New patio - natural stone paving?

[Jojobump1986]

We're redoing our garden & have come to the conclusion that our current concrete patio slabs will look even more tatty when they're surrounded by a pretty, new wall & lawn so we're planning on replacing them. We rather like this but we've never had anything other than bog-standard concrete paving so we really don't know whether it's the sort of thing that needs lots of care or if there are any disadvantages, other than cost!

Thoughts?

What is your house made of? What are the natural local building materials? It's important when choosing hard landscaping materials (ie paving) that they blend in with what's around them. For instance, Welsh slate looks fabulous in Wales where you also see it used on roofs, walls etc. On the other hand, it looks very jarring used for a front path in London where the predominant surrounding material is brick. So if you are in the Cotswolds, use Cotswold stone. In Yorkshire, York stone. If you are in a brick area, try to match the same colour brick.

But to answer your actual question (sorry), natural stone is very easy to care for. No special treatment required.

I've taken the opposite approach (sorry, Rhubarb) and have just had my patio redone in slate. I chose slate because the house is yellow London stock brick and a contrast was better than a near-miss (and the roof is slate). The only thing I've noticed so far is that slate is a relatively soft stone and marks quite easily, but after a while that should just be a nice patina of age!