Picket is the right call on any Deal or Walmer cottage frontage, and it is often the only call inside the Middle Street Conservation Area where anything above 1m needs Dover District Council planning consent. Vertical picket, spaced or close-boarded, at 800mm to 1000mm, painted heritage black or dark grey - that is the Georgian streetscape front-garden expectation.
Estate-grade softwood versus oak
The workaday spec is estate-grade treated softwood - planed pickets, painted top and sides. Oak is the upgrade: heavier, longer-lived, and a good match for the older Middle Street and Beach Street frontages that already have oak framing behind them. Oak picket unpainted greys down over five years to a driftwood tone that fits the Georgian streetscape well.
Middle Street Conservation Area
Middle Street is one of the best-preserved Georgian streets in the country, and the conservation officer at Dover DC will be looking at any front-garden change. In practice most front-boundary work runs at 900mm or under to stay inside the permitted-development window, and heritage-fence style - vertical picket painted heritage black or dark grey, oak or estate-grade softwood - is what neighbours and the officer expect. I walk you through the drawing pack before the quote is committed.
Walmer and Kingsdown cottage frontages
Off the Middle Street window the picket rule relaxes. Walmer Beach Street cottages, Kingsdown Lower Street cottages - painted picket at 900mm to 1000mm, spaced or close, in white, sage or heritage black. Softwood is fine, oak is the upgrade for anyone planning to stay put ten years.
How pricing works
Quoted from photos, installed at 900mm height in softwood, painted. Oak picket costs more per metre than softwood. Gates are priced to match. All quotes are for supply and fit, on existing posts where usable, on new posts where not.
Quote from photos. Send a couple of photos and a postcode to WhatsApp on 07763 100 477 or use the quote form. Fixed price on straightforward runs.