There’s something uniquely satisfying about watching a project unfold over time. Not the quick, weekend-makeover kind of satisfaction—the deep, patient kind that comes from seeing something truly special take shape, piece by piece, year by year.
We’ve just released the full feature-length video of a project that’s been close to our hearts for the best part of three years. It involved a large family home in North London, unloved outdoor spaces, and a vision that grew into something far beyond what anyone initially imagined.
And honestly? Sitting down to watch the full 20-minute cut, I felt genuinely emotional. Because this isn’t just a story about paving. It’s a story about trust, creativity, and what happens when you let the right people run with an idea.
The Beginning: “It Looked Like a Building Site”
Let’s rewind to early 2023. The owners of this substantial North London property had been living through years of renovation. The house itself had been transformed—beautifully, meticulously—but the outdoor spaces? They’d been left until last. For practical reasons, it made sense. But it meant that when you pulled up to this stunning family home, the first thing you saw was… well, a bit of a mess.
“It was just predominantly just sea of scalpings,” recalls the landscaper, Dan Shaw of MPAC, sitting with me in what is now one of the most beautiful garden spaces I’ve ever seen. “It was like a building site. No form, no shape, no function.”
The rear garden was unloved. The driveway, sprawling, uneven and formless, did nothing to complement the architecture it led to. The owners knew they wanted something better. They wanted a garden they could be proud of—a space that finally matched the care they’d poured into every other corner of their home.
And so, they ordered some samples from our website, and the journey began.
Almost Three Years Later: A Home from Home
Fast forward to late summer 2025, and I’m standing in that same garden with the landscaper who’s overseen every detail of this transformation. We’ve just spent over four hours filming—four hours and forty minutes, to be precise—because there was simply so much at the property I wanted to capture.
“This place, although it’s 2.5 hours journey from where we live, is almost like a home from home for us,” I tell him, and I mean it. Over nearly three years, we’ve been up here multiple times: first for the initial templates on the curved walls at the back, then for the steps, then for the driveway. Each visit revealed another layer of what was possible.
The landscaper grins. “We’ve gone from that, years later, to now this. A stunning garden and driveway, even if I do say so myself. I’m proud of all my jobs, but when we turn up here, it just looks phenomenal.”
And he’s right. It does.
The Material Palette: What Makes This Project Sing
One of the questions I get asked most often is, “How do you choose the right paving material for a project?” And the honest answer is: it depends on so many factors. The architecture, the light, the way the space will be used, the client’s personality. But for this North London home, the palette we settled on ended up being a beautiful accompaniment to the house.
Lymington Dune Limestone: The Elegant Backbone
The rear garden spans around 300 square metres. That’s a significant area, and with spaces that large, there’s always a risk of things looking… well, bland. 900mm x 600mm slabs laid in a stretcher bond pattern might be efficient and easy on the eye, but that amount of paving in the same format, at that scale, can be quite uninspiring.
The solution? A combination of Lymington Dune Limestone paving and Lymington Beige Pavers, creating a feeling of contemporary elegance that runs throughout the garden. The Dune range offers that perfect balance—sleek enough to feel modern, but with enough natural variation and texture to give that heritage feel. It’s the kind of stone that catches the light differently at different times of day, and it ages beautifully over time.
Lymington Coach House Cobbles: The Texture That Changes Everything
If the Lymington Dune is the elegant backbone, the Lymington Beige Coach House Cobbles add the character. Originally, we brought these in primarily for vertical cladding—they’re beautiful on walls. But as MPAC were developing the project, something clicked.
“Let’s put it on the floor,” Shorty suggested. And he did.
Running the entire perimeter of the driveway, these cobbles add a rustic, textured edging that adds another dimension to the space. They provide an internal edge to the Lymington Dune Courtsetts on the driveway aprons. Adding some drama with their extra height and beautiful heritage style texture.
But here’s the clever bit: they’re also functional. At the entrance to both of the driveway aprons, MPAC have laid three courses of cobbles on the other side of the gate tracks, creating what is commonly referred to as a “rumble strip.” Its job? Well it looks pretty but it also stops the gravel from migrating down the slope and getting caught in the gate mechanism. It’s a detail most people would never notice, but it’s the kind of thing that makes a project work beautifully for decades.
