Driveways and patios in Bere Regis

Tracks and shared accesses. A long private access is a different animal from a domestic drive. It carries heavier vehicles, gets no maintenance until it is bad, and potholes in the same two places: where water collects and where the wheels turn. The repair that lasts is a dig to firm formation, a geotextile separation membrane so the stone cannot pump down into soft ground, and a graded sub-base compacted in layers rather than tipped and rolled once, finished in bound gravel, tarmac or crushed stone, with a crossfall built in so the rain leaves sideways instead of running the length of it.

A lot of the older houses in the village open more or less onto the lane, so the surface has to work as a path, a parking space and a threshold at once, and access dictates the method. No lorry can stand there, so material comes in by barrow and the spoil goes out the same way, or a grab lorry works from the nearest passing place. Setts, natural stone flags on a full mortar bed, gravel over a bound base and small unit block paving all suit these frontages better than large slabs, because they take an awkward cut without looking cut, and the edgings get haunched in concrete so nothing creeps. Where a joint has emptied, a re-sand with kiln dried sand puts it right before the blocks work loose and weed takes the jointing.

Drainage before surface, every time. Rain has to be dealt with on your own land: a soakaway where the ground will take it, a permeable build up where it will not quite, and a positive outfall where infiltration is hopeless. The government flood risk service will tell you in a minute whether your plot is in a flood zone, and if it is, digging a soakaway is the wrong answer before we even test it. Forty three listed entries sit in and around the village, so on those addresses what the frontage looks like is part of the question too.

Half the frontages in the village are tight to a lane, so how the material gets in is a real cost here: barrow runs, a grab lorry standing in a passing place, and a longer day than the same job on an open estate. We are fifteen miles out, which shows in deliveries rather than in any rate. Under the surface, ground conditions and dig depth decide more than the paving does, and so does where the water is allowed to go. Ask any quote for the dig depth, the sub base, the drainage and who takes the spoil away, because the muck away and its disposal are a real part of a job on a lane like this.

We cover Bere Regis and the BH20 villages around it, over towards Wool, Winterborne Kingston and Milborne St Andrew, about fifteen miles from us. Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.