Hi,

I was wondering if someone could offer any advice on the best solution for the problem described below.

The problem is that my lawn is degenerating in a muddy swamp. I live in Warrington and it never snows and never freezes, but it always rains, so in the past, when everyone else has been building snowmen, we've been getting trench foot.

My problem is particularly acute as there is a small stream or brook running along the bottom of the garden. As across most of Cheshire, the soil is mostly clay, so drainage is a foreign concept to us. Over the last few years it was a regular thing to have the bottom of the garden awash with 3 feet of water after a few weeks of heavy rainfall.

Two years ago a I tried to fix the problem permanently by digging drainage ditches filled with gravel running to a pipe which empties back into the brook. I then covered the entire lawn area with three tonnes of sand and sprinkled grass seed over it. A combination of continuous rain since then (the brief heat wave killed some of it off) and my three dogs, means that only patches of rather pathetic grass have returned and while the garden doesn't flood anymore (success!) it remains a muddy pit for most of the time.

I'm now considering alternatives. I don't care about having a lawn. It's more hassle than it's worth and I don't do that kind of gardening anyway. I'm more interested in growing tomatoes and I grow those in pots on the patio, which is nearly 2 metres above the level of the lawn. I'm happy to grow bushes, shrubs, small trees etc. on and around the lawn area instead.

My current idea is to fill up with another few tonnes of sand and lay some kind of bark mulch over the top in a thick layer. This way the top surface will hopefully remain dry and the dogs can run about without coming back inside with feet caked in wet mud!

I'd be very grateful for any comments or alternative ideas.

Thanks