Huntingdonshire
Open Plan Frontages on the Warboys Ridge, Given an Edge in Imprinted Concrete
A long village strung along a ridge above the fen, with plots deep enough to do something interesting at the front.
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 Warboys
A ridge village where the border does the work
Warboys runs along a ridge, and the shape of the village follows it. High Street and Church Road carry a long line of frontages, many of them on plots that are narrow at the road and deep behind, which is the classic result of houses built one at a time along a route rather than laid out as an estate. That depth is useful: it often means there is room for a drive that does more than park one car nose in, and space to shape an entrance rather than simply pave a rectangle.
Between and behind that older line sit the infill and estate developments of the postwar decades, plus the more recent building at the edges of the village. Those give the familiar arrangement of a short drive, a garage and an open plan lawn with no boundary at the front, which is common all over Warboys and changes the design question: with no wall or hedge to contain it, the edge of the driveway is defined entirely by the border you build into the surface.
The ridge is clay, and the ground drops away to the fen to the north east. Clay does not drain quickly and it moves with the seasons, so on a Warboys frontage the compacted sub base and the drainage design are the parts that determine how the surface behaves over time. Imprinted concrete is a sealed surface, so the water has to be given somewhere deliberate to go rather than being left to find its own way across an open frontage.
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 Warboys properties
Warboys has a lot of warm brick along the High Street and plainer, paler brick on the newer roads. On an open plan frontage with no boundary, a contrasting border colour does real work, because it is the only thing marking where your driveway stops and the grass begins. A sandstone or grey field with a brick red or charcoal border is a combination that reads clearly from the road without being loud.
- 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 Warboys
Two Warboys specifics shape the work: clay, and open frontages. Clay means drainage is designed rather than assumed, often with a channel drain, and it means the dig and the sub base are decided by what we find. Open frontages mean the setting out matters, because there is no fence or wall to hide a line that is not quite square to the house. We set out on site with that in mind.
Recent Projects
Finished work worth comparing against your Warboys property
The mid grey ashlar driveway with a stamped cobble border and a channel drain along the pavement line, in the projects section, is a good illustration of how a border defines an edge where there is no boundary wall. For a deeper plot with a side access, the charcoal riven stone path is the more relevant example.
A charcoal ashlar driveway with a contrasting red stamped border, sweeping to a double garage. 
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.
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.
They did a brilliant job on our garden, good value and a great finish. Highly recommend :)
Questions
Warboys imprinted concrete questions
- Do you cover Warboys?
- Yes, Warboys is named in our published service area and it is a short run from Sawtry. Send the postcode through the quote form or call 07949 078999.
- My frontage is open plan with no wall. How do you define the edge?
- With the surface itself. A border in a contrasting pattern, usually in a second colour, gives the driveway a clear finished edge where there is no fence or wall to provide one. On open plan estates that border is doing a job rather than being decorative, and it is worth spending time on at the samples stage.
- The plot is long and narrow. Can the drive run right down the side?
- Where there is width for it, yes, and a long run is a good use of imprinted concrete because it is a single continuous surface with no repeating joints down its length. The pattern scale wants thinking about on a long narrow area, since some patterns look better running along it than across it.
- Does clay ground cause problems for a concrete driveway?
- Clay holds water and moves with the seasons, so it makes the preparation more important, not impossible. The excavation depth, the compacted sub base and the drainage are the parts that answer it. We decide those after seeing what is actually under your frontage.
- Can you connect the driveway to a rear patio with a path?
- Yes. Paths and walkways are one of the three applications we install. Running one colour and a matching or complementary pattern from front to back is what makes the whole property look designed rather than done in pieces.
- How is the pattern actually put into the surface?
- The concrete is coloured and then stamped with textured mats while it is still workable, which is what puts the pattern and the surface texture into the slab rather than on top of it. That is the difference between an imprinted surface and a coating applied to an existing drive.
- Can you lay it over an existing concrete slab?
- Only if the slab is sound, and that is a judgement made on site rather than a general rule. If the existing slab has cracked or moved, whatever caused that is still under it, and covering it over does not fix it. We would rather tell you that at the quote than a year later.
- What size areas do you work on?
- From a path or a modest patio up to a full frontage with a turning area. What matters more than the number is what the space has to do and what is under it, so tell us the use as well as the rough size when you enquire.
- Do you offer other surfaces if imprinted concrete is not right?
- Driveway & Decking Co. install decorative surfacing more widely than just imprinted concrete, and this site is specifically about the imprinted concrete side of it. If we look at your site and think a different approach suits it better, we will say so.
- Will the finished surface be slippery when wet?
- The stamping process puts a texture into the surface rather than leaving it smooth, and the finish and any aftercare product affect how it behaves. We will not make an absolute claim about it either way, because outdoor surfaces vary with weather, wear and what is on them. Ask us about the specific finish you are considering.
- Do I need to be at home while the work is done?
- Not necessarily, but access, water and somewhere to work from need to be sorted out beforehand. It is worth agreeing that at the same time as the dates rather than on the morning.
- How do I get a quote for Warboys?
- Use the quote form on this page with your postcode and an approximate size, call or WhatsApp 07949 078999. Saying whether the frontage is open plan or enclosed helps us picture it before the visit.
Areas We Cover
Near Warboys
Each of these has its own page, written for that place rather than this one.
Get a Free Quote
Request a quote for your Warboys 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