East Sussex
Stone tracks in Uckfield
Farm tracks and woodland access across TN22, built and drained for High Weald ground.
The country around Uckfield is High Weald: undulating, wooded, and heavy underneath. It is demanding ground for a track, and the reason is water rather than weight.
Water is the enemy here, not load
On this ground water does not sit and soak away. It runs, it gathers speed on a slope, and it finds the wheel ruts, which is the worst possible place for it. Once it is running down the ruts it scours the track out from the top and takes the fines away, and what is left is loose stone on a hard base with no binding.
So the work is drainage first. A camber or crossfall so water leaves the surface, cross drains at intervals down any slope, and ditches that are actually clear and discharging somewhere useful. Get that right and a stone track here will last a very long time. Get it wrong and no depth of stone will save it.
Woodland access
A lot of the tracks around here run through trees, which brings two more problems. Roots lift and crack anything bound, which is a good argument for stone rather than tarmac on a wooded approach. And leaf litter blocks ditches and cross drains every autumn, which is why a track that was fine in September can fail in December.
Building it properly
- Formation dug out, with soft areas dealt with rather than covered
- Geotextile membrane where the ground is soft, so stone does not disappear into it
- Coarse stone base, laid and compacted in layers
- Graded topping, rolled to a camber that sheds water
- Cross drains and ditching, sized for how fast water moves on this ground
Gateways and turning areas get built heavier, because that is where vehicles stop, turn and stand, and that is where a track always goes first.
- Carries agricultural and construction traffic
- Membrane laid where the ground needs it, so the stone stays put
- Cambered and drained so water runs off rather than sits
- Gateways and turning areas built heavier where the punishment is
- Can be topped up in future rather than replaced
Our work
Jobs near Uckfield
Every photograph here is Laymac's own, taken on the job.
What people say
In their words, not ours
Farm track had been breaking up for years and we had patched it twice. They dug it out properly, sorted the drainage first and it has been through a winter now without moving.
Yard resurfaced around a working farm. They phased it so we could still get the milk lorry in and out every day, which nobody else quoting for it had even mentioned.
Came out, walked the drive with us and told us it did not need replacing, just dressing. Saved us a lot of money and they still turned up to do the smaller job properly.
Before you ring
Traditional Stone Tracks in Uckfield: common questions
How often will a stone track need topping up?
On a well-drained track with normal use, not often. What causes constant topping up is water taking the fines away, so if you are re-stoning every year the answer is drainage rather than more stone.
Can you get plant down a narrow wooded track?
Usually, and access is one of the first things we look at on the visit. Where it is genuinely tight there are ways round it, but it affects the programme and the price, so it is much better established at the quoting stage than on the morning.
Is stone better than tarmac through woodland?
Generally yes. Tree roots lift and crack a bound surface over time, whereas stone flexes and can be regraded. Stone is also cheaper to build and can be topped up rather than replaced.
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