Paths

With increasing desire for access and use of rural facilities and open spaces, the demands on pathways are in many cases greater than those for which they were originally designed and built. Many paths are nothing more than a route over ground, which has been worn over time by repeated use, with no planned facility for drainage, durability, or ease of access for groups like the elderly or wheelchair users.

DMS can objectively access a path and determine exactly what alterations and features are required in order to make it suitable to current and future demands. DMS are skilled in selecting and applying suitable path surface reinforcement and in building structural features like water bars and ground retaining walls, so that whatever the demands on the path, it will be durable in the long term. Other features like gates and stiles can be built or refurbished as required by our specialist staff, skilled in these traditional crafts.

Cattle Tracks

In the same way that many footpaths are little more than lines in the ground where foot traffic has habitually passed, cattle form paths through pastures. In dairy herds particularly, cattle creating paths through pasture can give rise to significant ground poaching on pasture and subsequent silting in watercourses. Cattle tracks are designed to reduce this effect and their use in pasture where there are diary herds is becoming established. Cattle tracks not only reduce poaching of ground but also reduce incidence of lameness in stock. DMS build cattle tracks along the routes within the pasture that the cattle habitually use, leading to gateways and drinking water, where wider surface reinforcement is used. The tracks are designed to be raised above the surrounding ground, self draining, and can where required be constructed using soil cement.