Country Tarmac Driveway and Patio

On a large country property the driveway and the patio are one job, not two. This home was finished end to end: a big machine-laid tarmac forecourt at the front, running into a cream patio at the side, with the same cobble and sett borders tying the two surfaces together.

The tarmac forecourt

The forecourt is a large machine-laid tarmac area between brick pillars, sized to turn and park several cars. Over an area this size tarmac is the sensible surface: it lays as one continuous, joint-free run, it takes the weight and turning of vehicles, and it is far more cost-effective per square metre than block paving or resin would be over the same ground. A cream sett border runs along the edge to hold the tarmac and lift it against the planting.

Where the drive meets the patio

At the side of the house the tarmac gives way to a cream paved patio with a stone-clad raised planter and a cobble border. Running a cobble course between the two surfaces is what keeps the change from tarmac to patio clean rather than abrupt, and it carries the same detailing right around the property.

Why the base matters

A forecourt this size carries real weight, so the groundwork under it matters more, not less. The area is excavated and a compacted hardcore sub-base built to carry the traffic before any tarmac or paving goes down. It is the same principle Paul Delaney applies to every surface the crew lays.

"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 large tarmac forecourt and patio hold their shape and finish for the long run, which is exactly what a working country entrance needs to do.