You’ve found the stone slabs you want for your garden, but they’re also available tumbled. Which to choose? We look at what tumbled paving has to offer.

Mint sandstone tumbled paving on 3 levels with large wooden dining set, wooden planters and stone bench.
Mint tumbled sandstone is one of the lighter paving options, with gentle pastel colours, as seen here in a design by Piers Lidbury and Thistle Garden Services.

What is tumbled paving?

When slabs are tumbled, they're put into a rotating drum with abrasive materials. This process softens their outline by smoothing the sharp edges and corners. The more weathered appearance that this produces adds a sense of age. Find out more on the textures available in natural stone paving.

Reasons to choose tumbled paving

  • The paving’s weathered appearance often suits older properties.
  • New paving looks as if it’s been part of the garden for longer than it has.
  • The artificial weathering gives a more relaxed feel to the paving.
  • The smoother edges are preferred for step treads and coping.
Antique Yellow tumbled limestone patio on 2 levels with outdoor furniture and firepit.
This design by Bo Cook Landscape and Garden Design, built by Simon Scott Landscaping, uses the soft tones of Yellow Antique tumbled limestone for mellow effect.

Tumbled natural stone options

Limestone and Indian sandstone are the two natural stones most likely to be available as tumbled and London Stone supplies tumbled stone in the very popular ranges of Indian Sandstone, as well as Antique Yellow limestone and Antique Cream sandstone paving. All our Indian sandstone tumbled paving and Antique Yellow limestone is available in matching steps.

2 tumbled sandstone steps in Kandla Grey rise between grasses and ferns into shade, by VaRa Garden Design
Tumbling also softens the edges of step treads and copings, creating a time-worn look that matches the paving, as seen in this project by VaRa Garden Design.

Tumbling particularly suits project packs - the mix of assorted sized slabs that fit together in a relaxed configuration that works particularly well with period properties - and this is what we supply. By necessity joints will be fairly wide and we recommend 10mm to allow for the -5/+5 tolerance on the hand-cut Indian sandstone slabs.

If you'd prefer a slightly crisper appearance with narrower joints, then take a look at Antique Cream sandstone. It's sawn and tumbled, which adds an antiqued effect to cut edges, giving it a unique character.

Antique Cream tumbled sandstone is also sawn, so
Vu Garden Design and Landscaping chose Antique Cream with its special mix of sawn and tumbled character for this patio.

A tumbled paver alternative

Don't forget about clay pavers. These can be used on their own, or added as detailing to a paving design. All the pavers in our Kessel Garden, Cottage Garden and Alpha ranges have been tumbled, with small imperfections on the edges giving them a warm, lived-in feel that suits many different situations.