Cottage garden edging for traditional cottage gardens

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Cottage gardens are famous for their timeless and charming appeal associated with the iconic English countryside.

Traditional cottage living was the cultural hub of rural English life for centuries. Cottage gardens reflected the resourceful nature of the communities which worked within them.

These gardens were a place to enjoy nature, grow colourful flowers and produce food. The cottage garden style is just as popular today as it ever was all over the globe. Many elements are well known to many such as perennial borders, meadows and herb gardens.

​However garden edgings that are suited to cottage gardens are often less well known. Conseqently in this article I will list and summarise 8 edgings perfect for cottage gardens. 

​Red bricks

Red bricks have long been associated with the buildings and countryside of England.

These fired clay bricks display colour tones that work well with the dramatic colours of the cottage border. The cottage garden style is known for its implementation of traditional materials and general resourcefulness.

​Red bricks are typically used to lay pathways and as rustic edgings to flower borders. Some of the best rustic bricks for cottage garden edging include; old stocks, Thames yellows and Ashdowns.  
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​Path edging kerbs

​Path edging kerbs have long been utilised to form linear, retaining edgings to paths and borders. Coming in a variety of products and styles these edgings generally measure; 150mm x 50mm x 1 metre.

​This makes them perfect for long, continuous edgings to paths and flower beds. The rope top patterned path edging kerbs are particularly suited to the cottage garden style. 
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​Natural stone blocks

​​Traditionally cottage dwellers were poor rural workers who were limited to what local materials they had to hand.

This is why most cottages are built and landscaped with contextual materials. For example cottages in North Wales are built and landscaped with local Welsh slate. Consequently natural stone walling blocks make very effective cottage garden edging.

​Sandstone walling blocks look very similar to the traditional Cotswold and York stone of the English countryside. 
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​Cut paving edging

If you have a cottage garden it does not mean you have to be restrictive in your material choices.

There are plenty of good examples where more modern interpretations have been created of the cottage style. This can open up the opportunity to broaden your choice when it comes to edging materials.

​In fact, any paving material can be cut into flush edging blocks and incorporated into your design. 

​Woven hazel edging 

Woven hazel edging is very suitable for cottage gardens for a number of reasons. Not only does this boundary edging look amazing it has a visual charm in keeping with the cottage style.

​Made from a historical weaving technique and local material it is perfect for traditional landscaping. Woven hazel is a sustainable and regenerative material in keeping with a rural cottage theme.

​Timber edging

Timber edging has always been an affordable and effective way to create garden edging. Historically in rural cottage communities timber was a readily available building material.

​Consequently it was numerous for garden installations including edging. Gravel boards are perfect for edging curvy lawns and gravel paths. Treated 6x2 on the other hand is best for straight and ridged edging. 
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Dry stone walling

Dry stone walls have long been associated with the rural landscapes of the British countryside.

These agricultural walls are characteristic of both the western and northern parts of Britain. As a local and contextual building material many cottages were built using rocks.

​This makes dry stone rocks and walling perfect for creating authentic edging borders with cottage gardens.  These rocks can also be arranged to form retaining edging and decorative borders. 
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​Granite setts

Granites setts are characteristic of old cobble roads and historical streetscapes. However granite setts have also been laid in and around the grounds of old cottages.

This makes them a great candidate for installing edging borders around your cottage garden. Their historical reference combined with a clean look and extreme durability makes them an excellent choice.

​Granite setts are particularly effective at creating cottage garden edging to paths and gravel surfaces. 
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Thank you for reading our article the best landscape edging for cottage gardens.

If your require cottage garden landscaping or garden edging installation services do not hesitate to contact us. 

Based in Amersham we serve Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Hertfordshire. We now also have a Norfolk office!
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Below I will link to some other cottage garden articles you may find useful.  

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