Northscape — premium outdoor spaces

Resin Path & Porcelain Inlay — Cockermouth

A resin garden path with porcelain inlay

A new-build rear garden with bare, rutted ground turned into a continuous resin bound path with inlaid porcelain slabs — a single surface that runs from the side gate, past the patio doors and around the corner of the house.

Installation film — bare ground to finished surface0:12

New-build gardens rarely arrive finished. This one was builders' ground: uneven, poorly drained and cut off from the side gate by a strip of mud that the family walked through every day.

Rather than lay a separate path, patio and threshold, the whole route was treated as one surface. Porcelain slabs were set into the line of travel at a regular rhythm, with resin bound aggregate poured around them so the two materials finish dead flush.

The base was prepared and gridded before a single barrow of aggregate arrived. Resin and stone were forced-action mixed on site in timed batches, tipped out, spread by hand and then screeded and trowelled while workable — the porcelain masked and worked around slab by slab.

The finished surface is seamless, permeable and quietly graphic: pale porcelain reading against a mid-grey blend, following the natural walking line rather than cutting across it.

Service
Resin Path & Porcelain Inlay
Location
Cockermouth
On site
4 working days on site
Finish
Mid-grey resin bound aggregate with inlaid ivory porcelain
Investment
Comparable investment: £8,500 – £12,000
Installed
May 2026
Project type
Rear garden path, side access and terrace threshold
Size
Approximately 48m²

What we solved

The problems that decide how a driveway ages.

01

Rutted new-build ground

The garden had been left compacted in places and soft in others. The full route was dug out and rebuilt on a consistent permeable base rather than patched to level.

02

Tight side access

Everything came through a single gate by barrow. Mixing was staged close to the pour, and boards were used to protect the new turf and existing brickwork throughout.

03

Marrying two materials flush

Porcelain and resin cure and sit differently. Each slab was bedded and levelled first, then the resin brought up and trowelled tight to the edge so there is no lip to catch a foot or a pushchair.

Installation timeline

Five days, stage by stage.

  1. Day 1

    01 — Initial site preparation

    Route set out with the family, existing turf and brickwork protected, levels taken from the door threshold.

  2. Day 1

    02 — Excavation

    Soft, rutted ground dug out along the full run and spoil barrowed out through the side gate.

  3. Day 2

    03 — Groundworks and sub-base

    Open-graded stone laid and compacted in layers, then blinded to a true, free-draining surface.

  4. Day 2

    04 — Drainage and falls

    Falls carried away from the house, with the permeable build-up handling surface water in place of channels.

  5. Day 3

    05 — Porcelain inlay set

    Ivory slabs bedded, levelled and spaced to a consistent module along the walking line.

  6. Day 3

    06 — Surface installation

    Resin and aggregate mixed in timed batches, tipped, spread by hand and screeded to depth around each slab.

  7. Day 4

    07 — Finishing details

    Edges, upstands and slab junctions trowelled flush, then the porcelain cleaned back by hand.

  8. Day 4

    08 — Final clean and handover

    Surface left to cure, garden swept and cleared, and aftercare walked through with the owners.

  • One continuous, level surface from gate to patio doors
  • Porcelain inlay set flush — no trip edges
  • Permeable build-up, no standing water after rain
  • Bare new-build ground turned into usable garden

From the film

Stills from site.

Bare, rutted new-build rear garden before landscaping work begins
The garden as we found it — bare ground and no route throughBefore
Barrow of resin bound aggregate being tipped onto the prepared base
Mixed aggregate tipped onto the prepared basePreparation
Installer spreading resin bound aggregate around porcelain inlay slabs
Spreading by hand around the porcelain inlayInstallation
Close view of resin aggregate being worked up to a porcelain slab edge
Worked tight to every slab edgeConstruction
Resin and aggregate being discharged from a forced action mixer
Timed batches from the forced-action mixerPreparation
Two installers kneeling to trowel a resin surface beside a modern house
Two on the trowel while the surface is workableInstallation
Trowel smoothing grey resin bound aggregate to a flat finish
Screeded, then closed up by trowelFinishing
Installer cleaning back a porcelain slab set into a new resin path
Porcelain cleaned back slab by slabFinishing
Finished resin path with porcelain inlay running along the side of a modern home
The finished run, following the walking lineCompleted
Completed resin garden path with pale porcelain inlay slabs at a rear elevation
One surface, gate to patio doorsCompleted
The smallest garden we have rebuilt — and the one that changed the mostA porcelain terrace bedded, primed and laid slab by slabTwo-tone resin held inside a hand-laid granite frameA failing drive taken back to bare ground and rebuiltA circular lawn set into a seamless resin gardenA tired driveway, rebuilt from the ground up
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