Why is it that, for an area that gets used every single day, nobody ever puts very much thought into its design?
We spend hours, days even weeks pondering over patio layouts, and that’s an area we only use a handful of time a year (if we’re lucky).
For most of us, every person that comes to our homes sees and uses our driveways and for some reason we never cast them a second thought.
Well that stops here!
I’m going to present a list of questions that you must ask yourselves when planning out your drive.
Why? Because you’re the only ones who know the answer, it’s your design, for you.
Now of course I’m going to help you, otherwise it would just be cruel. But really, your driveway and parking area will bug you forever if it’s not right, and it usually too expensive to change. So why not get it right first time.
Question 1: Do I need to drive all the way round the house?
Generally the answer is no! As long as you have enough parking and turning area at the front and back doors, there is no great advantage to being able to travel all the way around.
The truth of the matter is, it’s most commonly a bad thing. It means that every time you go out any of your doors including your patio doors, or even look out any of your windows, you’re faced with a cold, hard, featureless surface, detaching your home from all the soft elements of your garden.
Question 2: How many car spaces do I need?
This of course is extremely client specific. However, the rule of thumb is in a ¼ acre plus site, you should aim to have 3 spaces in front for visitors and 2 at the back for yourself.(close to the utility door for bring in shopping etc.)
Remember, it is not a case of the bigger the space the more you can fit in to it. Think of your local Tesco car park, without all those white lines telling us where we can and can’t park, it would be bedlam and you wouldn’t get half as much in. Don’t just leave big open spaces that cost a fortune to tarmac or pave. Think about where the cars are actually going to park, and turn. Only hardsurface what you need to.
Tip: People always park as close to the door as possible.
Question 3: Do I need additional space?
It depends, do you have ambitions to, at any stage, own a boat, a trailer, horse box, or camper van.
Prevision should be made for every eventuality even if it is only a dream, this is called future proofing. A clever way of adding more space, without making your courtyard feel more like a farmyard is to use a clever product called Tobermore Turfstone Paving Block. This allows you to have over flow parking if and when you need it but keep it as a lawn for when you don’t.
Question 4: Is there any way of making my house feel further back from the main road and/or giving me some more privacy.
Now this is tricky, let’s start by taking a look at that first drawings again.
Let’s look at the entrance first, look at the shape of the wing wall. This is really important, as the entrance is the first thing people see when they approach your home and it sets the tone for everything that comes after.
If there is one understand you take away from all for these blogs let it be this. Everything in design, be it architecture, landscape design or even clothing design, is about drawing attention to what you want to be seen and screening or detracting attention from what you don’t. Think of a tree lined avenue, as you move down the avenue you never notice what’s on your left or right, you always focus on what’s at the end.
Now think of your entrance pillars in the same way, they are a window into you site. What do you want people to see when they look through this window. Sadly, very often it the gable wall of a garage.
In the above design, I’ve angled the entrance to the main road. This allows me to add curvature to the driveway which previously there was no room for. This makes the drive longer hence make the house feel much further back from the road. It’s a visual illusion, but it really works.