that glass gravel ie little bits of coloured glass thats been made safe is realy nice and different or perhaps the broken slate as it will go with your other things like your patio . theres also a realy white gravel that will brighten your garden , go with any colour and make your grass stand right out . my personal best idea is to get normal pea gravel but also get some different size cobbles and round boulders to break up the gravel and maybe put round some of your grasses . just some thaughts .

If you go to the bottom of the page and click on 'G' then select gravel garden ideas you will get images of various gardens for inspiration. I like nosey's idea of using larger pebble allong with the gravel. Used correctly it looks really effective.

Personally I would use ordinary gravel especially if it's in a larger area, looks more natural, I think anything else is too artificial and false looking.

Agree with Bluespruce, local stone always looks best. A large area will need a lot of gravel so find a quarry and order a lorry load rather than paying a fortune for bags. Crushed, angular gravel from a hard-rock quarry would look better than rounded gravel from a sand & gravel quarry.

Local stone looks best to me too - and has the advantage that it ought to be cheaper. The cost of transport is a large part of the cost of materials like gravel.

I note that Huntley Wood gravel is an angular gravel in moderately small pieces and a pleasant pinky grey that doesn't shriek for attention. Your plants can be the stars of the garden with a neutral gravel as background.

the anguler gravel also stays flat easier than the rounded stuff and stays wear it is better .

I dont think gravel is boring and there are lots to chose from.
Its the size of gravel to that matters! too small and the cats will use it, I have 14mm -20mm) which is too big for the cats and it looks good too.
Have you considered the colour of your house bricks which you could reflect in the colour of your stones? Do they have a red or pink tinge then you might like 'Cheshire pink' ? My house bricks have a yellow look which goes well with 'Golden gravel' or 'Cotswold buff' which I have down one side of the house planted with some shrubs.
I find too Grey can get dreary in a long wet winter but there is 'Green granite or 'Charcoal granite'. Why not visit a seller I was glad I did as I was spoilt for choice.
Dont forget you may need a containing frame? I used railway sleepers as they were brown to go with the colour of the gravel. Good luck.

Would agree with local stone, Mediterranean gardens would use the stone of the area, it will look more authentic too.