Parking on lawns

[Captain Kernow]

10 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I've never been able to properly understand the purpose of front lawns, in that nobody ever uses them for anything.

 

You never see a grumpy old bloke and his equally grumpy missus sitting in deck chairs on the front lawn, or boys playing football, or toddlers in paddling pools, or someone changing a bicycle inner-tube, or a dog asleep. Yet all those things, and many more, happen on back lawns.

 

Our previous house had a front lawn, plus hedges, and I concluded that I was maintaining both not for our benefit, but for that of passers-by.

 

The logical thing to do is place the house fairly near the front boundary, thereby enlarging the usable area at the back within any given plot size.

 

So, is their sole purpose to give the impression that the house occupies such a vast plot that wasting a good bit of it by having a front lawn is no great matter?

In many ways, I agree with you, but then again, the lawn is there now, so it has to be maintained.

 

I definitely, definitely don't want to look out on gravel, tarmac, paving slabs or the like, if I can see green grass, no matter how many weeds or how much moss there is in it.

 

[Captain Kernow]

1 hour ago, Wheatley said:

It's my lawn, if I want to park on it I will. There are no services under it, it's not outside next door's window and there's nothing in the deeds says I can't.

Your are, of course, completely right and fully within your rights.

 

There's no law to stop you and not likely to be one, either.

 

And that, in a nutshell, is what I am going on about (not you personally, Wheatley, obviously).

 

 

[Fat Controller]

Our neighbour obviously didn't want the work, so has laid Astroturf, which he vacuums clean...

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

11 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

...I've never been able to properly understand the purpose of front lawns, in that nobody ever uses them for anything...

If well kept they do make for an attractive street scene. If your local authority devises and applies a management scheme, the upkeep can be a requirement under local byelaws. (Ours was 'inherited' from the Garden City Company, which had decided ideas about making residents live neatly and tidily and maintain their frontage in the approved style, typically: parking (aka 'grass verge'), footpath, front hedge, grass and/or decorative planting in front garden, white window frames in neo-Georgian style, front door facing street to have a light and be painted in approved colour, all visible construction material of approved type. Yes, really!)

 

Personally, not least of the attractions of our present home was that the frontage to the road was solely the drive to the garage and a small paved forecourt to the front door. All else is usable garden behind tall hedges. (Taller than the management scheme strictly interpreted permits, but no objections after 25 years...)

[Baby Deltic]

57 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

In many ways, I agree with you, but then again, the lawn is there now, so it has to be maintained.

 

I definitely, definitely don't want to look out on gravel, tarmac, paving slabs or the like, if I can see green grass, no matter how many weeds or how much moss there is in it.

 

 

I would have thought the salty sea air and waves crashing over the bow would have ruined your lawn CK.

[tomparryharry]

As I type this, the contractors are finishing up our frontal area, which is block paviors. Parking is a bit 'tight' around these parts, and we can get the cars off the road. Overall, it blends in with the local street-scene, so no problems with neighbours, etc, who have done similar work. 

 

On a very positive note, the lack of required maintenance leaves me more time to get on with the railway shed:- Hoorah! 

[russ p]

When I lived in sheringham I used to park on the road instead of the grass verge outside the house then a police woman came and said they preferred us to park on the grass as the road was access to a school. 

One reason I didn't like doing it and hasn't been mentioned on here yet is that grass under a car stays wet longer than a hard surface and encourages corrosion. 

In our present house I altered all the front having a garage demolished and a new larger one built further back so I've created a large gravelled area but still with a lawn so several cars can be parked 

[Bernard Lamb]

31 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

 

 

On a very positive note, the lack of required maintenance leaves me more time to get on with the railway shed:- Hoorah! 

Just you wait and see.

Falling leaves if not quickly removed will leave a stain.

Where the car stands will soon be a lighter shade than the exposed areas.

General debris and dust will fill up the gaps.

Seeds well soon germinate in the material that fills the  gaps.

You will need a power washer, various types of weed and moss killer and one of those scrapper things that Aldi sell from time to time to clear out the gaps.

Then when you think you have it all under control a tribe of ants will come along and eject the infill and substrate material all over the place.

Low maintenance might seem a good selling point, but in reality it ain't like that.

