Paving and Patios in Yeadon

Patios for gardens that slope

Yeadon is built on a hillside. The town falls away south towards the Aire valley, and the steep part of the High Street has long been known locally as the Steep. Plenty of back gardens here either drop away from the house or climb up behind it, and Rawdon is much the same.

A level patio on a slope means cutting into the bank, building the ground up, or a bit of both. What matters is what holds it in place: a retaining wall on a proper footing with drainage behind it, and steps that are comfortable to use rather than squeezed in at the end. We set the levels and falls first, so rain runs off the patio and away from the back door instead of towards it.

Where a garden is too steep for one big terrace, two smaller levels joined by steps usually work better, with planting or a lawn on the bank between them.

Matching the stone to the house

Older Yeadon houses are built from local sandstone and millstone grit, which was quarried round here for generations, and there is a grid of nineteenth-century terraces below the High Street. Against that stone, a natural sandstone patio or a buff or grey Indian stone tends to look right from the day it goes down.

Smooth porcelain suits the newer brick and rendered houses better, where a clean, modern finish is the point. If you are torn between two, send a photo of the back of the house with your enquiry and we will tell you what we think suits it.

Work we take on in Yeadon and Rawdon

Similar jobs elsewhere in Leeds

Hillside gardens and stone houses from our work across north-west Leeds. Each caption says where the job was.

Worth knowing before you start

Front driveways. Paving more than five square metres of a front garden in a surface that water cannot soak through needs planning permission, unless the rain runs off onto a lawn or border. Gravel, permeable block paving or a soakaway avoid that, and we will say which suits your plot.

The conservation area. The older part of Yeadon is a conservation area. There, taking down a front wall or gatepost over a metre high next to the road can need planning permission, so if a new driveway means opening up the front wall, check with Leeds City Council first.

Access. Many terraces have no side passage, so everything comes through the house or over a wall. Mention it when you get in touch and we will plan the job around it.

Around Yeadon

Next door, we have laid patios and driveways in Horsforth, and further round the ring road we work in Alwoodley. We also cover Guiseley, Bramhope and Kirkstall, and the rest of Leeds from our base in Crossgates, including Roundhay and Garforth on the east side of the city.

Yeadon paving questions