The Kettering guide
Artificial grass in Kettering: what lies beneath a lawn that lasts
How installers build an artificial lawn, why Kettering’s mixed ground matters, how it measures up against real turf, and what to ask anyone quoting.
Why so many Kettering lawns give up
A real lawn has a hard life in a typical town garden. It is walked on in the same few places, shaded by fences and extensions, dug by dogs and asked to dry out after every downpour. In a wet spell the strip by the back door turns to mud; in a hot one the whole lawn goes the colour of straw. Reseeding helps for a season, and then the bald patches return.
Artificial grass removes the mowing, feeding and patching, and gives a green surface that can be used the day after rain. It also brings its own needs: a base that drains, edges that hold, and a grass chosen for how the garden really gets used. Get those right and the lawn should look tidy for many years. Get them wrong and you can end up with ripples, puddles and lifting seams.
This guide covers the parts that decide which of those you get. Nothing here replaces a visit from an installer who has seen your garden, but it should help you ask better questions.
Local ground
Ridge and valley: the ground under Kettering
The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments described Kettering as standing on a flat-topped ridge, composed mainly of Northampton Sand
, with the land falling steeply east to the River Ise and west to The Slade, both of which flow S. in clay-floored valleys
. That one sentence explains a lot about local gardens.
The Northampton Sand is the ironstone behind the town’s industrial past. The British Geological Survey notes that it once supported a major steel industry
around Corby and Kettering, and that where it reaches the surface it weathers to brown or reddish brown limonitic sandstone
with a distinctive reddish brown soil
. Lower down, the BGS records the Whitby Mudstone along the valleys of the Ise Brook and the Nene, giving a very heavy greyish brown soil
.
Clay matters for a lawn because it moves and holds water. In the BGS words, the district’s clays and mudstones undergo significant volume changes in response to variation in moisture content
, soaking up water in winter and shrinking and cracking in dry periods. The survey also maps extensive areas of former ironstone workings to the north and east of the town as infilled ground, partly or wholly backfilled with the material dug away to reach the ore.
None of this tells you what is under one particular lawn. Two gardens on the same road can differ, and many have been dug, filled and levelled by builders over the years. So treat it as a reason to ask, not a forecast:
- What did the installer find when they dug a test hole or lifted a corner of turf?
- How deep will they excavate, and what happens if the ground is softer than expected?
- If water sits on the surface after rain today, how will the new base deal with it?
Sources: RCHME, Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northampton, vol. 2, Kettering (British History Online); British Geological Survey, Geology of the Kettering district: a brief explanation of sheet 171 (2005).
The layers
How a good artificial lawn goes together
Methods vary between installers and between gardens, but a well-made artificial lawn usually follows the same order:
- Mark out and lift. The area is marked, then the old turf and loose topsoil are cut out to an even depth. On heavy or soft ground, more may come out.
- Set the edges. A firm border goes in around the outside: treated timber, a steel or plastic edge, or a kerb against paving. This is what the grass will be fixed to.
- Build the base. Crushed stone is spread and compacted with a plate compactor, often in more than one pass, to make a solid platform that lets water through.
- Smooth the surface. A finer layer, typically granite dust or grit, is laid and screeded flat. Any dip left here will show through the grass later.
- Stop the weeds. A permeable membrane is usually laid under or over the fine layer, depending on the installer’s method.
- Roll out and join. The grass is laid with every piece running the same way, joined with tape and adhesive, and trimmed tight to the edges.
- Fix and finish. The perimeter is fixed down, any infill is brushed in and the pile is brushed up so the joins disappear.
Ask each installer to describe their own version of this list. If the answer skips the base or the edges, that tells you something.
Kettering homes
From Victorian terraces to new streets
Kettering grew very quickly with the railway and its industries. The town’s conservation area appraisal records that its population rose from 5,100 in 1851 to 30,000 in 1914
, and that whole estates of terraces were laid out on grid plans: Stockburn from 1865, the Milligan Estate from 1869 and the Holyoake Estate from 1873.
