Lowering ground level along side of house/french drain - damp

[SmellTheGlove]

We have just bought a house (Victorian) which has some damp issues. We had an independent damp survey and he noted that the path up to the door (door is at side of house, stairs in middle ) is too high which although not bridging the damp course is quite close to it and also means that the air bricks are half covered. I'm looking at them now in the rain and water is definitely going into them. So he suggested lowering the level of the path by digging a 6" wide trench along the side of the house and filling it with pebbles. This seems similar to a french drain, although he didn't suggest a pipe. So my question is, has anyone done this, and did it work, and do you think we could do it ourselves, and if so how? I'm happy to hire something to dig a trench in the concrete but worried about damaging the foundations! God there's so much to do to this house I can't afford much more!

[Confusedhousehunter]

We did this but we paid somebody to dig the trench. We didn't have damp issues but there was the possibility of issues arising if we didn't dig the trench.

[SmellTheGlove]

Thank you for replying! Can I ask did you get just a general builder to do it or a specialist? I would rather have someone else do it but my renovation costs are mounting and I'd rather spend money on some shutters than a drain!

[Confusedhousehunter]

It was just a general builder. It took a day or just a bit less.