This summer’s big job is to get a patio laid. I needed to replace what was left of the lawn following the activity of two overactive rescue greyhounds, accompanied by a committed but much slower terrier whose daily pilgrimage to a single zoomie spot was ripping it up. Literally.
The activities of the dogs spinning like vintage jazz records at 78rpm have made it unrecognisable as a lawn. This is less an aesthetic project than it is a practical undertaking to address a problem that I created for myself during Covid when I overcommitted to increasing my pack. A mistake that I don’t regret, but more of that on another day.
This project, as with any project we humans have undertaken since early caveman fashioned the first hammerstone, is an amalgamation of people, tools and processes. What follows next contains no spoilers. There is, I’ve learned, a programmatic approach to laying a patio. Complete the steps in order and you have yourself a robust patio that, much