Many homes have gardens that slope away from the house and often these are simply grassed over. A gradient of 30 degrees to the horizontal is about as much slope as a cylinder mower will cope with, although a hover mower will tackle a 45-degree gradient; in either case, it will be hard work maintaining a beautiful lawn. A practical solution is to build a run of steps, which can also provide an interesting feature, a vantage point and a temporary resting place.
Plan your steps as a means of getting from level A to level B. Ideally, steps in a garden should be low, gentle and wide, but the materials you choose will, to a certain extent, dictate their form. Also, bear in mind the safety aspects when you build steps. Treads that are too smooth will be slippery when wet or frosty; materials that wear quickly or an unstable surface will be dangerous, and, if moss is not removed, they can be lethal. Treads on steps outdoors must not be absolutely level because they won't shed rainwater quickly: puddles will develop that, in winter, will ice over.
The proportion of the tread (the area you stand on) to the riser (the vertical 'back' or height of the step) is also important. As a rough guide, construct steps so that the depth of the tread (from front to back) plus twice the height of the riser, equals 650mm (2ft 2in). For safety's sake - and for aesthetics - never make your treads less than 300mm (1ft) deep or risers higher than 175mm (7in). Leave an overhang as the shadow cast will help to define the tread edge.
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