Best patio material that might actually dry in a north facing garden

[OldEnoughandUglyEnough]

Currently live in a house with a small north facing yard which is concrete. The part against the house is wet for the whole of winter as it is in shadow. We are moving house to another place with a north facing garden. Needs a new patio and I’d be interested in ideas for a surface that might actually dry? I was thinking gravel may be best (maybe with stepping stones) or I’ve seen resin bound driveways recommended as being good for drainage. Any thoughts?

We have a red brick patio, installed last summer. The designer tried to get us to go with ceramic but I didn’t like the look. A reputable builder can help you with suitable materials. Are you saying that even in dry weather and summer that the patio wouldn’t dry properly?

It does dry in the summer, but it’s permanently wet in the winter, unlike the front of the house which does dry as it is south facing so only needs a couple of dry days to get dry. The north facing part would need a couple of weeks of dry/warm/windy days before it would dry out.

The person who laid ours two years ago recommended porcelain for the same issue on our north facing patio (it doesn't get full sun even in summer and the old slimy flagstones seemed to need blasting every sodding week in winter!) I was skeptical at first but it has been fantastic: smart, hard-wearing, and in the two winters it has been down it has never gone slimy.

Ps. The porcelain we have used doesn't look as I expected, btw - I'm not into the "luxe" look although you can have that if you like. Ours looks like stone at first glance but feels smoother underfoot.

Thanks sunkendreams that’s really interesting about the porcelain as I thought that would be one of the worst offenders! It’s a very smart look though, does it not get slippery at all?

Not that I've noticed, and I cross the patio daily in all weathers to get to the recycling bin - it is smooth but not exactly like a porcelain tile in a kitchen, of that makes sense? We went for a rustic finish though with little variations to the colour and texture. I've never seen any moss or that deadly invisible slime we used to get on the flagstones!

Sounds fabulous, thank you

We have porcelain tiles as well. Ours look like wood, to match our flooring inside.

If you look at the ratings, it should show how slippery it is when wet. Ours are rated for use pool side.

You also want to make sure that the surface is set to drain properly. We have a French drain along a few of the edges as well as carefully working out the very gentle slope. Water drains off quite quickly, also means we've not had any moss or algae growth at all.

I highly recommend them.

@sunkendreams I'd be interested in this too as I'm the owner of a slimy flagstone patio currently.

Are they slippery when wet or icy and were they expensive?