Gravel bbq area within patio

[CodeMonkey]

Hi all,

I'm soon to be laying a new sandstone patio and would like to leave an area for a BBQ that I could fill with gravel or pebbles to help prevent staining on the patio.

The idea was to just miss out a few flags from the random layout resulting in a 900mm square (this square would be surrounded on all sides by flagstones) that I could fill with gravel.

My only issue is I have no idea how this will affect the patio in terms of drainage etc. The patio area is contained on 3 sides by walls.

On mentioning the idea to the other half, she went and found this:

http://assets.stonemarket.co.uk/assets...._hz.jpg

Which is sort of what I was going for, minus the lines.

Does anyone have any thoughts or advice?
Is this idea completely ridiculous?

Thanks,
Steve

[seanandruby]

Do a percolation test to see if the area drains without the aid of a piped drainage system, soakaway etc: it's a nice set up and the choice is down to you and 'er indoors really.

[CodeMonkey]

Good idea, thanks Sean.

What kind of value should I be looking for from the test?

Thanks again,
Steve

[Tony McC]

Have a read of the Soakaway Site Investigation info on the main website.

[CodeMonkey]

Thanks Tony.

I've had a good read and dug some holes in the garden.

There's a lot of clay. Even the recent rain we had is taking a while to drain so it's not looking promising.

I think I'll have to either seal the patio (something I wasn't going to bother with) or put something down to prevent the BBQ stains instead.