Bernard

[alastairq]

I've just parked one of my motors on the front grass [no lawns round here..merely grass..or green stuff [green-ish]...mainly so's I can bring another motor down to the driveway for messing with. I could park out on the road..but there are that many super-wide agricultural motors whining up & down, I'd rather leave them a bit more room....and I can still get the be-grassed motor out for errands & stuff. [It being too long to fit nicely behind the one I'm mending currently....without having its 'arris too near the footpath outside....]...............The ground is hard, despite the rain...there being no more than a few inches of topsoil, before chalk bedrock is hit......as the contractors trying to put all our leccy cables underground recently found out....before cancelling their contract..indefinitely!

I sit out the front, to sip coffee, scoff bacon sarnies, etc....table, chairs, etc....[left out all year round]....I have hedges, and the only folk walking past are villagers out trotting their dogs...there's a small pond as well, so I sit for hours watching the comings & goings....bods, watter boatmen, etc..frogs, newts, dinosaurs, et al.

[Captain Kernow]

1 hour ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

If well kept they do make for an attractive street scene. If your local authority devises and applies a management scheme, the upkeep can be a requirement under local byelaws. (Ours was 'inherited' from the Garden City Company, which had decided ideas about making residents live neatly and tidily and maintain their frontage in the approved style, typically: parking (aka 'grass verge'), footpath, front hedge, grass and/or decorative planting in front garden, white window frames in neo-Georgian style, front door facing street to have a light and be painted in approved colour, all visible construction material of approved type. Yes, really!)

 

That all sounds rather civilised.

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

1 minute ago, Captain Kernow said:

That all sounds rather civilised.

In the sense of 'the ordered city' then yes. It isn't to everyone's taste. Characterised by some as 'the town your mother would design' or similar. Simon Pegg has used Welwyn Garden City quite extensively for elements of his Cornetto trilogy, the content of which might be seen as commentary on the place.

 

There are some 'aspects' to a 1920 vision of how a town should be. Solar panels not permitted on ideal south facing roof slopes, if they can be seen from the road frontage. (That rule might just be about to be relaxed as the management scheme is up for review.) Narrow roads are standard to keep speed down. A 1920s narrow road is little more than single track for today's vehicles. We are all obediently going away on holiday now, so expect a fairly major road blockage in Ascots Lane, where the caravan storage parking is located. (That's right, you may not park a caravan outside your home except for the ninety minutes before and after your trip, permitted for loading and off-loading the thing. The local  authority has an anti-caravan gun and is prepared to use it.)

[PenrithBeacon]

I doubt if any would want to park on a lawn, the grass perhaps, but anyone who has spent the time and effort creating a lawn would not park a car on it

[tomparryharry]

1 hour ago, Bernard Lamb said:

Just you wait and see.

Falling leaves if not quickly removed will leave a stain.

Where the car stands will soon be a lighter shade than the exposed areas.

General debris and dust will fill up the gaps.

Seeds well soon germinate in the material that fills the  gaps.

You will need a power washer, various types of weed and moss killer and one of those scrapper things that Aldi sell from time to time to clear out the gaps.

Then when you think you have it all under control a tribe of ants will come along and eject the infill and substrate material all over the place.

Low maintenance might seem a good selling point, but in reality it ain't like that.

Bernard

 

Sorry Bernard, not a problem. The contractor is just finishing as I type this. I know & understand that when it next rains, some of the infill will wash away. I use silver sand, mixed with very fine & fresh cement. That will brush in & effectively fill the small holes that are left. I don't have the right to comment on another persons front area, and quite rightly so. What I do know is that Mrs Smith likes the new work, and for peaceful harmony, that's just fine by me. The culmination of the work allows me to bring in sand, chippings & cement to start the retaining wall  for my railway shed. The other side of the front is a concrete drive, and is well embedded.

[Neil]

I wonder if the problem (if it is a problem, I see only a vague consensus emerging) is more to do with the proliferation of car ownership than parking habits? For many years I lived in York and had no need of one, what joy; then Mrs R got a job where a car was essential and it all sort of went downhill from there.

[Compound2632]

6 hours ago, Wheatley said:

there's nothing in the deeds says I can't.

 

 

On our estate (a Gough Cooper build of 1960-1964) there's a restrictive covenant stating the front gardens should be chiefly lawn. These days, it's chiefly block paving - one continuous car park. we're about the last outpost of greenery! The increased run-off in heavy rain can't be doing any good...

[Captain Kernow]

1 hour ago, Neil said:

I wonder if the problem is more to do with the proliferation of car ownership than parking habits?

