Introduction:

On a previous page , the range of options for sourcing paving and hard-landscaping products was considered and one of the recommendations was to look for a supplier with a good display area. On this page, one such supplier is visited to see what it is that a stockist with a display area can offer that isn't available from a more general Builder's Merchant or DIY Shed.

Cowley Stone are a specialist supplier of stone and sleepers to the paving and hard-landscaping trades. They are based more-or-less on the border between South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, just a few minutes from Worksop. Over many years they have built their business by providing what their customers require, along with a no-nonsense, honest approach which has earned them widespread respect and admiration, not just from customers and contractors, but from their competitors in the trade also.

cowley stone office
The Cowley Stone Office

The office adjacent to the huge stock yard brings in quality paving and walling stone from all over the world, as well as new and reclaimed railways sleepers, and then distributes it throughout the country. It's a slick and efficient operation, but that's not what makes Cowley Stone such a gem for the discerning stone buyer. For that, you have to cross the yard, descend the steps and enter a garden that is dedicated to showing stone paving and walling at its very best, and all complemented by an impeccably well-designed and beautifully maintained working garden.

cowley stone garden
Entering the display garden at Cowley Stone

Nothing can really prepare you for what follows. Is this a Yellow Book Garden or is it really a display area for stone paving and walling? Most display areas will give a few square metres to this paving or that aggregate. Here, you get full sized patios; whole walls reaching for the sky; discrete dining areas; steps to various levels; ponds, pools and streams; paths and pergolas, and so much more.

dry stream bed
daffodils
gothic arch

It's easy to forget that this is a display area, intended to convince you that Cowley Stone should be your stone supplier of choice. There's a new vista with every step, a new delight, a glorious celebration of just what is possible when hard and soft landscaping combine.

This is a working garden. The business owners use this garden for themselves. It's not simply a showground: it's a real, live, family garden, but one that's been crafted over the years using the stone the family has sourced from around the world.

And if they can achieve this, they can make your garden dreams a reality too.

knot garden

This isn't a pay-to-enter garden. It's open to anyone interested in buying stone for the garden or driveway, looking for inspiration, looking to learn how stone works in natural daylight, and how it survives everything the British climate can throw at it.

It's an opportunity to experience how the various stones will work as standalones or in combination. Which is the better format: setts or flagstones? What gravels work well with that flagstone? How does it work as steps?

canalside setting
fountain
topiary

The canalside location merely adds to the charm, and it's so easy to forget that this is a stone yard, with everything you'd expect from a stone yard in terms of dust and noise and machinery, but none of that impacts on what has to be one of the prettiest, most overwhelming paving and walling display areas anywhere in the country.

Showreel:

Cowley Stone Spring

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    Lawns for leisure

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    Running water calms and cools

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    Patio perfection

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    Bands Of Colour

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    Conifer Bed

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    Soften walls with edge planting

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    Mix planting with paving

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    Moving water adds soothing sound

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    Sandstone spheres and topiary balls

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    Variation in levels

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    Modern materials for style and panache

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    Water Pool

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    Weathered riven sandstone

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    Flags and Setts

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    Honed smooth sandstone

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    Canalside Charm

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    Cloud Conifers

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    Flamed basalt and shot textured granite

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    Setts add period charm

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    Kids need gardens too

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    Combine circles with rectangles

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    Knot garden

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    Create places to sit

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    Fountains form focus points

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    Early spring colour

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    Mix paving sizes for effect

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    Circles Create Centering

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    Outdoor dining

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    Path details create interest

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    Pillars provide opportunities for alpines

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    Rich, warm sandstone flags

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    Riven setts add texture

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    Sandstone

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    Spheres and conifers

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    Spring is in the air

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    Standing Stone

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    Steps create interest

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    Tiered Planting

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    Pizza heaven

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    Tropical Touch

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    Trough planting

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    Upright stones punctuate landscapes

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    Warm sandstone setts

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    Topiary statements

Finding Cowley Stone:

The office, the stock yard and that delicious garden show area are tucked away in a rural setting between J31 on the M1 and Worksop, both less than 10 minutes away.....

Contact Info:

Address


A.Cowley & Sons Ltd
Turnerwood
Nr Thorpe Salvin
Worksop
Nottinghamshire
S80 3LA

Telephone


Tel: 01909 772302

Summer Showreel:

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    Nurtured and nature

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    A splash of pink

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    Side Garden

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    Heaven-scent Lilies

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    Masterful Mauve

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    Front Garden

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    Impressive Steps

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    Fountains of colour

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    Style and Stone

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    Looking Forward

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    Rear Garden

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    Statuesque

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    The Embankment

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    Sculptural Style

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    Palms for Shade

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    Soft and natural

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    Palm Court

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    Clouds of Topiary

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    Planted beds

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    Steps make a statement

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    Summer Lilies

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    Beds and Borders

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    Looking down to the rear garden

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    Cool by the canal