Why Don't These People Decorate Their Driveways?

Hello again! Thankfully that niggling sore throat has just about gone away, and I feel ready to post again. Especially after the eye-tingling sight I saw on the way to my wonderful Nana's house (which I believe I've mentioned before :)) back on Tuesday. She lives in a small suburb of Brighton called Rottingdean, and there's this long road spanning two or three hills leading up to the convent-turned-residence where she lives. And along it there are several identical houses, with big gardens. And that all sounds very pretty and positive to have a garden, but that will change once you see the real thing!

 These driveways! I mean really. They have such a huge opportunity to decorate a front garden of a size like that, but they choose to leave it in plain stone. Tut Tut. Some people. It's made even worse by that shadow from the brick wall. Even less picturesque.

 Maybe this one with the crazy paving is a little better. I always like all the mad cracks, they're disorderly but fun. Only they sort of fade away into dirt at the edge, a sign of low maintenance. 

But I HATE THAT IRON GATE! It's almost as if the designers have tried to conceal the empty driveway by putting in fake über-security . Honestly, things like that belong in a manor house, not an average suburban family home. Know what you design, as they say.

This next one I actually quite like, amazingly. I love the loneliness of that skinny little tree, an island in a sea of driveway. It's a very small decoration but very effective. 

These gardens with the exotic plants (and some very impressive pampas grass) are also great, and if we had a garden in London then I would love some of those plants. Even though they're from such distant lands, they fit in anywhere, including the outskirts of Brighton. And that smaller one with all the tree-lined pathways looks like some enchanted wood out of a fairy story.

So, garden designers of Brighton, I've told you what you're doing right and wrong. I've told you that empty driveways are bad and exotic plants and grassy gardens are more attractive.  So this should suggest a logical course of action!
-DP :)