Block paving driveways in Leighton Buzzard.

Southcott and Sandhills were built between the 1960s and the 1990s, and most houses there still have the single-width concrete drive they started with. Swapping it, and the lawn beside it, for block paving across the whole front makes room for a second car and gives a front that is simple to look after.

The big new-build estates to the south and east came with short block drives, some of which have dipped where the base was thin. Any extension Terry adds sits on 200mm to 250mm of compacted stone so it stays level with, and does not follow, the original.

Nearer the centre, the Victorian and Edwardian houses between the High Street and Linslade station have small fronts and rely on the street for parking. The High Street and Market Square are in the conservation area, with more than 70 listed buildings.

Central Bedfordshire runs residents' parking zones near the centre and the station; on those streets the van and skip are agreed with you in advance. On the estates everything stays on the drive.