Converting your front garden into a driveway can make life so much easier if parking in your road is difficult and you regularly have to circle the block looking for a parking spot. As well as the convenience factor, parking in your own driveway reduces the risk of having your car stolen or vandalised, especially if you fit security posts or CCTV.
A well-designed driveway will add value to your property too, as many people view off-street parking as a must, especially in urban areas where parking spaces are sought after. An aesthetically pleasing driveway will enhance the curb appeal of your home and can be designed to complement the style of your property.
There's more good news, as you can make your chosen driveway idea work in terms of ensuring your front garden is eco-friendly too, by choosing permeable hardscaping such as gravel and including plenty of planting to attract wildlife, instead of going for a uniform paved look.
Modern driveway ideas blend the best of hardscaping and planting (Image credit: The Modern House)
"In most cases, regardless of the size, you won’t need planning permission for a new or replacement driveway as it falls under Permitted Development," says property and construction expert Thomas Goodman. "However, it does need to allow rainwater to drain away naturally. So, the surface and base materials need to be permeable. Or, there should be somewhere permeable, such as a lawn or border, for the water to run into."
If your driveway is going to be over 5m² and made of a non-permeable materials, and there’s nowhere other than your drains or the mains sewer for rainwater to run into, then you will need planning permission, according to Thomas. Those living in a conservation area will probably need permission too and those with listed buildings will need listed building consent.
It’s always best to contact your local authority ahead of any project to make sure.
Thomas Goodman
Thomas Goodman has worked in the construction industry for over 20 years. He has also worked as a property and construction expert for MyJobQuote for six years, and continues to work on building projects while providing expert construction and property advice to industry professionals and DIY enthusiasts.
2. Applying for a dropped kerb
"If you’re creating a new driveway, then it’s likely that you’ll need to apply to the council for a dropped kerb outside your home," advises Thomas. "Should your home be on a classified road, such as a main road or B road, you’ll probably need planning permission to create a new entrance."
If you need to apply to your local authority to drop a kerb there is a fee for this application of around £100, explains Thomas. "You’ll also need to pay for the actual work to be done. In most cases, you’ll either pay your local authority directly to do it, or you’ll need to hire a contractor that’s approved by their highways department."
3. Go for an appropriate size drive for your front garden space
Choose a driveway design that enhances the look of your home(Image credit: Juliet Murphy)
Once you've considered some of the legal practicalities above, it's time to look at driveway design, including the size, shape and materials. You'll need to think about how many cars you need to accommodate. You may only have one car, but if on-street parking is difficult and you frequently have visitors, it's a good idea to include an extra space.
"A rectangular driveway isn’t necessarily the most aesthetically appealing shape," according to Thomas. "A curved driveway can offer a softer, more attractive look, especially if it’s surrounded by planting. It’s also worth considering making your driveway wider towards the entrance, to make it easier to get in and out."
4. Choose materials that work with your house and garden
Porous materials such as gravel are a smart option(Image credit: Richard Gadsby)
When you’re weighing up the best driveway materials, think about what will suit the style of your home. To reduce the chance of flooding when turning a front garden into a driveway, you should look at using permeable materials and incorporate a soakaway, along with a gentle slope to ensure rainwater is directed away from your home and the drains. Doing this will also reduce your costs as you won’t need to go through planning.
If you're considering installing a new driveway it will need to be SuDS compliant. Surfaces are porous, allowing water to drain through, in a similar way to natural surfaces such as soil. By mimicking natural drainage regimes, SuDS aim to reduce surface water flooding, and enhance biodiversity.
"To be SuDS compliant you need to make sure that rainwater doesn’t run off your driveway into the mains sewer," explains Thomas. "To achieve this, you’ll need to use a permeable surface and base materials that allow water to percolate naturally down into the ground, or install driveway drainage channels that drain water into a soakaway or towards an area of lawn or soil."
5. Include eco-friendly elements
Before the transformation into a driveway this front garden was mostly a mossy lawn and some unloved flower beds, with box hedges that were being rapidly destroyed by box tree caterpillars(Image credit: Nigel Proctor Photography/Chiltern Garden Design)
"I consider gravel driveway ideas as being the most eco-friendly landscaping option," says garden designer Sam Proctor of Chiltern Garden Design. "It’s locally available, avoiding transportation emissions from further afield. It's also permeable, so rainwater can percolate through and be returned to the soil below rather than being flushed into drainage channels and stormwater drains. As well as these eco pluses gravel is budget friendly too."
In this design by Sam a front garden was turned into a driveway to allow space for parking and turning, using brick to match the house. The gravel driveway was topped up using local flint gravel, with stabilisation matting underneath.
"Originally conceived using clay pavers, the geometric circular patterns of golden sandstone setts creates the wow factor in this garden," says Sam. "Changing to smaller format setts meant that the circles were able to be laid in tighter, cleaner curves, as well as being less high contrast to the large format paving. The subtle colours are more restful, allowing the lush planting to shine without being challenged by the hardscape."
Other eco driveway options include parking 'strips' , where low-growing plants are used in the centre of the driveway in the space between car wheels. This option works well if you are out during the day, as the plants still get plenty of light.
Sam Proctor
Sam has been creating beautiful gardens for over a decade. Since leaving a City career in marketing, she has honed her skills to a very high level, taking the Diploma in Garden Design at the London College of Garden Design, for which she was awarded a Distinction.
6. Incorporate planting to soften your new driveway
Easy-care ground cover planting breaks up the large parking area, but also provides wildlife-friendly colour within the space(Image credit: Eliza Gray Gardens)
Any opportunity to include planting when turning a front garden into a driveway will help create wildlife areas within the garden and regulate the air temperature by offsetting areas of hard landscaping, which hold the heat on hot days.
