Patios in Dunnington

Dunnington stands east of York, on the A1079 as it runs towards Hull. The village green is the open middle. York Street, Common Road and Church Street are the old arms around that green. Glacial clay is under the lanes. Wind off the vale reaches the gardens that have no high wall to break it.

York Street and the green

York Street is the way in from the main road. Houses, shops and a few later infill plots share the frontage. The green opens beside that street, with the cross as the still point. Brick is the usual wall. A narrow plot on this stretch may only have a short garden, the kind of place where red clay pavers in herringbone keep a rhythm with the house. Brick and block patios suit that scale. Larger flags fight a tight corner and a gate that is barely a metre wide. If the garden faces the green, the private work stays at the back. A new hard surface on the front, between the house and the street, follows a different national rule once it grows past a small area and does not let water through. The drainage guide explains falls. Dunnington Conservation Area, designated in 2004, takes in this historic core as a T of Church Street, York Street and Common Road. If a house sits on the edge of that T, the council map is the check.

Church Street and Common Road

Church Street runs to St Nicholas, a church with medieval fabric and a listed building in its own right. Cottages and later brick houses line the approach. Common Road is the other arm, leaving the green towards the edge of the village. Gardens here vary. A cottage may have a walled square and an apple tree. A buff sandstone patio can sit under that tree if the main roots are left alone and the canopy still gets rain at its drip line. Our team shifts the paving rather than shaving roots to force a rectangle. A listed cottage needs City of York Council's view before anything touches the building or its setting. A surface near the existing ground, kept 150 mm below the damp course, is the ordinary aim. The national rules for a raised platform apply where the patio would stand about 300 mm above the existing ground. Wind along Common Road can make a still day on York Street feel exposed at the garden end.

Estates off the old lanes

Eastfield Lane, Petercroft Lane, Garden Flats Lane and Intake Lane lead out to the family estates. Semis and detached houses here have a back lawn, a side gate and room for a proper table. The brief is usually a patio across the rear of the house, sometimes with a path to the bin store. Porcelain in a mid grey is a frequent choice on these plots, because clay soil stays damp and a dense slab shrugs off the green growth that finds a porous stone. Heworth sits back towards the city, on clay of its own. If a close was built up against the conservation-area edge, the council map still decides, not the age of the fence. Glacial clay is the shared ground. It softens in a wet week and holds a puddle where the lawn dips. Soft spots come out. Crushed stone goes down in layers until the base is even. A soakaway that looks fine on a sketch may simply fill, because this clay does not let water away in a hurry. A fall to a drain or a planted border is the safer outlet.

Clay, wind and the apple tree

Dunnington clay is the vale's clay, left by ice and standing water, not a thin skin of topsoil. The geology viewer is the regional picture. Wind off the vale is the other constant on the open side of the village. Rain arrives sideways. The fall has to be strong enough to move that water, and not so steep that chairs rock. If an apple tree owns the middle of the lawn, the patio stops short of the trunk and the paving edge is a clean curve or a straight line the mower can follow. Air bricks on the house wall stay visible. The flood map for planning is there for a low plot. Standing rain on the clay is the everyday issue. The areas page lists the village with the rest of the city's edges. A quote needs the street, the rough size of the lawn, and whether the plot is by the green or on an estate.

Close to Dunnington

• Heworth patios: West, back towards the city.
• Fulford patios: South-west, on the far side of the vale.

Paving for Dunnington brick and estate houses: brick & block patios, porcelain patios, natural stone patios.

All of the areas we cover: All areas.

Questions about patios in Dunnington

Sources: Planning Portal: patios and driveways; British Geological Survey geology viewer; Flood map for planning; Planning Data: conservation areas.