The “whether” garden dry stone walling – Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders – garden dry stone retaining walls and steps.

This garden dry stone walling in the Scottish Borders went from being a fairly straigh-forward job into one of the most challenging that I’ve done. It was meant to have started in late 2020 when the the winter weather had not quite arrived.  15 tonnes of loose-tipped Swinton rubble was delivered before Christmas and duly barrowed into the patio area at the back of the house. I had meant to cover most of it with a tarp in case of snow and ice but just didn’t get the time to do it.

So two of us turned up on 4 Jan to start work dismantling the old sleeper beds and managed one day before freezing temps sent us home for the rest of the week.

The job turned into a battle with the weather with temperatures pretty much at or below freezing for much of January and February.  We lost many days to the snow and ice.  The stone froze and could only be worked when the days warmed up and we resorted to a gas weed burner to melt snow and ice. It was a tough build that ended up weeks behind schedule.

There were many days when I wondered whether the weather would let us finish. Some garden dry stone walling jobs are just a challenge!

The walls were built with Swinton Rubble with Alston stone caps.

We are delighted with the new walls and stairs throughout our garden, the space has been transformed!
The stone brightens the area remarkably well and sits beautifully against our existing paving.
Jason worked through the snow, ice and even blizzard conditions to complete our build. We thank him enormously and look forward to future projects!
Mr and Mrs M

The stone was supplied by the Hutton Stone Co. Ltd.

You can see more examples of garden landscaping works on the projects page.