Reclaimed flagstones in the yard

The yard is small and the stock turns over, so treat the square metres below as a guide rather than a promise. Ring before you drive over: it takes us a minute to walk out and look, and it has saved people a trip from Bristol more than once.

Everything here came out of a building. None of it was quarried this century, none of it is Indian sandstone with a tumbled edge, and none of it matches perfectly, which is the entire point.

In the yard

Prices are per square metre of laid area, VAT included, collected. Delivery anywhere in Somerset is free over 15 m²; beyond that we quote the haulier's figure and nothing on top.

Somerset blue lias, 50 mm

£68 / m²

The everyday floor stone of this county and about two thirds of what we sell. Grey with a blue cast when damp, riven face, edges roughly square. Comes out of farmhouses and dairies within about twenty miles of here.

Thickness: 45–55 mm
Sizes: 300–700 mm mixed
In stock: about 90 m²

Forest pennant, 60 mm

£84 / m²

From the Forest of Dean, harder and browner than lias, and the one to use where a floor takes a hammering. Heavy: a full pallet is close to a tonne, so check what your drive will take.

Thickness: 55–70 mm
Sizes: 400–900 mm
In stock: about 30 m²

Bath stone slabs, 65 mm

£96 / m²

Soft, pale, and not a kitchen floor. We sell it for hearths, thresholds and porches where it will be looked at rather than walked on in boots. Cuts and dresses beautifully.

Thickness: 60–70 mm
Sizes: 400–800 mm
In stock: about 12 m²

Yard ends and offcuts

£30 / m²

The pile by the gate. Broken corners, odd thicknesses, one or two with old mortar still on. People buy it for garden paths, bin stores and greenhouse floors, and we would rather it went than sat there.

Thickness: anything
Sizes: small
In stock: always

How reclaimed stone is sold, before you are surprised by it

By laid area, not by the pieceA pallet holding 12 m² of stone covers about 11 m² of floor once it is cut in. Order ten per cent over your measurement and you will have a couple of spares left, which is what you want anyway.

Mixed, and that is the lookColour runs grey to blue to brown across one pallet and thickness varies by up to ten millimetres. We take the difference up in the bedding. A floor of identical flags reads as new stone from the door.

Marks come with itOld mortar, a worn hollow where a door swung, the ghost of a hearth. We clean off what comes off and leave the rest, because that is the difference between a reclaimed floor and an expensive imitation of one.

Coming to look

Bring a tape and, if you are matching an existing floor, bring a loose flag or a good photograph of one in daylight. Stone looks different wet, so we will throw a bucket over a pallet for you: that is roughly how it will look once it is down and lived on.

We load pallets with a forklift. A van is fine for offcuts; anything over five square metres wants a proper trailer or our haulier.

Ring before you set off