Best materials to use on sloping garden

[gravesend46]

I have taken the turf off my garden with a view to slabbing some of it. However, there is a considerable slope and without the skills to build a retaining wall, I am wondering if there's any way of keeping the slope but still tidying up the garden.

I was going to put a circular pattern of slabs on the most level area of the garden, and below that retain some of the soil with a separate level using railway sleepers. In between I was going to use either gravel or cobbles on the slope as well as couple of paths leading into the circle - probably done with small bricks/blocks. Question is, would it be OK to have a gentle slope on a brick/block pathway as opposed to the obvious no-no of a slope using larger slabs?

 

[DAZB]

Is it possible to 'snake' a path from the lower levels to the top ? That way you are getting from A to B gradually without the sudden step up for each level.

 

[Ant]

Do you have room to terrace the slope. In this way you would have several low retaining "walls" rather than one high wall. This is much easier to build - sleepers as you suggest could work or I used large stones and built a series of low walls using just the stones partially dug into the ground. You could incorporate steps into this perhaps.