10 DIY garden paths made from upcycled finds

Redoing the deck or dock this summer? Don't you dare throw those old planks away. A beautifully crafted and rustic walkway can easily be made by laying old planks of wood that were previously used around the cottage.

Old branches and logs can be used in a simple garden design, like this one, where the thin pieces have been used to edge the flower beds and mark a slightly tamed pathway.

Sometimes a beautiful garden path isn't so much about what you're walking on as what separates you from the lush greenery on either side. Wine bottles are easy to come by, easy to collect, and can be designed in many different ways, depending on the colours you use and whether you place them upside or down.

Using old broken tiles among new stone and other found textiles is a beautiful, kitschy look that would make a great family-friendly project and ensures that your walkway is the most unique of them all.

This garden path upcycle is almost too good to be true. Possibly the easiest recyclable materials to cultivate over a summer at the cottage, beer bottles are now being used for landscape design. Depending on whether you want a uniform or varied look, no beer bottle path is quite like any other. Get your family and friends to collect their brews and everyone feels like they have contributed to your new, unique walkway.

Bald or outdated tires have many uses in the garden, where they have long been seen propping up and edging flower beds. Here, the rubber wonders are left intact and have made a simple stairway out of an awkward incline.

Pallets are a fan favourite in the repurposing world because they're relatively easy to find and are a great source of equally measured, pre-cut and recycled wood. This small walkway of recycled pallet wood lends an automatic rustic touch to what was previously a simple dirt path.

There are few things more depressing than cutting down a perfectly good tree. If you do have to cut something down, why not at least chop it up and use the remains? Here, an old stump has been cut into wood slices of the same thickness and varying circumference to create a very rustic and unique pathway perfect for the cottage.

In landscaping, it's all about finding beautiful materials at the cheapest rate possible, and it doesn't get much better than old pieces of wood that have been torn up from nearby train tracks. A simple, cost effective and gorgeous path can be created by laying pieces of railroad tie between stone, gravel, or wood chips.