Alongside them, the appraisal describes the gradual growth of a leafy residential suburb
along the Headlands and up Rockingham Road, built like the terraces from local orange-red brick and ironstone. A terrace garden and a villa garden ask very different things of a lawn.
Barton Seagrave, which gives this site its name, is described in the Victoria County History as a village on the Kettering to Thrapston road, about two miles south-east of the town. It has had a conservation area since November 1988, and many new homes have been built north of St Botolph’s Road and Polwell Lane, extending towards Wicksteed Park.
Sources: Kettering Conservation Area Appraisal, March 2007; Victoria County History, Northamptonshire vol. 3, Barton Seagrave (British History Online); Planning Data, Barton Seagrave conservation area (planning.data.gov.uk); Wikipedia, Barton Seagrave.
Honest comparison
Real turf, artificial grass, or gravel and paving?
Artificial grass is one answer among several. This table compares them in general terms, with no figures, because so much depends on the garden.
| Real turf | Artificial grass | Gravel or paving | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In midsummer | Lovely when watered; browns in a dry spell | Green and even; the surface can feel warm in strong sun | Unchanged; stone and slabs can get hot |
| After heavy rain | Soft and muddy on worn patches | Usable soon after, if the base drains | Usable; paving needs somewhere for water to go |
| Weekly upkeep | Mowing, edging, feeding, weeding | A brush, leaf clearing and the odd rinse | Weeding joints, raking gravel |
| Children playing | Soft, but wears into mud | Soft and clean; add a shockpad under play frames | Hard underfoot and grazes knees |
| Dogs | Digging and yellow patches | Needs rinsing and a draining base | Easy to hose; hard on paws in heat |
| Wildlife | Supports insects and birds | Very little; keep borders planted | Little, unless planted between |
| Upfront cost | Lowest | Higher | Varies widely with materials |
| Ongoing cost | Seed, feed, a mower | Low | Low |
If you love gardening and the lawn gets decent sun, real turf may still suit you best. Many people end up mixing the three: grass where the family plays, paving where the chairs go, and generous planting for colour and wildlife.
Before you sign
Questions to ask artificial grass installers
- What is under my lawn? Have you looked below the turf, and what will you do if it is clay, rubble or fill?
- How deep and how firm? How deep will you dig, what stone will you use, and how many passes with the compactor?
- Where will the water go? Is the backing perforated or fully permeable, and how will rain leave the base?
- Which grass, and why? Which pile height and density do you suggest for how we use the garden?
- How are the edges fixed? What edging goes against the borders, paths and walls?
- What about the joins? Where will the seams fall, and which way will the pile face from the house?
- What leaves the site? Does the price cover carting off the dug-out turf and soil, and is it taken to a licensed tip?
- What is guaranteed? Is there a written guarantee on the installation as well as the grass, and for how long?
The same questions appear in the grass chooser, tailored to your answers.
Conservation areas and front gardens
Kettering has a conservation area of its own, first designated in March 1982 and extended in 1985, and the historic heart of Barton Seagrave is another. North Northamptonshire Council publishes the appraisals for both. If your home is in either, or is a listed building, speak to the council before changing a front garden. The same goes for any front garden where rainwater would no longer soak away. The council has the final word on what needs consent.
Sources: Kettering Conservation Area Appraisal, March 2007; North Northamptonshire Council, conservation areas.
More questions
How long does artificial grass last?
It depends on the grass, the base, the sunlight and the wear. Ask each installer what the grass maker guarantees and what they guarantee for their own work.
Will weeds come through?
A membrane and a well-compacted base keep most out. A few may seed into the surface from above and pull out easily.
Does it smell in hot weather?
Clean grass on a draining base should not. Smells usually come from pet waste that has not been rinsed through, which is covered on the dogs and families page.
What does it cost in Kettering?
Typical local figures, and what makes one lawn dearer than another, are on the cost guide.
See what your garden needs
Tell us the rough size, what is there now and who uses the lawn, and request a quote.