Won't the gravel go everywhere?

Not if it's built properly. Loose stone spreads when it's tipped onto soil with no edges and no base. With edge restraints holding it in, the right depth of angular stone, and a stabilising grid on the areas that see turning and braking, a gravel drive stays where it's laid with only the occasional rake.

Is gravel a problem for wheelchairs or prams?

Loose deep gravel can be. Where accessibility matters we lay a stabilised gravel over a grid, which firms the surface up considerably while keeping the gravel look, or we suggest a resin bound finish for the paths and approaches that need to be smooth.

How often will it need topping up?

A well-built gravel drive with edges and a grid needs very little — a light top-up every few years to keep the depth even. It's the badly built ones, with no containment, that need barrowing back into shape every spring.

Can you lay gravel on a slope?

Yes, but a stabilising grid becomes essential rather than optional — without it the stone washes to the bottom of any real gradient. With a grid holding it in place and drainage set correctly, gravel works fine on a sloped approach.

Which stone should I choose?

For anything cars use, angular gravel in a 10–20mm grade is the sweet spot — big enough not to track in shoes, small enough to sit comfortably. Colour is down to the house; we'll bring options to hold against your brick or stone at the site visit.

Residential service

Gravel Driveways

The right fit for period and rural properties. Built on a proper base with set edges and the correct depth, so the stone stays put instead of scattering across the lawn.

Gravel suits some houses better than anything else — period cottages, farmhouses, long rural approaches — where a smooth black or patterned drive would look wrong. It's the most affordable surface to lay, drains freely by nature, and there's a satisfying practicality to it: the crunch underfoot is a burglar alarm nobody has to switch on.

The reason gravel gets a bad name is that most of it is laid badly — a load of stone tipped straight onto soil, with no base and no edges. That version scatters across the lawn, rutts into tramlines where the wheels run, and grows weeds through the middle within a season. A gravel drive done properly is a built structure with loose stone on top, not a pile of chippings.

We build the base, set the edges to hold the stone in, and lay the right depth of the right grade — often over a stabilising grid on the areas that see the most turning and braking, so the surface stays put and level instead of migrating to the low spots.

Best for

Period, rural and countryside properties where a smooth finish would look out of place
Long or wide approaches where cost per square metre matters
Owners who value the low cost, free drainage and the security of the crunch

What’s included

A site visit to talk through stone type, colour and grade
Excavation and a compacted Type 1 sub-base
A geotextile membrane to keep weeds down and stone out of the mud
Edge restraints to contain the gravel along every boundary
A stabilising grid on high-traffic or sloped areas where needed
The right depth of the right grade of decorative aggregate
The site left graded, even and clean

How the job runs

Site visitWe look at the ground, the slope and how you'll use the drive, and talk through stone options — colour, grade and whether a stabilising grid earns its place on your site.
Excavate and baseWe dig out and lay a compacted Type 1 sub-base with a membrane over it, so the stone has something solid beneath it and can't work down into the soil.
Edges and gridEdge restraints are set along every boundary to contain the gravel, and a stabilising grid is laid on the areas that see the most turning and braking.
Lay the stoneThe decorative aggregate is spread to the correct depth and graded level. Too deep and it drags underfoot; too shallow and the base shows through — we lay it right.

Materials & spec

What we build with

Sub-base — Compacted Type 1 MOT — the built foundation that stops gravel rutting into tramlines
Membrane — Geotextile layer to suppress weeds and keep the decorative stone out of the ground beneath
Stabilising grid — Cellular grid on turning, braking or sloped areas, to hold the gravel level where it wants to migrate
Decorative aggregate — Angular gravel in your chosen colour and grade — angular locks together where rounded pea shingle rolls
Edge restraint — Timber, block or steel edging set to contain the stone along boundaries and paths

Angular gravel, and why grid earns its keep

Two choices make or break a gravel drive. First, the stone: angular gravel locks together and stays put, where rounded pea shingle rolls underfoot and migrates. We steer people towards an angular grade for anything cars drive on. Second, on sloped or heavily used drives, a stabilising grid holds the stone in its cells so it can't wash down to the bottom or pile up where you brake.

The extra cost of the grid is modest against the cost of raking and topping up gravel every year, and on a slope it's the difference between a drive that holds and one that ends up in the gutter after the first heavy winter.

Where we do this