Case study
Gravel driveway and sandstone stepping path designed from scratch in East Molesey
- Location
- East Molesey, Surrey (KT8)
- Completed
- October 2025
- Timescale
- Under two weeks
- Services used
- Garden design, gravel driveway, sandstone stepping path, rendered planter, new fencing
- Approximate value
- Available on request
The brief
A front that let the house down
The front of the house was covered in old paving slabs that had cracked, sunk and started growing weeds through every joint. It held water after rain and looked far older than the house behind it.
The owners wanted parking for two cars kept, a clear walked route to the front door, and a front garden that finally matched the character of the property.
Budget mattered, so the brief was to get the biggest visual change for the money rather than lay the most expensive surface available.
Before and after
The same garden, under two weeks apart
The design stage
Drawn before it was dug
The frontage was designed from scratch rather than replaced like for like. Our designer set the parking, the walked route and the planting out together, so the drive works as one piece instead of a surface with a path cut through it.
Gravel was the right call here. It drains freely, suits a 1930s frontage, costs less per square metre than block paving and still looks deliberate when the edges and levels are set properly.
We set a run of large sandstone stepping slabs from the pavement to the front door so nobody walks on loose stone in good shoes, and lined the slabs up on the door rather than the boundary.
A curved rendered planter was added to soften the corner and hold planting, and the boundary fencing was replaced to frame the whole front.
The result
A front that finally reads as looked after
The frontage now drains instead of puddling, parking for two cars is kept, and the sandstone path gives a clean walked route to the door. Gravel, new fencing and a planted bed together changed the whole first impression of the house for a fraction of what a full block paved drive would have cost.
Free site visit
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