Most people spend longer choosing a front door than they do choosing their driveway gates. That surprises me every time, because the gates are the first thing anyone sees.
They set the tone for the whole property. Get them right and everything behind them looks better. Get them wrong - wrong timber, wrong proportions, wrong hardware - and no amount of landscaping fixes it.
I'm Thomas Sangwin. My family has been making joinery in Yorkshire for four generations. I grew up in this workshop, completed a seven-year traditional apprenticeship, and for the past several years I've focused almost entirely on wooden gates - primarily large driveway gates for premium properties across the UK. What follows is everything I'd want you to know before you buy.