Our client got in touch to arrange to have his driveway and front garden completely renovated. His existing front garden consisted of a cracked concrete driveway, a lawn and some planting borders. Our client wanted to keep the borders, but extend his driveway over the lawn.
We proposed a mixture of a predominently gravel driveway with a touch of block paving. The block paving areas were situated outside the front and rear doors, so that the homeowners could step out onto a hard surface. To ease the transition between outside and inside, we incorporated a slight ramp in the blockwork, as can be seen on the pictures. The blocks are Charcoal coloured Brett Alpha Antique, and are readily available from Melton Building Supplies. The gravel, also readily available, is a 20mm golden blend, which has been laid on well compacted hardcore.
To separate the driveway from the planting borders, we lined the gravel driveway with a stretcher course of grey blocks. This helps to contain the gravel and soil on either side, as well as defining the borders.
We also diverted the front rainwater pipe into an underground soakaway, helping to tidy up the existing situation where it dispersed into the flower bed.
During the initial discussions, we realised that the front garden suffered from occasional overland flooding, originating from the highway. We got in touch with Melton Borough Council and arranged for them to inspect and rectify the problem. We were happy to discover that soon after we completed the driveway, the council had modified the highway kerbs to prevent anymore overland flooding.
Following the construction of the driveway, we were pleased to received the following testimonial: Thank you for our lovely new drive. We are very happy with all the work you did and a big thank you your professionalism and hard work. We are already planning which annuals to sow in the borders.