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Driveway & Decking Co.

Huntingdonshire

Georgian Godmanchester: Choosing an Imprinted Concrete Colour You Can Live With

A Roman town with a Georgian face and a flood meadow on its doorstep. Godmanchester rewards a careful colour choice more than almost anywhere in Huntingdonshire.

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  • Family run since 1990

    Over 30 years installing decorative surfacing

  • Based in Sawtry

    Local team, Cambridgeshire properties

  • Five star rated

    Verified Google reviews

Imprinted Concrete in Godmanchester

Getting the colour right in front of Georgian brick

Godmanchester is one of the few places in the county where the wrong driveway colour is genuinely noticeable from the street. Post Street, Earning Street, The Causeway and the streets around them carry an unusually consistent run of Georgian and earlier frontages, much of it in warm brick and pale render, much of it in the conservation area, and a lot of it sitting directly on the back edge of the pavement with parking squeezed in behind. A charcoal driveway in front of a soft red Georgian house is a decision you will look at every day.

The other Godmanchester is newer and easier. South and east of the old centre, towards the A14 and out at Bearscroft, the estates give ordinary rectangular frontages, wider entrances and enough space for a two car layout with a border. These are the frontages where a bolder pattern and a contrasting edge do their best work, because there is room for the pattern to repeat properly.

The river is the third factor. Godmanchester sits low against the Great Ouse, with the meadows, Portholme and the mill stream all close by, so levels and drainage carry more weight here than they do a few streets up the hill in Huntingdon. Imprinted concrete is a sealed surface rather than a permeable one, so on a low lying frontage the first conversation is about where water currently stands, where it will go once the surface is in, and whether a channel drain is needed to keep it away from the building.

Driveways, patios and paths are the three things we install. Read what each one involves or why people choose imprinted concrete.

Make It Your Own

Colours and patterns for Godmanchester properties

In the old town, sandstone, autumn brown and the warmer greys sit with the Georgian brick and render without shouting. Brick red can work where the house itself is a strong red, but it needs to be seen against the actual wall before it is chosen. On the newer estates the palette opens right up and slate grey or charcoal with a contrasting border is a genuinely good look. Samples come to the visit for exactly this reason.

  • SandstoneNatural stone tone
  • Brick RedClassic heritage
  • Slate GreyModern charcoal
  • Autumn BrownRich amber

See the full colour and pattern section for photographs of the finishes, or ask us to bring samples when we visit.

Before Anything Is Poured

Ground, access and drainage in Godmanchester

Low ground near the meadows means levels are checked first and the falls are designed before anything else. Access in the old town can be tight, with parking on the street and entrances built for a horse rather than a mixer, so we look at how material gets in as part of the quote. In the conservation area you should check what finish is acceptable for your property before settling on a colour, because that is a matter for the council rather than for us.

Recent Projects

Finished work worth comparing against your Godmanchester property

The buff ashlar patio with the curved terracotta border in our projects section shows the softer end of the palette, which is usually the right direction for the older streets here. For a newer estate frontage with room to work, the mid grey ashlar driveway with a stamped cobble border and a channel drain is the closer reference.

  • Mid grey ashlar pattern imprinted concrete driveway filling the frontage of a detached house, with a darker stamped cobble border and a metal channel drain along the pavement edge
    A full width front driveway in grey ashlar imprinted concrete, with a stamped cobble border and a linear channel drain at the pavement line.
  • Dark charcoal ashlar pattern imprinted concrete driveway with a brick red stamped border, curving to a double garage with red up and over doors
    A charcoal ashlar driveway with a contrasting red stamped border, sweeping to a double garage.
  • Buff coloured imprinted concrete driveway stamped in a circular European fan pattern, edged with a stamped brick soldier course and a metal channel drain, in front of a red brick house
    A European fan pattern driveway in buff imprinted concrete, framed by a stamped brick border and a channel drain.
See every published project

Five-Star Rated

What customers say

EXCELLENT Based on 12 reviews on Google. These are the company's own Google reviews and are not attributed to any particular town.