I think you are undoubtedly right. The properties that I am referring to all have sufficient parking for two vehicles. It is households either with more vehicles than this or, in our case, frequent visitors. Either the visitors use the lawn or mean that one of the household's vehicles uses it. In both cases, however, there is space to park on the tarmac road, which neither household (who aren't closely acquainted) choose not to use.

 

[Edwin_m]

 

On ‎20‎/‎07‎/‎2019 at 22:37, Nearholmer said:

I thought it was tanks that got parked on lawns.

Only once so far in this thread...

On ‎20‎/‎07‎/‎2019 at 17:38, Oldddudders said:

One of my lawns has had occasional visits from very heavy agricultural vehicles,  ... even a full-size big tractor towing a large tank so my cleaner's lover could empty my cesspool.

 

22 hours ago, Baby Deltic said:

I use NCP (National Church Parking).

Don't you find the prices are a bit steeple? 

 

 

[tomparryharry]

3 hours ago, Neil said:

I wonder if the problem (if it is a problem, I see only a vague consensus emerging) is more to do with the proliferation of car ownership than parking habits? For many years I lived in York and had no need of one, what joy; then Mrs R got a job where a car was essential and it all sort of went downhill from there.

 

Our cul-de-sac is normally packed out with cars & vans. Hang on, I'll check.... 12  houses, 25 cars, sometimes more, sometimes less. Having graduated to the senior citizen buss pass, I'm on my last car. When it goes, it goes. Right now we have the 2 cars, as we get stretched out, often being either one end of the country or other. I do eagerly await the railway shed, as it signals my retirement, full stop. I've got enough modelling to do to keep me going for a fair while, and I don't need distractions, like mowing the lawn....

[jjb1970]

I remember growing up my grand mother used to scrub the pavement in front of her house as did everyone else on the street and it was considered bad form for the house or front garden to be dirty or untidy. Now don't get me wrong, people have the right to do what they want with their own property and you can't legislate community pride anyway but I can't help feeling society has lost something when I look around. 

[PenrithBeacon]

47 minutes ago, Edwin_m said:

 

Only once so far in this thread...

 

Don't you find the prices are a bit steeple? 

 

 

Towering

[Baby Deltic]

Fontastic service

Edited July 22, 2019 by Baby Deltic

[johnofwessex]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

I remember growing up my grand mother used to scrub the pavement in front of her house as did everyone else on the street and it was considered bad form for the house or front garden to be dirty or untidy. Now don't get me wrong, people have the right to do what they want with their own property and you can't legislate community pride anyway but I can't help feeling society has lost something when I look around. 

 

When I lived in a house that opened straight on to the road, I found that giving the pavement a god water followed by a stiff brushing from time to time reduced the amount of dirt walked into the house significantly

[Tony_S]

6 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I remember growing up my grand mother used to scrub the pavement in front of her house as did everyone else on the street and it was considered bad form for the house or front garden to be dirty or untidy. Now don't get me wrong, people have the right to do what they want with their own property and you can't legislate community pride anyway but I can't help feeling society has lost something when I look around. 

One of my grandmother’s many jobs was cleaning the entrance and pavement of a local hotel. My Uncle Robert narrowly avoided being born on the steps. She wa very proud that her house frequently won prizes in the best council house garden competition. 

Tony 

[Bernard Lamb]

14 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I remember growing up my grand mother used to scrub the pavement in front of her house as did everyone else on the street and it was considered bad form for the house or front garden to be dirty or untidy. Now don't get me wrong, people have the right to do what they want with their own property and you can't legislate community pride anyway but I can't help feeling society has lost something when I look around. 

That sounds familiar. The red tiles by the front door where also given a regular polish.

About the last job to be done on New Years Eve was to scrub and polish the front step.

Something of that attitude still exists within me as I get up early if there has been any snow fall and clear the pavement and drive before any one else is about.

Bernard

[Fat Controller]

19 minutes ago, Bernard Lamb said:

That sounds familiar. The red tiles by the front door where also given a regular polish.

About the last job to be done on New Years Eve was to scrub and polish the front step.

Something of that attitude still exists within me as I get up early if there has been any snow fall and clear the pavement and drive before any one else is about.

Bernard

When the tiles had got too 'tired' for simple washing and polishing, you used to be able to buy tins of 'Red Tile Paint' to restore them to their former glories.

Edited July 23, 2019 by Fat Controller