Erlestoke, Wiltshire

In picturesque Wiltshire countryside, Bill and Ann live in a brick built house. Backing onto open fields they have dogs, horses and alpaca’s.

Overlooked by beautiful mature trees the back garden consisted mostly of lawn and shrubs and is on a steep incline so hard to utilise.

At the front of the house the driveway leads onto the main road through the village. The driveway was previously laid to scalping which kept gravitating out into the road and constantly had to be pushed back up onto the drive.

Early in 2014, Bill and Ann embarked on a major project to solve both of these issues. The project involved digging into the back garden creating levels to make it more useable, they also had to resurface the front drive to address the problem of migrating stones and repair the damage that the heavy digging machinery would invariably cause.

Our clients researched possible paving types for their back garden and front drive. Their priorities were that the surface had to be permeable, have no loose stone, come from a local company and be suitable for all areas that required surfacing.

In the back garden, the areas to be surfaced were already defined, but the front drive was a blank canvas. Bill and his builder, Daniel Stone from Westbury based MRM Property Services, sat down to come up with a design that would be functional and also look good.

The original enquiry about using SureSet for this project was made by Daniel in July.

In August our Installation Team arrived at our clients home and laid 37m² of 3mm Teal Sage Sparkle – a bespoke colour designed specifically for this project – to a path that leads from the front drive to the back garden, some steps, a base for a shed and a path leading to the area where the dogs practice for agility competitions.

In October, when all the heavy machinery had finished and left, our Installation Team returned to lay the front drive.

This time they laid 260m² of 6mm aggregate in Sterling Forest, Sterling and Sterling Silver Dazzle – another bespoke blend.   They also created a star in 3mm Teal Sage Sparkle at the front door - a touching memorial to their son who died aged 13.

The photos below were taken around a month after installation, and as you can see it is looking great – it has been embraced by the house and looks like it has always been there.

Following a career in publishing, Bill has recently fulfilled his ambition to become a full time writer of fantasy fiction – this passion is reflected in the dragons dotted around the garden – and the shed, now installed on the Teal Sage Sparkle is the perfect place for writing!

“We are so pleased with everything. At the back, the sparkle really does add a little bit of magic to the paving! And the bridge that used to be slippery when wet is dry in no time, even after heavy rainfall, so it’s much safer to use. In the front we love the contrast that the Sterling and Sterling Forest brings. We have had lots of lovely comments from our neighbours.”
Bill and Ann