There’s a lot I love about my gravel driveway, but these niggles are making me rethink my driveway design

Close up of car wheel on gravel driveway.

When I moved into my house more than a decade ago, I was thrilled to have enough off-road parking for two cars.

When it comes to driveway materials, a portion (about a third) of the drive is tarmac, and the other two thirds (that used to be grass) were replaced with gravel by the previous owners. I've always appreciated the fact I don't have to mow a lawn out the front as well as the back.

But after living with the gravel driveway for more than 10 years, there are definitely things I still love about it, but there are also a set of niggles that make me long for a different material instead.

If you're thinking about resurfacing your driveway with gravel, make sure you're aware of the advantages and drawbacks so you can make the right decision.

Reasons I love my gravel driveway

Gravel driveways like this offer a series of desirable benefits around price and security (Image credit: Future PLC/ Simon Whitmore)

• Provides extra off-road parking space. I have a tarmac part of the drive that gives enough space to park one car, but thanks to the gravel, there is enough space to park another car and keep the road clear.
• Inexpensive to replenish. If parts of the gravel start to look a bit bare, I can buy a bag of additional gravel, like this from B&Q for less than £5.
• Easy to lay. Adding extra gravel is super easy, I just slit the bag open over the spare area and use either a stiff bristled broom or rake to smooth them out.
• Great for drainage. There's no danger of water pooling on the gravel, it just seeps right through.
• Good from a security perspective. When my car is parked on the tarmac portion of the drive, any visitors have to walk on the gravel to reach the house. While I found this less than ideal when I first moved in (I desperately wanted to add a proper pathway), I now love the fact that I can hear if anyone is approaching the house, especially at night with the window open.

Reasons I loathe my gravel driveway

Weeds coming through the gravel is one of my biggest bugbears, and means the maintenance is more intensive than I would want (Image credit: Getty Images)

• The gravel goes everywhere. It feels like a constant effort to keep the gravel where it's meant to be, and it can quickly go from looking neat and tidy to looking an absolute mess. I also regularly get some stuck in the treads of my shoes.
• Weeds. The gravel driveway has been there since I moved in, and while there is a weed membrane underneath, it's starting to fail and so the weeds are having a field day.
• It's not the prettiest. The gravel on my drive isn't necessarily what I would have chosen myself, and I know there are much nicer looking gravel options available that I would prefer.
• I've slipped on it. My gravel driveway is on a bit of a slope, and while I walk across it daily without problem, there have been a couple of times where the gravel has rolled underfoot (or has even frozen) and I've lost my balance.

What I wish I had instead

As with many homeowners, I have a very long list of things I would like to do to my house (just waiting for that lotto win, any day now). And resurfacing the driveway is on that list.

I love the patterns you can create with block paving, but don't think the permeability can match what I have with gravel, and I don't want to have to worry about pooling water on my slightly sloped frontage.

Resin bound gravel holds particular appeal for me, especially thanks to its durability, permeability and low maintenance. Plus there are loads of colour options to choose from and it would solve a lot of the issues I have with the current gravel.

But with one of the disadvantages of resin driveways being it's relatively high initial cost, it's unlikely I'll get round to it any time soon.