“The extra texture is going to help that gravel retain,” I noted during our walkaround. Shorty nodded. “We could have not put them in, and it would have looked nice. But putting them in really sets it off. My creativity just said ‘do more, do something else.’ And it really works.”
Lymington Dune Courtsetts: Small Format, Big Impact
Limestone setts are having a moment, and for good reason. They offer all the beauty of natural stone but in a format that allows for incredible versatility. In this project, the Lymington Dune Courtsetts appear in multiple places—most notably in the driveway aprons and around the base of a beautiful willow tree, where they’ve been used vertically to clad a low, curved wall.
The smallest size—200 by 100 millimetres—was laid like brickwork, creating a delicate, textured feature that draws the eye. It’s a detail that could easily have been overlooked, but instead, it’s become one of my favourite angles on the project. We actually now stock this size of limestone sett separately as Lymington Dune Setts.
“My favourite part of this project? I literally cannot say,” Shorty admits when I ask. “There’s just too many. But this area where we’re sat—it’s probably one of the smallest areas out here. It might be just breaching ten square metres. But in here, there’s so many different things that just excite me.” MPAC’s Shorty is referring to the small seating area that bridges the driveway and rear garden space. In this one compact zone there’s a plethora of our beautiful Egyptian limestone products; from the Courtsetts to the Coach House Cobbles and even the Lymington Beige Wall Pavers. They are all combined sympathetically to create an airy feeling small terrace which was previously unused and is now enjoyed by the clients regularly.
The Curves: 900 Cuts and a Seamless Finish
Let’s talk about curved walls for a moment, because this project has some beautiful looking walls.
In front of one of the gates, there’s a curved section of wall that follows a tight radius. To achieve it, the team had to cut 200-millimetre wall pavers down to 50 or 100 millimetres, then mitre each piece individually so that when the next course went on top, everything sat flush.
“I think on the retaining walls for the lawn, there’s about 900 cuts in there,” Shorty tells me. “Not that I was counting. And likewise for the seating area underneath the willow, there’s about 300 cuts there.”
Nine hundred cuts. On one wall.
“But it just means when you look at it now, it’s smooth. It’s almost like you wouldn’t believe the cladding is 40 millimetres thick. It’s just like a seamless curve—like it’s almost been rendered.”
These are the details that separate good landscaping from extraordinary landscaping. The bits you don’t notice because they’re done so well that they just look… right. Shorty admits he sat on the cutting machine for two days, mask on in the June heat, just cutting. Just cutting. While that would frustrate a lot of people, he knew it was worth it.
“When you look at this, it’s stunning. Even I can say that’s stunning.”
The Herringbone Addiction
I have to call it out: the herringbone addiction is real. And it hasn’t left MPAC.
Throughout the project, herringbone patterns appear in the most wonderful places—most notably on the front porch, where a mixture of pavers and our stock 40mm bullnosed Lymington Dune Steps create a framed herringbone pattern that greets visitors at the door.
“It’s so elegant,” Shorty states. “It comes from the olden days of parquet flooring. It just elevates things.”
I agree. “It just breaks up a patio terrace. Whether it’s a large pad or even just a doormat area. It adds a little bit of panache.”
The porch pattern was the result of a proper back-and-forth between the landscaper and the client. Sketches were drawn, ideas tossed around, until they landed on a design that made everyone happy. And now, apparently, the homeowner gets compliments every time someone visits. That makes us feel great as the supplier- hearing stories like this is exactly why we do what we do.
The Design Process: No Fancy Drawings, Just Trust
One thing that fascinates me about this project is how the design actually happened. Because here’s the thing: this garden did not make use of a garden designer.
“I always have a chat with the client,” Shorty explains. “I always have a conversation, because I can work with any information I get. I ask them what they want, what they like—and sometimes it’s easier to ask what they don’t like. From that, I can use my experience and knowledge to guide them.”
