Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey & Davenport (SK4 / SK2)

Victorian courtyards, driveways & patios in Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey & Davenport.

Tall Victorian and Edwardian villas, bay-fronted semis and terraces with a back entry: the Heatons are lovely to live in and awkward to landscape. Side passages can be barely wider than a wheelbarrow and front gardens are small. We plan every job around that, from walled courtyards to front-garden parking that needs no planning permission.

Honey-gold resin-bound front driveway with a charcoal block border in front of a red-brick house with a bay window and low brick wall with pillars

Permeable front-garden parking · built to the 2008 rules

12 MinutesFrom our Hazel Grove yard along the A6

From 600mmSide passages we work through with a tracked barrow

No Skip PermitSpoil goes in bulk bags collected by grab lorry

Stockport CouncilWe check conservation areas and dropped kerbs for you

01 · GETTING IN AND OUT OF A VICTORIAN GARDEN

How we build a back garden you can only reach down a passage.

A small courtyard behind a Heaton Moor semi can still mean six tonnes of soil out and six tonnes of stone in. Here is how it travels without wrecking your hall carpet or your neighbour’s patience.

We measure the passage at the survey
Gate posts, drainpipes, the step by the coal-hole door: David measures the narrowest point and plans the machine to suit. Our micro-digger needs 710mm; below that, everything goes by tracked power barrow.
Boards down before anything moves
Heavy-duty protection boards cover the passage, the front path and any tiled or stone step, and come up at the end of each day if you need the route.
Terraces with no side access
Most Heatons terraces back onto an entry (back alley). We work from there and agree times with neighbours who share it. We never barrow through your house.
Bulk bags, not skips
A skip on Heaton Moor Road or Mauldeth Road needs a council permit and blocks parking for days. We fill one-tonne bags and a licensed grab lorry lifts them away, usually the same day.
Deliveries timed for narrow roads
Stone and slabs arrive on a crane lorry outside school-run hours and are lifted straight over the wall where we can.

02 · PARKING ON YOUR FRONT GARDEN

Which front drives need planning permission, and which do not.

Since 2008, paving more than 5 m² of a house’s front garden is allowed without planning permission as long as rainwater soaks away on your side of the boundary. Get the surface wrong and you need to apply.

Needs planning permission

✗Solid tarmac or concrete over more than 5 m², sloping onto the pavement.
✗Standard block paving on sand with sealed joints and no drain inside the boundary.
✗Flats and maisonettes, which do not get the same freedoms as houses.

No planning permission needed

✓Permeable block (like Marshalls Priora) or resin-bound on an open stone base, so rain soaks straight through.
✓A solid surface that drains into a lawn, border or soakaway inside your garden.
✓Our standard build: 310mm dig, 250mm of free-draining stone, granite kerbs set in concrete.

The dropped kerb is separate Driving across the pavement needs a dropped kerb, and that always needs Stockport Council’s approval, whatever surface you choose. The council or its approved contractor lowers the kerb; we build the drive to meet it.

Conservation areas Parts of Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey and the Davenport Park estate are conservation areas, and some streets have extra restrictions (Article 4 directions) on removing front walls. We check your street with the council before we suggest taking a wall out.

03 · RECENT HEATONS & DAVENPORT JOBS

A courtyard, a parking conversion and a villa terrace, with the totals.

Light-grey porcelain patio outside open bifold doors, with dark oak sleeper raised beds of white hydrangeas and a slatted fence

Final Invoice: £5,700

SHAW ROAD, HEATON MOOR (SK4)

24 m² walled porcelain courtyard with a 6 m oak sleeper raised bed, all in through a 650mm passage

Area24 m²

On site6 working days

How it adds up24 × £185 + 6 × £210

"Two other firms said they couldn't do it without a skip on the road for a fortnight. David and Callum barrowed everything down our passage and the bags were gone each evening." — Nicola & Tom Whitworth, Heaton Moor (SK4)

Charcoal block driveway with a granite sett kerb at the pavement and a linear drain channel, outside a red-brick house

Final Invoice: £5,455

DIDSBURY ROAD, HEATON MERSEY (SK4)

Front garden turned into 30 m² of permeable block parking, with a channel drain and rebuilt brick piers

Area30 m²

On site5 working days

How it adds up30 × £140 + 5 × £95 + £780 piers

"David explained the dropped kerb was a council job and helped us with the form. Our drive was finished and waiting when their contractor came to lower the kerb." — Farah Siddiqui, Heaton Mersey (SK4)

Curved natural sandstone patio with charcoal sett edging and curved brick steps up to a raised terrace

Final Invoice: £5,552

DAVENPORT PARK, DAVENPORT (SK2)

40 m² Indian sandstone terrace behind a Victorian villa, with 14 m of French drain

Area40 m²

On site6 working days

How it adds up40 × £115 + 14 × £68

"The old stone was sinking where a Victorian drain had collapsed underneath. They found it, dealt with it and the new terrace is dead level." — Robert Kenyon, Davenport (SK2)

04 · STREETS WE KNOW

What each part of the Heatons usually needs.

Heaton Moor RoadBusy main road with large Victorian semis. Front parking conversions are popular, and deliveries have to be timed around traffic.
Mauldeth RoadLong gardens behind substantial houses. Room for a 40 m² terrace plus lawn, often with old clay land drains that have silted up.
Parsonage RoadEdwardian semis with tight side passages. Classic tracked-barrow jobs: courtyards and small patios.
Didsbury RoadHeaton Mersey homes on gently sloping ground towards the Mersey valley. Falls need care so water does not run to the house.
Davenport ParkGrand Victorian villas on a private estate road. We agree delivery times in advance and protect the road surface.
Bramhall Lane, DavenportInter-war semis with short front gardens. Permeable block parking for one or two cars is the usual request.

05 · HEATONS QUESTIONS

The things people in SK4 want to know first.

Our side passage is only about 650mm wide. Can you still do the job?+

Yes. Anything under 710mm is too narrow for our micro-digger, so we dig by hand and with a breaker, and move everything with a tracked power barrow. It adds a day or so to a typical courtyard, and David puts that on the quote so there are no surprises.

Our Victorian garden has old drains under it. Is that a problem?+

It is common in the Heatons, and it is often why old paving has sunk. If we uncover a broken clay pipe we stop, show you, and give you a price to deal with it before any new paving goes over it.

Can we keep the original front wall and still park?+

Often, yes. We take out just enough wall for the opening, rebuild the brick piers either side and reuse the old copings where they come away cleanly. In a conservation area we check with Stockport Council first.

Will the grab lorry block our road?+

For about ten minutes a visit. It parks alongside, lifts the bulk bags with its crane and leaves. We knock on neighbours’ doors the day before so nobody is surprised.

Block & resin driveways Porcelain & sandstone patios Cheadle Hulme & Cheadle (SK8) Hazel Grove & Torkington (SK7) Bramhall & Woodford (SK7)

Light-grey porcelain patio beside a red-brick house with leaded windows, open bifold doors and oak sleeper raised beds

FREE SITE SURVEY

Tight passage, small garden, big plans? David will measure it and tell you straight.

£0 upfront depositNothing to pay until materials reach your house
Access planned in advanceBoards down, bags not skips, neighbours told
Planning checked for youPermeable rules, dropped kerbs, conservation areas

Call 0161 570 8698 Book a Free Site Survey