Getting a new driveway - advice please

[SunnyUpNorth]

We desperately need to re-do our driveway, it just has Tarmac on it at the moment in very poor condition and some crazy paving.

Our house is a red brick Victorian house. I would be very grateful for any suggestions for what would compliment the house and also be quite durable.

I really like York stone with cobble edges for details but it is proving way too pricey. So is the Indian stone which I think is a substitute for the York stone.

Driveway is quite big,could fit two cars, at a push, in front of the bay window and then probably 3 or maybe 4 from the gate down the side of the house.

We are going to need to do our back garden at some point (way down the line) too, so I liked the idea of a York stone look so it could be continued on into the back patio in due course.

One guy I spoke to said for durability to avoid small slabs as the more joins/edges the more likely it is to dip etc. I don't really like Tarmac and stones are a no as I need to be able to get a buggy over it.

Have had two quotes for Indian stone - one for £10k and one for £11k. Budget is more like £5k. We are in the north west.

Any suggestions?!

Pattern imprinted concrete could be the answer. I've just had some laid, York stone colour, in a cobble pattern, on our back path and huge patio. It looks brilliant and has had loads of positive comments. I paid about £1,800 and it was done in 2 days.

a look here

Larger scale paving cannot take the weight of vehicles being driven/parked on it. They will crack. You need to consider block paving ideally. Theres plenty of colour blends available now to match existing features, and a variety of laying patterns (herringbone/basketweave etc) so it doesn't need to be boring.

York or Indian sandstone path with gravel for the car area? Make sure you leave some areas for planting or it will look too severe and utilitarian.

We are also in the North West OP and our house was built 1911 so is Accrington brick. We eventually went for black indian stone like this and are very pleased with it. It has mellowed and lightened with age to more grey when dry and black when wet.

I felt the york stone looked too yellow and all the block paving looked too pink against the orangey-red of the house. I was warned off the printed concrete as we are near the coast so there is a big risk of cracking.

What Betterwhenthesunshines said. If gravel is done properly it's not a problem for pushchairs anyway - I whizz in and out over mine several times a day with a MacLaren and little fatty baby. And toddlers love playing with gravel...

we are just having ours done - its not a victorian house but we had large pavers which were like broken teeth and which i had fallen over once too often.

we are having ours block paved - the people doing ours have dug it down a long way - will fill with hardcore and sand - then we are having it block paved - it comes with a 10yr guarantee so im quite happy with taht and there are many different designs / bricks available.

we are using this companies products
www.marshalls.co.uk/select/block-paving/

For a Victorian house, gravel is nice.

Don't just throw pea-shingle down, it should be hoggin which is a mixture of stones and sand with clay to hold it together, rolled firm with a slight dome or camber. It is resistant to ruts or being kicked about. I dug a trench through a 110 year old drive and it was very sound.

You will need a good local contractor to dig out the site and lay a proper base. Avoid itinerants.

When we had ours done my impressions were:

The big boys, ( ie company named after a part of the east of england, or a mountain in the Himalayas) were the biggest cowboys. Wanted to quote based on "how much can you afford? With out even measuring. When they "rang for authorisation to offer a discount" I told them to can the pantomine and kicked them out of the house.

We drove round the area looking at the various jobs others (small local firms) said they had done - nice to see what they are taling about in the flesh and how good the jobs were.

Pressed concrete: Nice idea, but looked a bit shiny and hence slippy, and wasn't sure how you would ever modify or repair it if it cracked.

Blocks on sand: Prone to local subsidence, but can be repaired easily by anyone. Looks OK if you don't go for the absolute cheapest blocks.

Thanks all.

I really would be reluctant to get gravel as my in laws have it and I literally have to carry the buggy over it. I do like when there is a paved path and then some gravel, but our front door is to the side of our house so there would be no obvious place to put a path without it looking strange.

My parents have the imprinted stuff but I wasn't sure how great it would look on a big scale.

I quite like the Woburn block paving (think that is what it is called) but no idea how much it costs versus other materials.

I have has three local firms quite (still waiting for the third), none of the big chains.

Anyone any idea on what we could feasibly expect for around £5k max?

We have a combination of gravel (big chunks!), tarmac, block paving and slabbing. It works really well. Gravel for the main driving area, slabs where you tend to off-load, block paving where we park and tarmac infront of the garages. It was designed, not just thrown down in random patches, but after 7 years it's still looking pretty good.

Where we used to live our neighbours had resin bound/bonded gravel, it looked great and no problems with bits or pushchairs etc. They were very happy with it.

But I've no idea how much it cost I'm afraid...

we had "bradstone woburn rumbled woburn" ( google for pics). An area you could squeeze about 6 cars onto, plus a path 15 m long cost about £7K in 2009 in east anglia

I do like the resin bound stuff. It can look nice and neat.

Tots- how has your brad stone aged? I have noticed on some driveways with that sort of stone that you get indents where the ca drives over the same spot etc. has that happened with yours at all?