Trees, shrubs and lawns can help your home to stay a degree or two cooler in the summer. If you sacrifice all of your front garden ideas to create a driveway, this could compromise your home’s kerb appeal. Plants help to soften the hardscaping, so it’s important to look at how you can keep some greenery.
"To keep your frontage nature-friendly, think about installing a reinforced grass driveway that incorporates some low-growing plants," says Thomas. "Try to boost the wildlife-friendliness of the remaining garden, even if it’s just planting a narrow border with native, pollinator-friendly plants."
A good combination is easy-care evergreen shrubs with a focus on foliage and autumn colour, as well as simple forms of ornamental grasses and other ground cover plants to provide a green carpet. As well as flowerbeds and borders, try introducing planting pockets in permeable hardscaping such as gravel to add interest.
7. Work your driveway around existing trees
Preventing tree damage when working on your front garden is a matter of planning carefully and working closely with your contractor(Image credit: Eliza Gray Gardens)
When turning your front garden intro a driveway, it might be tempting to rip out any trees to create more parking space, but trees can provide essential habitat for wildlife and also generate more privacy for your home.
"Before you rush to remove any existing trees, speak to your driveway designer to see if there is a way to work with the existing planting," says Beth Murton, editor of Homebuilding & Renovating. 'While you might appreciate a bigger parking area, you could soon regret that your green outlook has been ruined and passers-by can now easily see into your home."
"This project to turn a front garden into a low-maintenance driveway to park several cars had the added complexity of a number of mature trees with Tree Preservation Orders," explains garden designer Eliza Gray.
This meant that a permeable grid which protected tree roots was used beneath a gravel surface. Simple low-maintenance planting set off the new front garden perfectly, while giving plenty of space to park.
"Within this scheme, permeable angular gravel was used in parking areas, within the tree protection grid, to avoid degradation of the aggregate through crushing," says Eliza. The design has random brick accents to break up the expanse of gravel.
Following a few key ways to protect trees during a build will be useful if you want to keep your foliage in place.
Eliza Gray
Based in Somerset, between Bristol and Bath, Eliza Gray has been helping homeowners to create beautiful gardens for more than 15 years. Since graduating with a distinction in Garden Design in 2006, she has also gained various qualifications in horticulture and organic gardening. She has studied elements of Heritage Conservation and is a member of the Association of Professional Landscapers and is registered member of the Society of Garden Designers.
8. Plan access routes and storage areas
This permeable gravel driveway is a great example of how you can have the best of both worlds, creating areas of garden and parking that form a cohesive front garden design(Image credit: Catriona Rowbotham Garden Design)
Turning your front garden into a driveway can often mean you have to rethink where the main pathway to your front door might be located, especially if you are trying to maintain a planted area alongside your parking space.
Another consideration is where you're going to store items such as the bins so they don't block your parking spaces or route to the front door. Creating a dedicated space for them with easy access out to the road is a smart choice. One clever wheelie bin storage idea is to disguise them within a built framework that you cover with plants.
"This front garden wall and planter was designed in order to partially conceal a bin store, allowing space for soft and plentiful planting to fill and spill over it," says garden designer Catriona Rowbotham. "Both the bin store and the wall were carefully built to a bespoke design by Bes Landscapes. The bricks were recycled from the original brickwork wall replaced by this design."
Catriona Rowbotham
Blending her architectural expertise with a passion for gardening, Catriona Rowbotham's design journey began with Gaia Architects Scotland. Later she was inspired by her time with Dominique Perrault in Paris, and her work for leading architectural design practices in London. Seeing firsthand the demand for garden design through her architectural projects, she trained at The English Gardening School, and her career pivot became final after winning a public courtyard design competition in 2021.
FAQs
Will turning a front garden into a driveway add value to your home?
Turning a front garden into a driveway can add value to your home, according to the latest research by Checkatrade, who estimate that laying a driveway can add between 5-10% to the value of a property.
This depends on a set of factors including the availability of free parking in your neighbourhood, whether permit parking is available on your street and how expensive it is, and whether there is demand for off-street parking in your area.
Tick enough of these boxes and this could mean the chance to add thousands of pounds to the price of your home.
What is the average cost of turning a front garden into a driveway?
"The average cost of turning a front garden into a driveway ranges between £2,500 and £8,000, depending on the size and materials used," says Thomas Goodman. "For example, a large driveway built with concrete, natural stone or block paving will be more expensive than a small gravel or resin driveway."
Other things that can affect driveway costs include any extra work needed, fixing drainage problems or installing driveway lighting ideas, or adding decorative patterns to hardscaping.
Before starting on your project to turn the front garden into a driveway check out these common driveway mistakes to avoid making costly errors.
Get the Homebuilding & Renovating Newsletter
Bring your dream home to life with expert advice, how to guides and design inspiration. Sign up for our newsletter and get two free tickets to a Homebuilding & Renovating Show near you.
Lifestyle journalist Sarah Wilson writes about flowers, plants, garden design and gardening trends for Homes & Gardens. She has studied introductory garden and landscape design and floristry, and also has an RHS Level 2 qualification in the Principles of Plant Growth and Development. She is a regular contributor to Homes & Gardens and Livingetc. She has also written for Real Homes, Modern Gardens, Country Living, and Country Homes & Interiors magazines. Her first job was at Elle magazine, during which time a trip to the beautiful La Colombe d'Or in St-Paul-de-Vence led to an interest in writing about all things botanical. Later as lifestyle editor of Country Homes & Interiors, she loved the captivating country gardens that were regularly featured.
