Night garden with stepping stones leading to a stacked stone waterfall

Rectangular slabs in stone or outdoor porcelain, at least four centimetres thick. An elongated format works better than a square one on a straight route, because your foot lands inside it even when the stride varies. Buy one slab spare: on a compacted base one always beds down worse than the rest, and replacing it is easier than trying to pack it level.

A recessed spotlight with a tilting ring, for housing in the underside of a lintel or overhang. The tilt is the point: a fixed downlight drops straight down and lights only the metre directly beneath, while an adjustable one angles at the face and washes the whole of it. Outdoors choose an aluminium body over painted sheet steel, which where it gets splashed rusts around the ring within a couple of seasons.

Outdoor boards in treated timber or composite, laid on battens with a gap between boards so it drains. Composite doesn't splinter and needs no oiling, but it heats up considerably more in sun and in a dark tone can burn bare feet in summer. In timber, plan on oiling it once a year or accept that it will silver, which isn't a fault but how it ages.

A shrub with permanent red or purple foliage, such as Photinia 'Red Robin', Loropetalum or Nandina. It's the hardy alternative to the croton of tropical gardens, which across most of Spain survives only indoors. Buy them the same size and plant in groups of three or five, because a single one on its own reads as a mistake rather than a decision.

Drip line with adjustable emitters and a tap timer, for the shrub masses at the sides. Under pebble it's the only sensible way to water: a sprinkler wets the stone and stains it with limescale, while drip runs underneath and stays invisible. Lay the pipe over the geotextile and under the stone, so it can be lifted if an emitter blocks.