---
title: "Slab Path with Sett Edging, Gloucester (2025) | Solid Ground Paving"
description: "Case study: a grey slab side path in Gloucester edged with small setts to hold a clean line against a planted border."
canonical: https://solidgroundpaving.co.uk/projects/slab-path-sett-edging-gloucester
url: https://solidgroundpaving.co.uk/projects/slab-path-sett-edging-gloucester.md
section: "Projects"
date_published: 2026-08-06
date_modified: 2026-08-06
author: Solid Ground Paving
robots: noindex
---

# Slab path with sett edging

Where paving meets soil, the edge is what fails first. This side path was laid in grey slabs and finished with a course of small setts along the planted border, giving the mortar something to work against and keeping the line straight as the planting grows in.

## Key facts

- **Town:** Gloucester
- **Year:** 2025
- **Surface:** Grey slabs with sett edging
- **Setting:** Side access alongside a planted border

## Why edge a path with setts?

Setts give a narrow, flexible border that follows curves a full slab cannot. They also take the pressure of soil and roots on the open side, so the slabs themselves are not doing the retaining work.

## How is the edge stopped from moving?

Each sett is bedded and haunched in concrete below the finished surface, hidden by the soil line. Without that haunch an edge course lifts within a season, taking the pointing with it.

- Concrete haunch on the soil side of every edge unit
- Falls set towards the border, away from the wall
- Joints pointed after the bed has gone off

## Do side paths need the same base as a patio?

Broadly yes for the bedding and edges, though the sub-base can be lighter because there is no vehicle load. What matters more on a narrow run is drainage, because water funnels along it off the roof and the wall.

## Questions and answers

Q: Will planting damage the paving?
A: Not with a haunched edge in place. It keeps roots and soil out of the bedding layer, which is where damage would otherwise start.

---

Human-readable version of this page: https://solidgroundpaving.co.uk/projects/slab-path-sett-edging-gloucester


## Site records

- Video: The finished path with sett edging holding the boundary between paving and border planting.
  - Description: Grey slab path with sett edging running alongside a planted border in Gloucester
  - File: https://solidgroundpaving.co.uk/__l5e/assets-v1/8ab6f5c7-c965-4fb8-90f8-ec0019be20df/slab-path-sett-edging.mp4 (poster: https://solidgroundpaving.co.uk/__l5e/assets-v1/020c10c3-fd9b-4dd0-ac19-e0243a5cebea/slab-path-sett-edging-poster.jpg)