Driveway gravel advice / recommendations

[ewand]

Folks

I live, with a few other neighbours, down an unmade lane of about 150m in length. At this time of year, the surface is starting to get all potholed and that means every time you drive along it, the holes are full of muddy water (ooooh, yeaaahhh) and therefore I'm forever washing the cars

Every 2 or 3 years, I've tended to drop a few £100s on a Wickes delivery of bulk bags of scalpings and gravel; filled the holes in with scalps and spread gravel all over the top - but the lane isn't properly bordered (ie there are no boards to contain the gravel) and the gravel is only deep enough to cover the dirt underneath. If I wanted to fill the whole thing 5cm deep, it's probably take £2k worth of gravel.

The problem is that the gravel on top gets pulverised over time and then adds to the layer of mud on top of the lane, so now when you splash through the water-filled potholes, you get a nice sploosh of Cotswold Stone coloured mud up the side of the car...

I'm a bit loath to spend £1000s getting it all laid properly, as there are various trades etc who come steaming up and down as well, (the postie tries to max out 3rd gear while crashing through the holes), and I don't even own the lane.

Does anyone have recommendations? Advice on what to do, or just drop £500 every couple of years and be done with it?

Edited by ewand on Saturday 19th October 11:50

[randlemarcus]

How often are you levelling and turning the top layer? Failure to do that often leads to compaction and potholes.

[ewand]

It's not deep enough to turn or level; it's literally a thin layer of stones compacted down so we're not driving over mud...

[Mr Tidy]

I'd try to find out who owns it.

If your house deeds don't specify then the solicitor who handled the purchase of your house should have found out. It may be that it's jointly owned by all the residents who have use of it, in which case they should probably all chip in () to the cost of maintaining it!

[ewand]

Mr Tidy said:

I'd try to find out who owns it.

If your house deeds don't specify then the solicitor who handled the purchase of your house should have found out. It may be that it's jointly owned by all the residents who have use of it, in which case they should probably all chip in () to the cost of maintaining it!

Oh, I know who owns it - it is shared by three local landowners where this lane provides access to their land, and also to our houses. We don't actually have legal right of way for vehicles but it's a long standing easement that allows us to use it. In return, we maintain the lane (and sometimes one of the landowners will chip in too).