My neighbour and I both have gravel driveways, but hers always looks neater than mine and I've discovered her secret

One of my biggest bugbears when it comes to my driveway is how easily it can go from looking nice and neat to an absolute mess.

I have a part tarmac and part gravel driveway, and it does have it's positives in that it provides an additional off-road parking space, is good for security, and is inexpensive to replenish when it needs it. But the gravel goes everywhere. Whenever it's parked on, the gravel moves around, and I feel like I'm constantly sweeping loose gravel from the public path back on to the driveway to keep things looking neat.

But after spotting my neighbour's new gravel driveway, that doesn't seem to move a muscle even when it's parked on, I was curious as to hers seemed so much lower maintenance than mine. So she told me her secret — gravel grids.

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While my gravel sits on top of a weed membrane, like this heavy duty version from Amazon (£25 for 50m), it has no method of containment. Combine that with the fact my driveway is sloped, if it's not a parked car it's foot traffic across the gravel that makes it move around. It's a bit of a downside of this particular driveway material.

Conversely, my neighbour's gravel sits neatly in a gravel grid, meaning it doesn't move around, even when she's driving over it. There's also enough gravel on her driveway that you can't see the grid, so on the face of it, it' just looks like a beautiful, and tidy, driveway. My dream.

Gravel grids work by interlocking grids that form a sort of egg-box structure. Once they are installed, you apply the gravel over the top and manoeuvre it into the holes made by the grid. This prevents the gravel from moving around, keeping it in place. If you use enough gravel, the grids are invisible.

Once finished, the driveway is strong enough to be walked and driven on, and the gravel will stay put.

While I'd previously looked into resurfacing my driveway (I love the look of a resin driveway, but it's not the most affordable option). So now I'm in research mode as to how much it would cost to install something like this on my own driveway.

First I'll get quotes from local driveway companies, then I'll look into how feasible it would be to do on a DIY basis. But as I'd need to remove all of the existing gravel, ensure the base is level before installing a new weed membrane, the gravel grids (which may need to be cut to size), and then the gravel, it may be best that I leave it to a professional.