The Brew Cabin

Hi Tony
Thanks for the advice on drainage, slopes etc. I sacked the 'expert' that was going to do the job and will do it myself now.
Having spent the day marking out, levelling up etc I am ready to lay the edging, in my case a soldier course of block pavers. The flags will be Bradstones 'old riven'.
Problem!!! due to the shape of the garden there is only one square corner, which has a brick wall on one side and a 4ft high wooden fence on the other. As the front edge is an arc I assume you always start in the square corner. Now in your laying page you say never walk on the screed bed. As there are always 'exceptions' to any rule is it OK to lay a couple of planks down and lay the first two rows of flags from these. If not how do you do it?
Thanks

You've probably got this job finished by now, but, just in case there's been a delay or you've been trapped in the alehouse all weekend, then your plan to work from a couple of planks would be fine. Try and lay a 'stretch' of flags that will bring you out to an accessible point, so that you can then walk in with new flags and bedding and mortar as you need it, without relying on the planks.

And don't be over-reliant on a screeded bed for those Old Town flags as, just like it is with all wet-cast flags, the variation in thickness can make a screeded bed irrelevant and inaccurate. Rely on your taut string lines and your spirit level, rather than the bed itself. You may need to add extra bedding beneath thinner flags, and scrape some out from under the thicker ones, but 60% or more of them should be just about right. :)

Good luck!