Rated 5 out of 5.

Made a lovely job of our driveway. Very professional company. James and George worked very hard and it was a pleasure to have them here. Would definitely recommend them without hesitation
Deanna MartinPosted on GoogleTrustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.
Read more of the reviews

Questions

Godmanchester imprinted concrete questions

Do you work in Godmanchester?
Yes. Godmanchester is one of the towns named in our service area and it is a short run from our base at Sawtry. Call 07949 078999 or send the postcode through the quote form on this page.
My house is in the conservation area. Can I have imprinted concrete?
That is a question for Huntingdonshire District Council rather than for us, because what is acceptable depends on the property and on any designation attached to it. What we can do is talk through the colour and pattern combinations that sit most comfortably with Georgian brick and render, and hold samples against the actual building before anything is agreed.
Which finishes suit a Georgian frontage?
Warmer, quieter colours and smaller scale patterns. Sandstone or autumn brown in a cobble or riven stone pattern reads as a surface rather than as a feature, which is usually what you want in front of a period house. Large slab patterns in a strong dark colour tend to fight with soft old brickwork.
We are close to the meadows and the ground stays wet. Is that a problem?
It is a design constraint rather than a barrier. We check the existing levels and standing water, set the falls so the finished surface moves water away from the house, and where there is no natural outfall we build a channel drain into the layout. On a genuinely low frontage that part of the design is more important than the pattern.
Can you get materials down a narrow old town entrance?
Sometimes, and sometimes it changes how the work is done. Access is one of the things we look at on the visit, because it affects the practicalities more than most people expect. Tell us in advance if the entry is narrow or if there is no room to stand a vehicle.
Can you lay a patio in a walled garden?
Yes, and enclosed gardens are a good use for a stamped finish because the pattern is seen from close up and from above. In a walled garden the border and the shape of the edge do most of the work, so it is worth spending the conversation there rather than only on the colour.
Is imprinted concrete better than slabs for a small courtyard?
It is different rather than automatically better. A continuous surface has no bedding joints, so there are fewer gaps where weeds commonly take hold and nothing to work loose underfoot. Slabs are easier to lift if you ever need to get at something underneath. Which matters more depends on the courtyard.
Can you match the finish to the driveway I already have?
We can aim for a complementary result, and where a close match matters we will say honestly what is realistic. Matching new work to a surface that has already weathered is harder than matching two new areas laid at the same time, which is one reason people often choose to do both together.
Do you remove the old surface?
Yes, breaking out and clearing the existing surface is part of the job where it is needed, and what comes out is one of the things that affects the quote. We will tell you at the visit what we expect to have to remove.
How do the control joints look in the finished surface?
They are cut into the slab in a deliberate arrangement that works with the pattern and the shape of the area, so on a stamped surface they read as part of the layout rather than as damage. Concrete moves, and cutting joints is how that movement is managed.
Do you offer a free quote?
Yes, quotes are free. Send the postcode and a short description of what you are planning and we will arrange to look at it, or talk it through on the phone first if that is easier.
How do I get in touch about a Godmanchester project?
Use the quote form on this page, call or WhatsApp 07949 078999, or email john007gill@btinternet.com. Say whether it is the front, the back or both, and mention if the property is listed or in the conservation area.

Areas We Cover

Near Godmanchester

Each of these has its own page, written for that place rather than this one.

See every area we cover

Get a Free Quote

Request a quote for your Godmanchester project

Tell the team whether you are planning a driveway, patio, path or another suitable imprinted concrete project. Include the postcode and an approximate size or a short description, and Driveway & Decking Co. can talk through the next step and arrange a quote or a site visit where that makes sense.

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Telephone
07949 078999
Address
23 Glatton Road, Sawtry, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 5SY
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