There are two strangers sat in my garden eating their dinner

[Scrowy]

I've told them it's private property and not part of the footpath that passes next to it. Apparently they will be on their way soon.

I've now chickened out of saying anything else but I'm passive aggressively watering the hanging baskets about 5m away from them and they are very deliberately not making eye contact with me.

[lottiegarbanzo]

Nice diagram OP!

Opera practice time is it not?

Though I love the idea of pulling up a deck chair and joining in the chat.

[Ellie56]

@Seesawmummadaw

We get people parking on our drive because they don’t want to pay for the beach car park a couple of hundred yards away.

The cheeky fuckers are the ones that ring the bell to ask if they can use our toilet!

Hope you tell them to piss off.

[ConsuelaHammock]

Just seen your diagram. They are cheeky feckers. Go and sit down beside them and video them on your phone.

[yellowsubmarines]

Sounds like they thought they were following a 'public footpath' sign OP? There are some nutters around my way who meet regularly to search for old rights of ways and then post them on the local FB page encouraging people to go through what looks like private land to exercise their 'right to walk'. When confronted by the land owners these walkers get somewhat aggressive talking about their 'rights'.
Is there any way you can mark off your private land with some sort of boundary to distinguish it from the footpath?

[PicsInRed]

Top marks for diagram. One of the best I've seen.

Can you put a gate with a sign "private property" across the gap between the two walls (at the start of the cart track)? The ambiguity they're deliberately exploiting lies there.

[AutoGroup]

Do people miss the path perhaps?. DH and I were once merrily strolling along what we thought was part of the Dales Way when a lady came out and asked if we were lost.

"Oh no", we said. "You are" she said this is private land. We' d missed our turning about half a mile back

[DobbyTheHouseElk]

Excellent diagram.

I sort of can see why they’d think it was ok to be there.

[MiddleClassProblem]

I think a private property sign on the footpath side of the cattle grid would help if not one there already.

[Youngatheart00]

Great diagram!

Definitely some form of fence and signage. It shouldn’t be necessary but you will then be making it abundantly clear it is private land and not any sort of right of way.

[MrsMackesy]

No PA watering of the hanging baskets, OP. Unless either or both are disabled or unwell, a firm 'oi, get orf my land immediately' is what is needed here.

[Clymene]

That is an excellent diagram. ⭐️

[TheoMeo]

Is the bank mown/strimmed - then stop strimming and make a wildlife banking, If it isn't mown/strimmed start doing that so it is obviously not open land.

[Laiste]

I love the diagram ! :)

However, you mentioned a public footpath sign pointing past the house. Where's that?
(sorry)

[Itllbeaninterestingchristmas]

We used to get this frequently when I was growing up as lived on a very popular walking route. My brother and I started serving cream teas so if they wanted to sit down it cost them!

[Wombats12]

Excellent diagram.

In awe...

Walker DH, who is braver than I in going in yards, says total CFuckery,

I had this row with a neighbour and she said "it's all God's Land". To make matters worse, my DM, whose land I was protecting, implied it was me that caused the issue!

[myfuckingfreezer]

Not a chance. No one is THAT wet

[catpyjamas]

You definitely have the award for best diagram on Mumsnet 2021

and they are complete CFs that is clearly private property.

[DansMaPoche]

We have a popular footpath pass right next to the house and I think people assume our garden is some kind of public park due to the footpath. This is not the first time it's happened (I regularly joke about putting out some picnic benches and charging) but it's the first time they haven't moved when asked...

Okay so this makes things a bit clearer. While I fully appreciate that it's annoying for you and these people should have moved on once told, how about you put a proper boundary up? It sounds as though it's very unclear where the public footpath ends and your garden starts. Instead of getting all passive aggressive with people who have made a mistake, make your own life a bit easier by preventing it from happening in the future. Don't buy benches, just get a fence.

[Wombats12]

We have a piece of land opposite our house and it's private. We have signs and people will stand and argue that it's Council-owned...

[Cleverpolly3]

@MrsMackesy

I also came on to see if it was the elderly Korean lady and a friend...

[Scrowy]

To be clear the bit I've labelled 'road, private farm track' IS a footpath, but one mostly used by locals as it's just a circular route from the village a few miles away to us.

The cart track is not a footpath.

[SuperSecretSquirrels]

We’ve got a very similar set up here. IMO it’s the track between the garden and the house that confuses people. I eventually partially fenced ours and put a sign on the fence and it seems to have done the trick.

[DansMaPoche]

Ok just seen the diagram. If it's too big an area to fence then some signs should do the trick. As there is a road/track between your house and the grass they are sitting on, I don't think it's especially obvious that it's part of your land.

[Alternista]

So it goes house - wall - grassy bank. I can see how they’d think the other side of the wall was ok tbh, but they should have apologised and moved straightaway.

Maybe get a little sign?

[Bluntness100]

I also think you need a sign if this is happening regularly.

However some folks are just cheeky fuckers and don’t give a shit, I once found a woman wandering my garden as she’d a postcard with the house on it and was having a look. I had another bloke playing ball with his dog, when I went out and said this is my garden he looked really confused and said “is it, what all of it?” Admittedly it’s large but you need to come through a tall garden gate with the house name sign on it and it’s bloody clear it’s my garden. He was only about a hundred yards from my living room window playing fetch with his dog.
Proper cheeky fuckers.