gravel to make the space seem bigger so we chose Cotswold cream from Wanlip sand and gravel. We enlisted the help of my brother Henry for some extra muscle and within a day we had barrowed the gravel in and then raked it over the weed suppressant. This is the result after our day of labor. Doesn’t it look amazing?
The beautiful cream gravel made the patio look even grubbier so we pressure washed it the next day and, surprise surprise, the patio is cream as well.
All it needed now was the addition of a sofa on the bottom raised patio and a selection of potted plants and we now have an amazing outdoor space.
This is the finished courtyard garden and we absolutely love it and we sit outside most evenings when we get in from work. It really is a joy to be in, and all for a day’s work building an easy DIY gravel patio. The outdoor rug from Audenza really finishes off the whole Mediterranean courtyard feel. What do you think?
