This large-sized front garden in Kirkella, East Yorkshire was designed in the winter of 2012 and constructed during the Summer of 2013.
Upon my initial visit, the garden mainly comprised of a large "one-way" tarmac driveway with lawn surrounds.
The Design Brief was fairly complicated. A retired couple had decided to invest in their property rather than move house and their front garden driveway was in a very bad state of repair. Previous owners had allowed layer upon layer of tarmac to be laid on the drive until it was physically higher than the house "damp-proof course" and this posed the potential problem of damp walls within the property and thus had to be remedied. Also the house is very close to a busy roundabout so the Client decided to have another access point created (forming a "horse-shoe" shaped driveway) so that it would be safer arriving and leaving the property by vehicle. The customer was also taking the opportunity to have automated sliding driveway gates designed and installed (by others) to replace the existing privet hedge at the road side. The areas around the new proposed driveway were to be soft-landscaped to provide some privacy and all-year-round interest.
The main design-feature was to be a large block-paved driveway This drive was constructed from grey concrete blocks and charcoal kerbs etc. (to harmonize with the property's buff brick colour) and included radial bands of charcoal block to visually break the area up.
The driveway was large enough to accommodate numerous vehicles whilst allowing people to circulate.
As the driveway initially sloped towards the house, great care was taken to adjust the final levels so that water was directed towards drainage channels which eventually led to a gravelled "soak-away" which also acted as informal parking for two visiting cars.
The new planting was a mixture of ever-green shrubs and "see-through", wiry herbaceous perennials to provide all-year-round interest. A multi-stem Birch tree were also planted to add height.
The driveway also had new lighting installed.
The Garden Design work for this scheme took around 3 weeks from start-to-finish. The Garden Construction work for this scheme took around 5 weeks to complete (including planting).
Location: Kirkella, East Yorkshire, UK.
Client: Private.
Garden Designer: David Beasley.
Landscape Contractor: Ashwood Services https://www.facebook.com/AshwoodServices?fref=ts
Planting: David Beasley and Ashwood Services
