{"id":7780,"date":"2019-07-29T19:50:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T19:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.siteandinsight.com\/?p=7780"},"modified":"2019-07-29T19:50:33","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T19:50:33","slug":"garden-paths-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/garden-paths-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Garden Paths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Working on Timelines, the 3 km trail at Glen Villa that opened last weekend,\u00a0started me thinking about trails and paths more generally, and particularly about the way the size, shape and the material a path is made of affect how we respond.<\/p>\n

What a difference there is, for instance, between the effect of a winding path made of wood chips …<\/p>\n

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\"This

This photo shows a wood chip path at Holbrooke Garden, a naturalistic garden in Devon.<\/p><\/div>\n

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… and a straight path that leads to a symmetrical fa\u00e7ade.<\/p>\n

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\"The

A tightly laid stone path leads to the Queen Anne\u00a0fa\u00e7ade of Cottesbrooke in Northamptonshire.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Scrolling through the thousands of photographs I’ve taken over the years in gardens around the world, I quickly realized that even paths made of the same material — stone, for instance — can create\u00a0responses that differ considerably. A path made of straight-cut stones tightly laid suggests a higher level of formality than straight-cut stones laid in a more random pattern.<\/p>\n

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\"The

The sense of informality is heightened when the path is bordered by loosely planted flower beds.<\/p><\/div>\n

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When the stones are shaped\u00a0irregularly and edged with gravel, the effect\u00a0changes again.<\/p>\n

\"A

The clipped boxwood hedges at Haseley Court act almost like wings on a stage and the shade\u00a0adds to\u00a0the sense of mystery that this path suggests..<\/p><\/div>\n

Paths are practical elements in a garden, minimizing the wear and tear that happens when people\u00a0regularly follow\u00a0the same route. While straight-cut stones\u00a0that separate\u00a0grass from a border create formality, they also suggest a practical approach to maintenance.<\/p>\n

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\"A

Borders edge grass on this long approach to a\u00a0sculpture at\u00a0the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden, Wisley.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

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Most stone paths are continuous but they don’t have to be. The round stepping stones below that direct your\u00a0feet through this section of the garden at Rodmarton Manor lighten the formal design.<\/p>\n

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\"Rodmarton

I like the way these round stepping stones combine with the round and square-edged shrubs on either side.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Not all paths work well. One I saw in a garden in France made me nervous. Was it safe to walk on the stones? Would they wobble or would I catch a heel in the gaps between the stones?<\/p>\n

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\"As

As I recall, a stream trickled\u00a0down this stone path, making it even more treacherous.<\/p><\/div>\n

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A path at England’s Bury Court is mounded to allow water to run off, making it dry quickly. But more interesting to me is the design of the path. It\u00a0is\u00a0a straight line that becomes a curve to echo the curve of a hedge nearby and the transition from one to the other doesn’t curve but turns at right angles. I can’t remember seeing something like this in any other garden. Have you?<\/p>\n

\"This

This path at Bury Court is made of local stone and echoes the stone used in the fence.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Stone paths\u00a0can be expensive but not all are. And expense has little to do with beauty. What could be more gorgeous than this path made of stones set into moss?<\/p>\n

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\"Stones

Stones in the Japanese garden at Les Quatre Vents in Malbaie, Quebec.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you use paths in your garden? What material are they made of, and how did you\u00a0determine the design?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Working on Timelines, the 3 km trail at Glen Villa that opened last weekend,\u00a0started me thinking about trails and paths more generally, and particularly about the way the size, shape and the material a path is made of affect how we respond. What a difference there is, for instance, between the effect of a winding…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[573,858,859,368,41,860,861,862],"class_list":["post-7780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design","tag-bury-court","tag-cottesbrooke","tag-holbrooke-garden","tag-les-quatre-vents","tag-paths","tag-rodmarton-manor","tag-stone-paths","tag-wisley","category-24","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}