We are building a large patio area in our garden and two elements are going
to be a 12 foot (approx) circle and a 9 foot circle. We have purchased two
pallets of clay cobbles manufactured by Marshalls, coloured Shelbourne red.
These cobbles are supplied in sets of 8 moulded together which need to be
split by hand (or more importantly by hammer and large chisel) and I
therefore have a three foot high pile of many thousands of these little
monsters (all slightly different but pretty much like 2.5 inch cubes) all
waiting to be laid. We have excavated and flattened a large enough area and
have laid a 2 to 3 inch base of hardcore in the shapes required. I have
then laid a one to two inch carpet of rough sand as the base on top of the
hardcore.



And now is when I am seeking important advice.What do I do next?



1) Should I start at the middle and just do one ring at a time? Maybe
starting with a large plate as a template for the middle. Or should I start
at the outside and work into the middle?

2) Should I lay all the cobbles before using a vibration plate to level
these? Or should I lay a small section at a time and use the plate a little
bit at a time?

3) Will the cobbles sink down by much when the plate has been used?

4) Do I need to use a special light vibration plate? I'm worried about
crushing the cobbles.

5) How do I secure the outside rows of cobbles so that they don't move?
Do I need to cement or concrete these in? If I cement them in, and work
from the outside in, do I therefore need to lay the inside cobbles an inch
higher to compensate for the lowering caused by the vibration plate?



I would appreciate any advice or insight you can offer.

Thanks

Nigel