Kent Nursery Car Park Resurface

A long-established plant and garden nursery in rural Kent had outgrown its customer car park. The loose-gravel surface had compacted into a rutted, weed-strewn mix of stone and soil that turned muddy in winter and dusty in summer. With visiting families, contractors, and delivery vehicles all using the space daily, it was undermining the welcome to the site and making access awkward for anyone with a buggy, walking stick, or low-slung car.

The owners briefed us to deliver a hardwearing, machine-laid tarmacadam car park with proper edging, falls, and drainage — built to take year-round customer traffic and the occasional delivery lorry, while keeping the rural feel of the site intact.

Our groundwork team began with a full strip-out of the old surface, carrying away the failed gravel and topsoil down to a stable formation. We then laid a deep MOT type 1 sub-base in compacted layers, set carefully to falls so surface water drains naturally toward the perimeter rather than pooling in front of the buildings.

Concrete-bedded kerb edging was installed around the perimeter to contain the surface, define the boundary with the surrounding garden, and stop the new tarmac creeping into the planted beds. With the kerbs cured, we laid a base course of hot-rolled asphalt followed by a wearing course, machine-laid and roller-compacted to a smooth, sealed finish.

Where the new tarmac meets the public lane, we feathered the joint and finished the kerb line cleanly so the transition reads as a deliberate detail rather than a patch. The result is a generous, level car park the nursery can use confidently in any weather, and a noticeably smarter arrival for customers from the moment they turn off the road.