I think that manmade would not look right with your natural stone house. But would natural stone patio be too much of the same thing, and could you get it to match? If it is temporay, what about a floating wood deck flush with the ground?

Thank you tibs - really appreciate the thoughtful advice. Actually, we were thinking of using bluestone (or even the EP Henry DevonStone Tennyson, which mimics random-sized bluestone), perhaps set in stonedust rather than mortar. Don't know for sure if we would ever want to take up the patio, but if we set it that way it should be easy to take up and reuse elsewhere if we ever change our minds.

We have a patio done with concrete pavers that is surrounded with a natural stone wall, and we like the contrast of the smooth finish and regular pattern with the randomness and roughness of the natural stone. Doing all stone, especially all random stone, requires some design expertise to avoid looking like a mish-mash, for example, a well defined edge to the patio.

If you are determined to use natural stone I would still suggest square cut stones for a more regular look - not that I've seen a picture, thus making assumptions about your stone. You can get all sizes of slab - 24x24, 12x18, 12x12, what have you - in either cut stone or concrete.

In my climate I can lay such stones directly on dirt or on a base of sand. As long as it's well compacted we get little heave or sinkage - depends on your ground and climate. You may need a better base (gravel?) but probably no need to mortar in any case.

KarinL