Granite

We only stock granite cobbles. Our Silver Granite cobbles come in 20 x 10cm and 10 x 10cm, both 30 to 50mm thick, in packs of 100 upwards. For most driveways and garden borders they do the same job as a kerb stone: laid flat as a flush edge, or stood on edge and set in concrete as a raised kerb. The joints every 10 or 20cm also mean they follow curves, which a long kerb stone cannot. 

A single row of our Silver Granite cobbles costs around £11 per metre for the stone. The 10 x 10cm cobbles are around £1.10 each and you need 10 per metre; the 20 x 10cm size is around £2.15 each and you need 5. A 100-cobble pack of the 10 x 10cm costs around £110 and covers 1m², so it edges 10 metres as a single row. Add concrete for the bed and haunch, plus delivery, which is charged by pallet and postcode. 

Allow around 0.02 to 0.025m³ of concrete per metre of kerb. That covers a bed roughly 150mm wide and 100mm deep, plus a haunch (the wedge of concrete behind the cobbles that stops them tipping) around 100mm wide. In practice that is about two 25kg bags of dry concrete mix per metre, or for longer runs mix your own at one part cement to six parts ballast from a bulk bag. Use a stiff, semi-dry mix so the cobbles hold position while you tap them to the line. 

For a driveway edge that gets driven over, yes. Our Silver Granite cobbles cost around £1.10 each against around £0.49 for our Kota Black limestone cobbles, but granite is a much harder stone. It shrugs off tyre scuffing, road salt and frost, and the colour does not fade, where black limestone turns grey without regular sealing. For a garden border that only sees a mower, limestone does the job for less. 

Stand the 20 x 10cm cobbles on their long edge so the 10cm face is upright, then set them in a concrete bed and haunch them behind. Dig a trench about 100mm deep, lay a stiff concrete bed, and push each cobble in with its 20cm face running along the kerb line. Set the face to a string line rather than the back, because our cobbles vary from 30 to 50mm thick and the line must be straight on the visible side. Leave 50mm standing above the driveway surface, point the joints, and bring the concrete haunch up to just below the top at the back. 

Silver Granite goes with almost any grey or neutral paving, and gives a sharp contrast against dark stone. It is a light grey with black flecks and glints of quartz, so it sits naturally beside Kandla Grey sandstone, grey or white porcelain, and silver granite paving. Against our Kota Black limestone or dark Modello Black porcelain it reads as a bright frame around the darker surface.

Textured. Our Silver Granite cobbles are split by hand, so the top surface is naturally rough with an uneven, slightly rippled face rather than a sawn or polished finish. The edges are hand-dressed, which means they are rough but straight enough to sit neatly side by side. That rough surface gives good grip underfoot and under tyres in the wet, and the quartz grains in the stone catch the light.