Paving a north facing garden

[DerekDarkly]

We have a north facing garden with added bonus of it being very, very wet and mushy. We have a small patio close to the house and even though it's cold there it's the only part of the garden our son likes to use.

It's currently lawn which is useable one week a year and down the back, the only sunny spot, a massive overgrown hedge.

We are hoping to pave the whole lot - patio on the lawn and a raised patio with edging sleepers and plants at the sunny point at the back so it's somewhere nice to sit and grow things with eco draining installed.

Anyone had any experience of this and is there any considerations for a NF garden? Warmer stone for example?

Also there are trees and hedges we're not losing so still some life. The garden is about 12m x 12m.

We have a largish North/NorthEast facing garden and had the patio extended September last year, it's great and I cannot wait to use it but it does already have green marks on it from the amount of rain we've had over winter!

We've gone for a textured (so it's not too slippy) light grey mixed sizes and it's then surrounded by rounded gravel and a tapered sleeper wall. The garden slopes away from the house at an angle if that makes sense.

In the sunny corner at the bottom we've just had a composite (ie rot proof) decking put in but have left the grass area (which is mostly moss) between them.

If it's a small area you could consider some fake turf, some of which looks great these days as this will allow drainage?

You could try porcelain paving slabs, they’re less likely to get algae on them because they’re not as porous and so are less slippery. Maybe go for something warm in colour too like a sandy colour.

The best of way of reducing water logging is to get lots of plants that soak up a lot of water and like damper conditions. There are lots of plants that thrive in north facing conditions like hostas, ferns and lily turf. You can plant them around the patio.

As others have said, there is likely to be a problem with algae and moss in shady areas making the stone slippery, so choose something with a texture or be prepared to jet wash it. We just have a slab patio on the bit closest to the house (around 1.5 to 2 metres), and went for gravel elsewhere where we used to have lawn, but we put stepping stone slabs so that I can still hang the washing out in bare feet! Our lawn used to be under 2-3 inches of water after very heavy rain, but the gravel is brilliant for drainage & has solved this problem.

I've got a quote now, can't tell if it's good for not? 6k for

A: Lay flagstones on existing lawn (8.3 x 9.5m). Lay drainage channel across rear.

B: Dig out rear hedge and build a retaining wall with steps up into a raised rear patio area (5 x 3.5m) with chipped bark on either side and planting areas

C: Erect a 2m high board fence across the back of the garden Weed barrier
Aggregate x 10 tonnes
Flags x 504
Edging x 20
Sand & Cement
Eco-drains x 9
Quarry dust 10 bags

Weed barrier
Aggregate x 5 ton
Flags x 113
Concrete blocks x 132
Sand & Cement
Timber (9x2) x 6 & (2x2) x 1
Screws
Chipped bark (2 cubic metres)

Posts (2.4m x 7)
Rails (4.8m x 6)
Boards (2m x 62)
Postcrete x 7
Screws

Not sure if it is an option, but we have a north facing garden and hemmed in at the sides by large trees. It was decked, but got quite mossy and slippery. We laid artificial turf instead. We have dc, so a much more practical option.