Paths & Steps in Kents Hill

Kents Hill is one of the newer parts of Milton Keynes, with many homes built from the late 1980s onwards. Gardens here were often finished by the developer with a few precast slabs and a short concrete step down from the patio. Decades on, those steps can be cracked, uneven or simply too steep, and the paths beside them may have sunk where the ground below was never properly compacted.

Several plots in the area are laid out across gentle banks, so the garden drops or rises away from the house. That makes garden steps on a slope a common request. The aim is a flight that feels natural to walk, with every riser the same height and every tread long enough to place a foot comfortably. Where a bank is long and shallow, a few broad steps with landings can feel far more relaxed than a single steep run.

We also look at how people move between the front and back. A gate at the side of a link detached or semi detached house often opens onto a sloping path that is awkward with bins or bikes. Regrading it, or adding a couple of shallow steps with a level landing at the gate, can transform a daily chore.

A firm base is essential. We remove the old slabs and any loose fill, dig to sound ground, and lay a compacted sub-base before bedding the new surface, so the new garden path does not repeat the dips of the old one. On steps we build each riser on a solid footing rather than stacking units on loose soil.

Where water runs down a bank onto a path, it can wash out joints and leave a slippery film. A short drainage channel at the bottom of a flight, or a slight cross fall, sends it somewhere useful instead.

Some homes in this part of Milton Keynes are reached from a rear parking court, so the back gate is the door people actually use. A clear, well lit route from that gate to the kitchen, with no surprise step halfway, is worth more than any decorative feature. We set the level at the gate first and work the rest of the path back towards the house from there.