Driveways in Redlynch

Gravel that will not stay where you put it. Most drives on these lanes are loose stone, and loose stone only stays put with something to push against and something firm underneath.

Without an edge restraint haunched in concrete the shingle walks out into the verge; without a compacted sub-base it presses into soft ground until the ruts hold water and weeds come up through it. Rebuilding it is a strip out, a geotextile membrane at formation, sub-base compacted in layers, then a gravel grid to hold the stone, or resin bound over a sound base where you want something that stays swept.

The first two metres off the road. There is no kerb or footway along much of Redlynch, so the entrance takes every turning movement and every delivery lorry, and that is where the ruts and the washed out stone start. We bind those first two metres, set the fall back into your own ground, never out into the lane, and put a channel drain across the entrance where the ground runs the wrong way.

Many of the houses here predate 1919, built long before anyone poured a damp proof course, and their floors sit close to the ground outside. Every surface laid over the last one has taken the level up a little. We take it back down, finish the paving clear of the wall, and run a gravel border or a channel drain along the front where the ground will not allow the drop. Where the paving is natural stone it goes back on a full mortar bed with the jointing pointed by hand, not brushed in. For a terrace behind the cottage, see patios in Redlynch. The soil here is sandy but it holds water instead of shedding it, so the dig is often deeper than people expect and a soakaway wants a percolation test before anyone draws it; where the test fails the water needs a positive outfall to a ditch or a surface water drain.

A Redlynch drive has no fair rate per square metre until the ground has been looked at. Where the lorry stands. On the narrower lanes here a grab lorry may not get to the gate, so spoil is barrowed to where it can stand. A cottage with nowhere to pull in, a bungalow with an open frontage, and a house down a shared gravel track are priced very differently for that reason alone.

The ground. The dig depth depends on what you find. Soft or sandy soil, and anything that holds water, needs a deeper, heavier sub-base of compacted crushed stone, and the spoil from a deep dig is a real cost to cart away.

The surface. Gravel on a stabilising grid, block paving, tar and chip and resin bound all need different build-ups and edging. In front of the older houses, gravel or tar and shingle often sits better than bright block.

The water. Where the drive falls to the lane, you need permeable paving, a channel drain or a soakaway to keep the surface water on your land.

Before you choose, ask any quote what depth of stone is going in, where the surface water will go, and whether the grab lorry and disposal are included.

Redlynch is 18.2 miles up from our base in Boscombe. We cover the village and the rest of SP5, through Woodfalls, Morgan's Vale and Lover to Downton and Landford. Wiltshire Council is the highway and planning authority for all of it.

The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Owner Thomas Hannen comes out, walks the drive and prices it himself. On Checkatrade, a verified customer rated us 10 out of 10. There is no charge for the visit, or for the written quote with each item listed. Before you book a visit in Redlynch, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Redlynch need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.