Fun Facts about the Stone Zone!

28/03/25

#1. The Business Started as a Man and a Tipper

In 1998, the Managing Director and founder of the company, Paul Miller started his first ever business. Paul started out with literally himself and a tipper lorry, in which he used to deliver Aggregates to local Trade and DIY customers.

Paul was recently featured in the House & Lifestyle magazine; he was interviewed about the company and was asked ‘What inspired the founding of the company?’ His response was as follows:

'As an adult seeking some shingle for my own driveway, I quickly discovered a huge gap in the market for Aggregate deliveries. I started the business in 1998 with just a tipper delivering small loads to local trades and DIY customers.'

Paul’s company only grew in size due to demand, which is where he named the company ‘Dorset Soils & Aggregates Ltd’ and established it as a Limited Company.

#2. We supplied Soil to King Charles’ Poundbury Project!

You might have heard of the Poundbury Project in Dorchester; a project championed by King Charles ||| (Prince of Wales) at the time. This started in 1993 with a view to diversify Dorchester by providing affordable housing, accessible leisure facilities and a huge push on sustainability and biodiversity.

To promote biodiversity and sustainability, Urban Tree Planting took place on this development. This requires a specific type of Soil; one that is free-draining, while also holding a sufficient amount of nutrients for the tree roots.

This is where our Wessex® Dutch Tree Sand comes in! The structure of this Sandy Soil makes it the ideal solution to Urban Tree Planting. As a result, the Stone Zone have supplied tonnes and tonnes of this Tree Sand to the Poundbury Project, where you can see a photo of some of the trees below.

#3. We Won a BALI Award!

Landscapers will probably be familiar with who BALI are; they are the British Association of Landscaping Industries. They are an affiliation in which any business or individual in the Landscaping Industry must demonstrate high quality practices in order to be part of it. We have been a member since 2018.

In 2019, we hired our now Marketing Manager who create a 24 page submission to enter Dorset Soils & Aggregates / Stone Zone & Landscaping Centre into the category of ‘Exceptional Customer Service Award.’ This consisted of evidence and demonstrations as to how we provide consistently great customer service.

Fast forward a few months, and we were so pleased to receive a letter explaining that we had won and were invited to London to accept the award! Current and past employees came along to accept this award which was a fantastic experience at the stunning JW Marriott Grosvenor House in Park Lane.

You’ll see our winners plaques proudly displayed at each of our Stone Zone depots!

#4. We hold the Feefo Platinum Service Award

In 2022, we started sending emails to customers that had made an online order with us in order to gain their experience and feedback on both the service they received and the products they purchased.

After nearly a year of consistently good ‘service’ reviews, where we scored 4 stars or higher, Feefo awarded the company with the ‘Gold Service Award’ in 2023 to recognise this.

We then demonstrated the same, consistently great service reviews in 2023 and 2024, leading us to now have held the ‘Platinum Service Award’ for two years in a row.

This means a lot to a small, family-run business that puts customer service at the heart of everything we do – we hope to keep demonstrating these exceptional service reviews! Click here to read all of our reviews

#5. The Birth of Charlie Says!

Whether you’re a new or long-standing customer, you would have seen our mascot, ‘Charlie Says’ around our depots, on our newsletters, website and brochures!

Charlie is our Christchurch Showroom Manager, and has been with the company since 2011, starting as Sales Assistant and working his way up to become Depot Manager. He has a plethora of Garden and Landscaping knowledge, which is why we made him the face of all Stone Zone’s garden tips.

This caricature was drawn in 2015 and has always been popular with customers. Charlie might not look exactly like this drawing anymore, but is still proudly displayed across our marketing materials! He also stars in many of our funny and inspirational videos across YouTube and other social channels.

Charlie talking about Paving:

#6. The Evolution of Stone Zone & Landscaping Supplies

In 20 years, we now have four Depots, one Distribution Yard and a Head Office!

Our first ever physical depot opened in 2005 on the Ferndown Industrial Estate. This allowed for inspiring displays to be built for customers to take a look at our product range in person.

In 2017 our Stone Zone Dorchester depot opened within the Dobbies Garden Centre in Owermoigne. Charlie originally managed this depot, with Chris taking over in 2019. Branching out in this direction allowed customers to easily collect items who lived in this part of Dorset.

In 2019, our Stone Zone Bournemouth depot opened, which can be found behind the Turbary Retail Park. Charlie became the manager with two staff members. Having a branch in an additional part of Dorset was a great move, and is usually a really busy depot with both general public and Trade.

And in 2024, our most recent showroom in Christchurch opened. This showroom also features impressive, indoor displays and ample parking within the Somerford Retail Park. This area also appeals to any of our customers that live in the direction of Hampshire and has proved to be a really successful addition.

Our Head Office and Distribution Yard can be found on the Ferndown Industrial Estate, with a view of combining these together in the same unit as the Ferndown depot.

#7. VUBA Exclusive Stockists

We are now in the fortunate position of being VUBA, the global Resin Bound Aggregates manufacturer, exclusive stockists for their products in the South of the UK!

We are honoured that VUBA have chosen us to represent their brand and products in the South. We have supplied many Landscaping projects, small and large with VUBA Resin Bound Aggregates and are really excited about this new range of products.

We hope you enjoyed learning all about the Stone Zone & Landscaping Supplies! Click here to browse our website for inspiration