He describes himself as “quite artsy, quite creative”—the whole package, as he puts it. An installer, a builder, and someone who can come up with creative concepts too. And while he does sometimes produce rough 2D sketches, a lot of it comes down to trust.
“A lot of customers just let me be free. Which I’m quite grateful for, if I’m honest. I’m the professional. And they know I’m not going to leave it looking anything other than something I’m happy with.”
But here’s a crucial part of the process: Shorty mocks things up. A square metre sample panel here, a mocked up dry-laid example there. “We pretty much do that with everything, so they know for real. Sometimes they don’t like it, but when I know what they don’t like, I can further understand what they will like.”
The Client: From Hesitation to Happiness
No project story is complete without the client’s journey, and this one has a particularly lovely ending.
Early on, when the Shorty suggested using the Coach House Cobbles in certain areas, the homeowner wasn’t entirely sure. She worried it might be too much texture, too busy.
“So I said, well, we can cut it with what we’re doing for the new entrances,” he recalls. “We knocked up a little sample, and she said, ‘You know what? That looks beautiful.'”
And it does. It looks stunning.
By the end of the project, the relationship had evolved far beyond client and contractor. These are people who now feel like friends. And the proof is in how they feel about their garden.
“I spoke to the customer this morning,” Shorty shared with a smile. “She said she looks out and she’s so happy. For me, that’s better than getting paid. She’s proud of this. It now complements the house completely.”
The Products: A Closer Look
For those of you who appreciate the technical side as much as the aesthetic, let’s break down exactly what went into this project:
Lymington Dune Limestone Paving forms the foundation—large-format slabs creating elegant, contemporary terraces that flow seamlessly from the house into the garden. The bullnosed steps add a softness to the edges while maintaining that clean, modern line.
Lymington Coach House Cobbles provide the texture and character. Running the perimeter of the driveway, they frame the space beautifully while serving that clever functional purpose of retaining the gravel. They’re rustic without being rough, characterful without being chaotic.
Lymington Dune Courtsetts appear in multiple applications—as the curved wall under the willow, as edging details, and as part of the intricate paving patterns that break up the larger spaces. Their smaller format allows for the kind of creativity that larger slabs simply can’t achieve.
Lymington Beige Pavers add warmth and variety, creating zones within the garden that feel distinct yet harmonious.
And then there are the bespoke elements—the curved limestone copings, the deeper 400-millimetre bullnosed steps leading up to the lawn, the bullnosed steps that frame the herringbone porch. Each one cut, shaped, and installed with the kind of care that makes all the difference.
Why Limestone?
We get asked this a lot. And while we supply a range of materials—including some spectacular Egyptian limestone from the same geological formations that built the pyramids —there’s something special about what limestone brings to a project.
Limestone is dense, durable, and surprisingly practical. It’s less porous than many alternatives, meaning it resists the kind of algae growth and stains that can plague other materials . The surface texture on Lymington Dune Limestone—often described as like orange peel—offers excellent slip resistance while remaining fairly smooth and flat .
But more than that, limestone has presence. It feels substantial. It feels permanent. And in a project like this, where the homeowners wanted something that would last for decades and only get better with age, that permanence mattered.
What’s Next?
As we wrapped up filming—after nearly five hours on site—I asked the Shorty what comes next. Because this project, was finally now fully handed over to the lovely home-owners.
“There’s another one of yours we’re supplying at the moment, which is a bit similar to this,” I told him. “The mad concoction of products looks good for this new one as well. Hopefully we’ll get to show subscribers and followers that later on.”
He grinned. “You get good products, and with good products, I can make good projects.”
Simple as that, really.
Watch the Full Story
The full 20-minute feature is now live on our YouTube channel. It’s a proper deep dive—the kind of video you watch with a cup of tea on a Sunday morning. We discuss the whole site, talk through every detail, and get properly nerdy about the things that make this project special.
If you’re planning your own garden transformation, or if you just appreciate seeing skilled craftspeople at the top of their game, I reckon you’ll enjoy it.
And if you’re dreaming of your own project—whether it’s a full garden transformation or just a new driveway that finally does your home justice—get in touch. We’d love to help you write your own story.
