Huntingdonshire
Little Paxton's Postwar Plots, and What Imprinted Concrete Does With a Plain Rectangle
A village that grew where the gravel was dug. Little Paxton frontages are mostly postwar, mostly regular, and mostly ready for a straightforward job.
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 Little Paxton
Plain rectangles, and what you can do with one
Little Paxton is the village next door to St Neots on the Great Ouse, and its recent history is written in the landscape: the lakes at Paxton Pits are former gravel workings, and the village expanded through the second half of the twentieth century alongside the paper mill and the extraction. What that means for driveways is a village made up largely of postwar and later housing on regular plots, with frontages that are rectangular, accessible and usually large enough to park two cars once the lawn is brought into play.
That regularity makes Little Paxton one of the more straightforward places we work. The typical job is an existing drive that has cracked, rutted or simply become too small, taken up along with a strip of lawn and replaced with one continuous surface across the whole frontage. Because the areas are usually rectangular, this is also a village where a border pattern earns its place: it stops a plain rectangle looking like a slab and gives the frontage a shape.
The ground is Ouse valley gravel, which is generally workable, but the presence of former workings and made ground nearby is a reason to look rather than assume. On any plot, the depth of the excavation and the compacted sub base is decided by what is actually under the existing surface. Imprinted concrete does not let water through, so we also settle where the run off goes before the layout is fixed, particularly on the lower ground towards the river and the pits.
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 Little Paxton properties
Little Paxton brick is mostly plain postwar facing brick, sometimes with render or tile hanging, which leaves the colour choice wide open. Mid greys and sandstone are the safe, well behaved options; charcoal with a lighter border gives a sharper, more modern frontage on the plainer houses. What usually decides it is the roof colour and the window frames.
- 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 Little Paxton
The practical points here are the levels near the river, the make up under an existing drive and the dropped kerb. Where a frontage sits low, the falls are designed so water leaves the surface deliberately and a channel drain is used where there is no natural outfall. Where an existing drive has rutted or cracked, the cause is under it, so we look at what is beneath rather than simply covering it over.
Recent Projects
Finished work worth comparing against your Little Paxton property
For a standard rectangular frontage widened across a lawn, the mid grey ashlar driveway with a stamped cobble border and a channel drain is the direct reference. For a rear garden, the grey wood plank patio shows the timber effect finish, which suits gardens where decking is the alternative being considered.
A rear patio in buff ashlar imprinted concrete, shaped with a curved terracotta border against the lawn. 
A patio in grey wood plank imprinted concrete: the look of decking boards in a single poured, jointless surface. 
A narrow side access path in charcoal riven stone imprinted concrete, with galvanised channel drains along the run.
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.
Cannot recommend these guys enough. James, Ross, George and John all done an amazing job transforming my driveway and patio. Professional from the outset with a final finish that impresses everyone that sees it, that will last years to come!
Questions
Little Paxton imprinted concrete questions
- Do you install imprinted concrete in Little Paxton?
- Yes, Little Paxton is in our published service area. Send the postcode through the quote form on this page or call 07949 078999 and we will arrange to come and look.
- My drive has rutted where the cars sit. What causes that?
- Almost always the base rather than the surface. When a drive settles under wheel tracks it is because the material underneath has compacted or moved under load. Replacing only the top layer leaves the cause in place, which is why a proper dig out and compacted sub base is the part of the work that decides how it behaves later.
- Is the wood plank finish a real alternative to decking?
- It is a concrete surface stamped to look like wide timber boards, with the grain and the board joints put into the slab, so it gives you that look as one continuous poured surface. Whether it suits your garden better than actual timber depends on the space and how you want to use it, and we can talk that through at the visit.
- Can you do the driveway without losing the whole lawn?
- Yes, and it is often the better result. Keeping a planting strip or a shaped area of grass and letting the surface curve past it usually looks far better than paving the entire frontage. A poured surface can be set out to a curve, which is what makes that possible.
- Does the old gravel extraction ground nearby affect the work?
- It is a reason to check rather than a general problem. Restored and made ground varies a lot, so we look at what is under your specific plot and set the excavation and sub base from that rather than from an assumption about the village.
- Do you install for properties backing on to the nature reserve?
- Yes, and gardens on that edge are usually about the patio rather than the drive. The practical points are the levels, the fall away from the house and the edge detail where the surface meets grass or a boundary.
- How is the colour applied to the concrete?
- The colour goes into the surface as part of the process rather than being painted on afterwards, and the texture and pattern are stamped in while the concrete is still workable. That is a different thing from a coating applied over an existing drive.
- Can two patterns be combined on one driveway?
- Yes, and it is the usual arrangement: a main field in one pattern, a border in another, often in a second colour. More than two tends to get busy on a domestic frontage, but it is your call and we will show you samples of the combinations.
- What preparation do I need to do before you arrive?
- Clearing the area of vehicles, bins, pots and anything else you want to keep is the main thing, and agreeing where materials can be placed. We will confirm what is needed when the dates are set.
- Do you work on driveways for bungalows with low thresholds?
- Yes, and a low threshold is exactly why levels get checked first. The finished surface has to sit low enough relative to the door and fall away from the building, which sometimes affects how much has to be dug out. It is one of the things we measure on the visit.
- Will I get the same team throughout?
- Driveway & Decking Co. is a family run business rather than a national franchise, so the people who quote and the people who install are part of the same small team. We will tell you who is coming.
- How do I get a quote for Little Paxton?
- Use the quote form on this page with your postcode and an approximate size, call or WhatsApp 07949 078999. Saying whether it is the front, the back or both means the first reply can be useful.
Areas We Cover
Near Little Paxton
Each of these has its own page, written for that place rather than this one.
Get a Free Quote
Request a quote for your Little Paxton 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.
Prefer to talk it through?
- Telephone
- 07949 078999
- Message us on WhatsApp
- Address
- 23 Glatton Road, Sawtry, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 5SY