Witton Gilbert stands north-west of the city, in the valley of the Browney rather than on the peninsula. Houses climb off the valley floor. Gardens slope. A single flat rectangle rarely describes the plot. Our team builds decks here in DH7 by setting levels that follow the fall, with air under every board. The Wear is part of the wider picture further south. The slope in the village is local, and it is enough.
A valley village
The older village gathers near the bottom. Later houses sit higher, with gardens that drop towards a fence. At the door we want a surface you can walk out onto. If the ground falls faster than one step can handle, a second deck belongs, not a frame that pretends the lawn is flat.
Neville's Cross is back towards the city, on the west side, with its own slopes above the Wear. The Wear-bank guide is how we think about levels on a Durham slope, and it applies to a Browney-side plot even though the river at the foot of Witton Gilbert is not the Wear. The method is the same: measure the fall, set platforms where people stand, and let steps do the rest.
Wind funnels down the valley. We put the upper deck where you actually sit, usually near the house, not on the bleak edge of the slope.
Levels down the plot
Each platform is measured from the ground beside it, not from the door at the top. The Planning Portal height of 30 cm is above the ground around that part of the deck. A deck that is low at the house and a metre in the air at the bottom edge is not a low deck. If the fall is that strong, we split the structure, keep each part low to the bank beside it, and connect them with steps. Split-level decks is that build.
Posts on a slope differ in length and need bracing. Footings are dug at each one, because the bank can change in a short distance. The BGS Geology Viewer is the map. Trial holes are what we trust.
We do not invent a flood zone for the village. Gardens well up the side are a different case from ground near the watercourse. The flood map for planning takes the postcode. We read it before we put a lower platform anywhere near the bottom of a plot. Ventilation still matters on the dry upper bank. A void full of leaves on a slope stays wet.
Rules on a sloping plot
The usual tests for a house still apply, and the slope makes them easier to get wrong. Within 30 cm of the adjacent ground, within half the garden, and behind the front wall: that is the permitted-development shape. Split levels are judged piece by piece against the ground they sit over. We will not stack a tall platform and describe it as a low deck because the uphill edge touches the soil.
Village centres can fall inside conservation areas. The national dataset is the check for your address, not a guess from stone and slate. On that designated land, decking to the side of the house is not permitted development. If the house is listed, decking in the garden is not permitted development at all. We do not decide that a Witton Gilbert house is listed because it looks old. Flats and converted buildings sit outside the householder allowances. Tell us what the building is.
We look at the way in on the visit, whether that is the side or a path from below, and we cut lengths to suit it.
A frame that can dry on a bank
Air has to cross the void even when one edge is close to a rising lawn. We keep an open side downhill, where the frame is naturally higher off the ground, and we stop soil being pulled down the bank into the joists. A membrane and a drained layer under the upper deck keep the void from becoming a planter. The lower deck gets the same discipline. Two sealed boxes on a wet bank are worse than one.
Composite avoids splinters on a damp slope. Timber suits the house if someone will keep the leaves off it. The step between levels uses the same surface, with an even rise.
Ask for a quote with the postcode and a plain note: garden slopes to the lane, or garden slopes away from the house. We visit with a measure, not with a standard rectangle. The quote names the levels, the steps and the ventilation. If permission is the honest path, we say that before we talk about boards.
FAQ
Is the whole village on a steep bank?
No. Some plots drop sharply and some are only a gentle fall. We measure yours. The design follows that measurement.
Can one deck do it?
Sometimes, if the fall is small. If the downhill edge would be high above the ground, we split the levels so each platform stays low beside itself.
Does the Browney mean a flood constraint?
Not as a village-wide label. The flood map for the postcode is the check, and it matters most for gardens near the bottom.
What should we tell you?
Postcode, which way the garden falls, and whether the house might be in the older part of the village. The quote form starts the visit.
Sources: Planning Portal: decking; BGS Geology Viewer; Flood map for planning; Planning Data: conservation areas.