Steep, tight & drainage - Best surface for steep and tight drive

[Sinbad]

Hello all,

Apologies if I've missed existing postings that answer my queries!

My driveway is basically 'L' shaped with a steep straight run of maybe 8-10 metres upto the garage on the left (too steep to practically park on), and a single parking bay perpendicular along the base of the 'L'.

The bay is open to the pavement/road along the base of the 'L' and has a ~1m retaining wall along its top edge and end i.e. it's cut into the front garden. The surface within the bay is a good deal less steep than the drive but still sloped (unevenly) towards the pavement/road.

To access the parking bay I have to reverse up onto it from the base of the main drive then jiggle about a bit to finish square, with the car parallel to the pavement and at right angles to the drive.

Both the drive and bay are currently surfaced in very old tarmac that is well and truly shot. In particular I've noticed that in the 2.5 years I've been parking in the bay my front tyres have absolutely chewed the tarmac up from having to jiggle and turn on the same 2 spots.

Furthermore, I have a further issue whereby, following rain, groundwater rises along the bottom edge of the bay and literally flows over the pavement and onto the road. This has resulted in the ~6" of tarmac along the base of the bay being destroyed to the point that it's now more grass and earth.

I have 2 queries if I may:

1) What would the best surface be for the drive and bay given a) the slope and b) the fact that I will have to continue turning on the same 2 spots?

2) Is there a drainage solution, which could be run the length of the bay and be able to accept groundwater from below (even if it the water continues to overflow onto the pavement it can't be left as it is as the water would surely force its way up again and destroy any new surface if it were laid flush to the pavement)?

Many thanks for any wisdom/assistance.

Matt Sinclair.

[Tony McC]

1 - mass concrete or block paving

2 - a fin drain or drainage composite