Take out Tarmac driveway and replace with ribbon?

Hello

My husband and I have just bought our first house, how exciting.

We have a rather sad looking old Tarmac drive which is 11m by 3.5m.

I'm trying to think of ways to redo it using more natural materials (don't like tarmac or concrete) without it costing a lot. Also whilst we'd pay to have the initial work done, long term it would be handy to have a driveway that we can mostly repair and maintain ourselves.

So we were wondering - would it be a good idea to find a landscaper to rip the tarmac out, lay two ribbons of some sort of nice stone or cobbles and then turf the rest?

The drive has no drainage issues right now so must be a little sloped. I think aesthetically it would look rather nice too, perhaps adding a country feel.

How would you expert gardeners do it - seed or turf? Would we need to buy lots of soil? How expensive do you think it might be?

Thanks for you help

Natalie

 

hi and welcome natalie
dont have any idea myself but i shall comment just to bump it up to catch someone who can advise

 

There's a shared driveway at the side of my house, years ago concrete was laid over just one small stretch which was a real nuisance because it cracked and then filled with weeds, the other stretch is just the natural stone with weeds growing on it. Sounds awful but we mow it every fortnight or so and it looks really good so if you want to go for the cobbles & turf idea I'd say go for it, unless it's going to have very heavy use.

The only other problem you may have to consider is that grass can get very slippery in the wet. Do you have children? Will you need to push prams, bikes etc over the grass?

 

Thanks both, really appreciated.

We would only have one car parked on it, and need to wheel our bins up and down it but that's about as much as we use it.

We don't have kids yet but do want them so perhaps we'd be better with two ribbons of flag stones? I do love cobbles but perhaps a future sleeping baby wouldn't

I guess I need to get a landscaper out hey to have a look.

Natalie x

 

Hi Natalie Im No Expert But Ador Cobbles and Granite Sets Available From Most Reclaimed Yards and if you know or your OH Knows any 1 who lays tarmac for a living or works on the roads these am the Guys who take them up when they re\surface they are 4 sided and Iv allways found there is one face smoother then another Iv managed to get 100 or so for Free and bought 100 or so Iv used them as border stones and would love to do our Drive in them when i bye them from my local reclaimed yard I Pay 50p each £20 quid here £30 quid there GUARANTEED NEVER TO MOVE OR BRAKE I Even used them as corner stones in the wall but the bush hides there view if you use the roughf side then the Drive would be un even if you use the Smoothe side No Probs as For Grouting just use a dry mix of sand and cement Nice little project for you & OH In your New Home And The Buzz You Get When you Look @ your Hard Work and Efforts is priceless NO LANDSCAPE Gardner Req just Hard Graft from the 2 of you Saveing your cash for the next project or job you fancy Welcome to GC And May Every Day Be a Happy Day in your New Home All The Best Nick