Country Entrance Tarmac Driveway

A gated entrance is the first thing anyone sees of a country property, and it takes more wear than most driveways because every vehicle turns in off the road at the same point. This entrance had worn back to a patchy, uneven mix of gravel and hardcore that held water and tracked loose stone toward the road. It was stripped and resurfaced in tarmacadam. The matched before and after tells the story.

The setting

The entrance sits between a pair of rendered pillars with granite caps, off a quiet country road. Before the work, the approach was loose gravel over hardcore that had broken up and settled unevenly. It let down an otherwise handsome country entrance and needed a surface that would take daily turning traffic and stay clean.

The result

The old surface was lifted, the base prepared, and fresh tarmacadam laid to a smooth, even finish. The change is hard to overstate. Drag the slider below to compare.

A walkaround of the finished driveway

Why tarmac for an entrance like this

Tarmac is one of the most practical surfaces for a driveway or entrance that takes regular vehicle traffic. It lays as a continuous, joint-free surface with no loose stone to scatter onto the road, it stands up to the weight and turning of cars, and it runs water off cleanly when laid to the right falls. Over a long country approach it is also cost-effective for the area compared with resin or block paving.

Why the base matters

The old surface had failed for the usual reason: loose material sitting on ground that moved. Tarmac laid straight over that would have gone the same way. The area was stripped and the base prepared before any new surface went down, because a tarmac driveway is only as good as what sits under it.

"The base is everything. If the sub-base is wrong, the whole thing fails inside three years."

Paul Delaney, Delaney Tarmac

Built that way, a tarmac entrance holds its shape and finish for the long run, which is exactly what a driveway that turns traffic every day needs to do.