Our traditional natural walling stone is ideal for a garden wall, a retaining wall, natural landscaping and generally adding presence to any property.  We hand dress each piece, ensuring that the stone has good faces and is easy to build with.  It is a superb Cotswold walling stone for gardens, with that rich golden buff colour, and the ability to build a tight, close-knit natural stone wall, that will stand the test of time.

The garden walling stone is strong, impermeable, frost resistant and largely flat, with plenty of natural faces on the uncut sides.  The stone itself is fairly flat, is extremely hard and non-porous, this makes any garden stone wall easier to build with and naturally very strong. Each stone is hand selected.   It comes in random widths.

In Dorset, Somerset, as well as in the Cotswolds - Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Northamptonshire, there are some superb examples of dry stone walling with Forest Marble stone. From Burford, to Badminton to Bridport the Forest Marble dry stone walls have created idylic rural landscapes. This is the best garden walling stone or Cotswold walling stone available. Today our walling stone is being used throughout the UK creating natural structures for gardens. 

Today, natural stone walls continue to define the boundaries of rural gardens, houses, farms and estates, adding value and beauty to the landscape. Forest Marble stone is extensively used in the Cotswolds where it is called Cotswold Stone or Cotswold Forest Marble.

Depending on the stone wall to be built, we are able to advise on a suitable dry stone waller. There are multiple styles and traditions of building stone walls and so it is important to utilise a stone waller that will build a stone wall to suit the ground and last 200 years plus. Below is a brief summary of some of the principles for building a drystone wall.

We regularly ship dry stone walling, garden walling, and stone supplies to Cheltenham, Cirencester, Badminton, Bristol, Bath, Melksham, Stow, Northleach, Tetbury, Rodmarton, Burford, Corsham, Somerford,  Castle Combe, Charlbury, Bridport, Mendips, Chipping Norton, Long Newnton, Sherston, Beaminster, Corston, Firford, Winchester, Salisbury, Malmesbury, Bournemouth, Poole, Yeovil, Chard, Sherborne, Shaftesbury, Neston, Lacock, Radstock, Bradford-on-Avon, Wraxall, Frome, Wells, Witney, Beaminster, Stroud, Shepton Mallet, Chipping Sodbury, Melksham, Reading, Yate, Trowbridge, Hungerford, Chipping Sodbury, Dursely, Radstock,  Aylesbury, Andover, Southampton, Thame, Poole, Bournemouth, Dorchester, Swindon, Yate, Hungerford, Birmingham, Exeter, Winchester, Alton, Basingstoke, Oxford, Taunton, London and can deliver to the rest of England and the UK.

Building garden stone walls, if done well, is both functional acting as a boundary, as well as a work of art.  Furthermore it should last several hundred years if the natural wall stone is good and the wall has been well built. The walling stone, a critical ingredient, needs to be weather resistant, strong and preferably flat.

First clear the ground where you are going to build your stone wall of any obstructions. Then mark the line of the wall out with string. A shallow trench is then to be dug, for the foundations, graduating from about 8 inches for a stone wall over four feet high to 5 inches for a wall under 4 feet high. This will vary depending on the ground conditions and extra stability may be needed with a concrete base. The width of the wall at the base will depend on the height of the stone wall. It will be about a third of the height at the base.

It is best if the natural walling stone or Cotswold walling stone is grouped together in sizes, with the largest closest the wall, it is then easier to select the appropriate as the stone wall is built.

The main principles of building a drystone wall are:

• Keep the joints between each stone as tight as possible  
• The face (smartest and straightest) stone is to be selected for the out side of the wall
• The stone at the bottom of the wall will be the flattest and largest (a concrete foundation should be considered in some situations).
• A lime base mortar should be used.
• The stones on either side of the wall should slightly lean outwards to spill the water out.
• The gap between the two outer facing stones, in the middle of the stone wall should be filled in with appropriately sized infill stones or knappings to prevent any movement.
• The two outer facing stones need to interlock (not overlap) in the middle as much as possible.
• Each layer of the outer facing stones should have the principle of 'two over one and one over '.
• The stone wall should narrow as it gets higher.
• The capping stones need to be preferably heavy and should also help push the rain to the outside of the stone wall.  The stone wall cap is essential for the longevity of the wall as well as the aesthetic look.

Most of the principles above will promote the strength and stability of the natural stone wall that should last for generations and look beautiful. The stone wallers in each area of the country will have their own style, largely dependent on what has worked over the generations.  

If you need help to build your garden stone wall, we work with many artisan stone wallers in Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, Wiltshire, and beyond.

Phone now for your stone wall supplies.