Huntingdonshire
Our Own Village: Imprinted Concrete Driveways and Patios in Sawtry
This is the village we work from. Our yard is on Glatton Road, so Sawtry frontages are the ones we know best of all.
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 Sawtry
What being based on Glatton Road actually changes
Sawtry is home. Driveway & Decking Co. are based on Glatton Road, so we have watched this village grow from the inside: the old lanes at Green End and Church Causeway, the long postwar expansion either side of them, and the more recent building out towards the Gidding Road and Fen Lane edges. It is a village where most houses have a drive of some sort already, which means the work here is usually replacement and rework rather than starting from bare ground.
Those existing drives fall into two camps. The 1960s and 1970s estate frontages tend to be a straight run of concrete or tarmac beside a lawn, often thin, often laid straight on to the subsoil, and often now carrying two or three vehicles it was never built for. Newer plots have block paving that is starting to rut and settle where the wheels track. In both cases the honest answer about what needs doing comes from lifting a corner rather than from looking at the finished surface, and being five minutes away means we can do that without making an appointment weeks out.
The ground changes as you leave the village eastward. Sawtry sits on the clay of the ridge that carries the A1, with the fen edge dropping away to the east towards Sawtry Fen and the drains. Clay holds water and moves with the seasons, which is exactly why the compacted sub base and the falls matter more than the pattern on the top. It is also why we would rather tell you what a job needs after seeing it than quote a depth from a phone call.
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 Sawtry properties
There is no single Sawtry brick, so the colour choice here is genuinely open. The village has warm red brick, buff brick, render and a lot of pale 1970s facing brick, which between them will take almost anything in the range. What tends to decide it is the roof and the window frames rather than the walls. We can bring samples out quickly, being local, and it is worth seeing two or three against the house before choosing.
- 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 Sawtry
Clay ground is the thing to plan around. It holds water, so where the surface water goes has to be settled before the layout is fixed, and a channel drain is often part of the answer rather than an optional extra. Imprinted concrete does not let water through, so the falls are designed in from the start. Access in Sawtry is usually straightforward, which helps, and being based in the village means we can get back to look at something without a long wait.
Recent Projects
Finished work worth comparing against your Sawtry property
The grey cobble driveway and turning area in the hero image at the top of our main page is the sort of scale that suits a larger Sawtry plot with room to turn. For a standard estate frontage, the mid grey ashlar driveway with a stamped cobble border is a closer match.
A European fan pattern driveway in buff imprinted concrete, framed by a stamped brick border and a channel drain. 
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.
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.
Fantastic team, professional but friendly. They have done a brilliant job on our front drive a few years ago and this year on our back garden, with new decking, imprinted concrete patio and pathway and finished off with a gravel area and turf. They did the whole job from start, clearing the area, working through bad weather where they could and only the recent snow held the job up and only by a couple of days! Definitely recommend 100%. Thanks guys!
Questions
Sawtry imprinted concrete questions
- You are based in Sawtry. Does that make a difference?
- It makes it easier to look at things. Our base is at 23 Glatton Road, so for a Sawtry job we can usually come and see a frontage, check what is under an existing surface, or come back with a sample without it needing to be planned around a long journey.
- My 1970s concrete drive is cracked and sunken. Can it be covered over?
- Sometimes an existing slab can form part of the base and sometimes it cannot, and the difference matters. If a slab has sunk it is usually because what is under it has moved, and pouring over the top of that will give you the same problem again in a new colour. We lift a corner and look before recommending either way.
- The clay here holds water. How do you deal with that?
- By deciding where the water goes before deciding what the surface looks like. We check the existing falls and where water currently stands, set the finished levels to move it away from the house, and where there is nowhere for it to run we design a channel drain into the layout. On clay that part of the job is worth more than the pattern.
- Can you replace block paving that has rutted where the cars park?
- Yes, and rutting is a good reason to look at what is underneath rather than just relaying the blocks. Blocks settle when the bedding and the base below them move under load. Taking it all up and preparing a proper compacted sub base is the part that stops it happening again.
- Do you do work for neighbours at the same time?
- If two properties on the same road are both interested, tell us, because there can be practical sense in looking at them together. We would still quote each property on its own terms, since two frontages on the same street can have very different ground under them.
- How long have you been doing this?
- Driveway & Decking Co. is family run and has been going since 1990, with over thirty years installing decorative surfacing. That is the whole of what we claim about our history, because it is what we can stand behind.
- Can you lay a patio in a garden backing on to open fields?
- Yes. On an exposed edge of the village the practical points are the levels, the fall away from the house and the edge detail where the patio meets grass or a boundary. A shaped border makes that transition look deliberate rather than cut off.
- What patterns do you have available?
- Current examples include large ashlar, London cobble, herringbone brick, random stone, European fan, riven stone and a wood plank finish, in colours including greys, sandstone tones, terracotta, brick red, autumn brown and charcoal. Ranges do change, so we confirm what is available at the point of quoting.
- Can I see a finished driveway before I decide?
- There are photographs of real finished work on our main page, in the projects section, and they are all our own installations rather than catalogue images. If you want to see something in person, ask when we visit and we will tell you honestly what is nearby and viewable.
- Do you take on small jobs, like a path or a bin store area?
- Ask. Small areas are worth a conversation, and sometimes it makes sense to do a small piece alongside something larger. We would rather tell you plainly if a job is too small to be sensible on its own than quote something neither of us is happy with.
- Is there anything imprinted concrete is not right for?
- It is not a permeable surface, so where the whole design depends on water soaking through it is not the right choice. It also needs a properly prepared base, so a site where that cannot be achieved is a site where a different approach may be better. We will say so if that is the case.
- How do I book a look at my Sawtry property?
- Call or WhatsApp 07949 078999, or email john007gill@btinternet.com or use the quote form on this page. Being local, arranging a visit here is usually the simplest part of the job.
Areas We Cover
Near Sawtry
Each of these has its own page, written for that place rather than this one.
Get a Free Quote
Request a quote for your Sawtry 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