Scottish cobbles - The environmentally friendly option

Our range of Scottish cobbles comes from Elgin in North East Scotland on the coastal plain of Morayshire. This quarry is managed, with the help from environmental experts, in such a way that all used ground is turned into natural wetlands after extraction has finished. These  natural habitats are managed to encouarge a wide range of flora and fauna back to the area helping reverse the decline in local populations.

Our range of Scottish cobbles offer the customer a vast range of design options from large water gardens to small decorative borders. Available from 10mm to 150mm in size, scottish cobbles are as popular today as ever due to there beautiful range of colours and shapes making these a truly unique product.

During the extraction process large boulders are ocassionally discovered which can be used crate a stunning focal point to a large garden or commercial project, the shape size and colour of these boulders varies and if this is something you would require please contact us for future deatials.

Our sleepers are no turkeys!

Here at Natural Stone and Timber we care about the quality of the railway sleepers we sell to our customers. Our aim is to exceed your expectations. With this in mind we select our new oak sleepers from Canada where they are made from Northern Red Oak (Quercus Rubra). The northern red oak is one of the most important oaks for timber production in North America due to its high quality and suitability for a large range of applications. These include flooring, veneer, interior trim, and furniture. It is also used for railway sleepers and fence posts throughout North America and Europe.

A lot of sleeper suppliers in the UK are selling Turkey Oak (Quercus Cerris) instead of higher quality oak such as the Northern Red Oak mentioned above. Turkey oak is planted throughout Europe and the British Isles partly due to its rapid growth and ornamental properties. Due to the faster growth of Turkey Oak it produces a much poorer quality product that has a tendency to split, twist and rot out very quickly. We would strongly recommend using Northern Red Oak Sleepers for you landscaping project as they will keep their attractive appearance for longer and you won’t be replacing them after ten years.

Softwood Sleepers

Our softwood railway sleepers are grown, sawn and manufactured in Poland and FSC certified to ensure not only a quality product, but one that isn’t damaging to the environment.

Softwood sleepers are generally Pine or Spruce and the plantations in Poland are expertly managed and maintained to ensure a healthy, dense tree that will not twist, split or warp excessively when cut. Our timber products are sourced from manufacturers in Northern Poland and delivered via road direct to our yard in Portsmouth. They are Tanalised during the production process, this is a high pressure treatment process giving the timber a greatly improved lifespan, and we would expect – even with our British weather – of around 10-15 years, sometimes even longer than this if they are treated after installation, and maintained on a regular basis.

Softwood generally means timber that is cut from a certain range of trees, typically conifers like pine and spruce. The opposite is of course hardwood, which again means timber cut from a certain range of trees, typically Oak, Mahogany and Cherry. There are actually a few timbers that contradict what you would expect and certain softwoods that are harder than hardwoods, but these are few and far between, and quite unusual.

Sleepers are an excellent choice for garden structures as they are strong and simple to work with, they can be easily cut, screwed together and concreted in giving you a huge variety of uses, from retaining walls to garden sheds, the versatility of railway sleepers is one of their most valuable attributes.

Granite Setts

Granite has been used as paving since Roman times and examples of its use can be found throughout the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. Granite setts, which are sometimes referred to as cobbles, are a versatile product suitable for a large range of applications including pathways, patios or driveways. Granite setts provide a beautiful and durable finish to any project. As a testament to this, some streets in Britain have been laid with cobbles for over two hundred years and are still in use today.

Here at Landscaping Supplies we are expanding the range of sizes in which we supply the granite setts in order to make them suitable for a wider range of projects. For example we now stock the cobbles in 100mm cubes which are better suited to heavy duty driveways or more commercial projects. This size is also perfect for establishing an edge to a path or driveway due to their depth which helps create a strong edge to contain the decorative aggregate used for the surface.

The design possibilities are endless with granite setts, however the most common and simple patterns used are stretcher bond, running bond or stack bond. In more prestigious projects, throughout Europe, much more impressive patterns can be found, these include the Bogens pattern which comprises of many interlocking arcs or the fan pattern which is usually sold in preassembled, fan shaped, mesh backed segments which can be much quicker to lay. Granite setts also lend themselves to being laid in circular patterns. This is particularly useful in public areas that contain trees or planted areas that need to be excluded from the paved area.