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Original poster

Garden overlooked by several houses - is this a no-no?

68 replies

whitechocolatesouffle · 13/07/2021 16:50

We've found a house we really like which ticks pretty much all the boxes except for the fact that the garden is overlooked by four or five different houses. Our current (small) garden is quite private and although we don't do anything particularly wild in there (other than gardening and sunbathing) it feels relaxing knowing that no-one is looking on.

Has anyone gone from having a private garden to an overlooked garden and did you regret it? I do spend a lot of time in the garden especially now I work from home and it's a bit of a sanctuary for me. I realise that there are things I can do to get more privacy like planting trees and adding trellises etc but these take a while to be effective. Does anyone who has an overlooked garden feel under surveillance or do you just get used to it after a while and relax? I often go out with a coffee in my dressing gown first thing looking a bit of a fright and not sure if the world is ready for this sight.........

OP posts:
Snoken · 13/07/2021 19:15

We are quite overlooked and I don’t love it. I’ll go out to do the gardening but never just relax in there. It feels like I’m out there eavesdropping or something.

Original poster
whitechocolatesouffle · 13/07/2021 19:19

Again thank you all for offering different perspectives and suggestions. I think privacy in the garden is more important to me than I thought when we started our house hunt. It wasn't until we stepped outside the house and I looked up and all I could see was windows in every direction that I suddenly realised it mattered.

It's a real shame as the house is otherwise lovely with well proportioned rooms etc but even with screens/gazebo/trellis it would still be hard to "defend" from every angle. Maybe we'll arrange another viewing just to see what might be possible screening-wise and see if the agent has any suggestions as he's been in the business a long time apparently.

OP posts:
drpet49 · 13/07/2021 19:22

I wouldn’t buy this house

Kezzie200 · 13/07/2021 19:27

We have always had a overlooked garden as we live on the coast in Cornwall on valley side, so it's inevitable (unless you have millions). Clever planting, if your garden is big enough and you have border control, can allow a summer relatively private or you can build landscaping to do what you want.

Ultimately, I don't think most people are very interested! We do get people speak to us, I guess, when they are walking past but we like it!

HarrisMcCoo · 13/07/2021 19:30

Like a few others here, we have always had an overlooked garden. It is just one of those things, a trade off for all the other perks of the property.

Toty · 13/07/2021 19:35

No that would be a deal breaker for me but I like to lounge outside in not very much in the sun! Bottom half of garden is visible to neighbours but my patio is totally private. You could use parasols/sail shades for privacy maybe? Or do as some of my neighbours have done and built pergolas?

user1471538283 · 13/07/2021 21:22

My most favourite house was overlooked but I had a little bit that was a little hidden. And I had quiet neighbors.

The last house wasnt as overlooked but the neighbors were horrendous.

I've always wanted a completely private yard with quiet neighbors. I think you would struggle with being overlooked.

TooManyPlatesInMotion · 13/07/2021 21:26

Central London here. Our garden is surrounded by others'. We are used to it. Noise is more of an issue than being over looked!

Viviennemary · 13/07/2021 21:31

If you spend a lot of time in the garden then its big no no. Our garden happens to be quite private but I'm not into using it very much. But overlooked by five houses. I wouldn't like that. And there's overlooked and overlooked. No. Give it a miss.

Original poster
whitechocolatesouffle · 13/07/2021 22:13

Thanks - the general consensus seems to be that I won't be happy being so overlooked and that's what my gut's telling me.

OP posts:
Partypoooooper · 13/07/2021 22:26

Also depends on the neighbours, most people aren't bothered what their neighbours are doing in their own gardens but if you get a nosy a*hole staring at you all day you will want to leave ASAP. Talking from experience here, will never live somewhere overlooked again if I can help it.

BoxHedge · 13/07/2021 22:39

It definitely did/does bother me. The garden feels like a public space, like sitting reading in the park. Even if 99.9% of the time no one would be watching.

I’d personally try to budget for a hedge of mature-ish pleached trees around the boundary. It could add several thousand pounds to the cost of the house. But better than paying for pergolas etc which will only cover certain angles.

If you have loads of space in the garden then leylandi would be a cheaper option than pleached/full standard clear-stem trees.

Bamboo can be good for some screening but in reality I’ve found it’s not quite tall enough to screen first floor windows from the garden. Neither are trellises high enough. You really need trees.

Original poster
whitechocolatesouffle · 14/07/2021 07:18

@BoxHedge I hadn't thought about pleached trees although I'm guessing that mature ones, as you say, will be very expensive.

OP posts:
TheVolturi · 14/07/2021 07:25

When we bought our house it was totally private, and it was one of the reasons we bought it. Then 7 years later houses were built at the end of our garden 🤦🏻‍♀️ so we are now overlooked. Our garden is large so no one was looking right in, but it wasn't great. When planning permission was granted we planted trees along the bottom and now they are a decent height to give us some privacy thankfully. We also have some frosted film on the large rear patio windows to give more privacy. It's OK now.
Is there any ways you could make the garden a bit more private?

Megan2018 · 14/07/2021 07:34

It’s a dealbreaker for DH, it’s not for me.

One neighbour can see in to our garden from an upstairs back bedroom window, but other than that ours is very private.

I think you have to keep looking.

HarrisMcCoo · 14/07/2021 07:37

Unless you are incredibly wealthy and can afford acres of land to avoid being overlooked, it will always be a problem for many.

There are lots of ways to problem solve to make a garden more private.

Original poster
whitechocolatesouffle · 14/07/2021 07:44

Not incredibly wealthy no sadly. Perhaps there is a creative solution to be had but I still think it will be nearly impossible to make it completely private short of asking new neighbours to brick up a couple of windows each!

OP posts:
HarrisMcCoo · 14/07/2021 07:48

Thanks to another poster on this thread, I am considering a sail shade. Hadn't even heard of them before. It may offer my garden a bit more privacy than it currently has. I suffer from bad hay fever so rarely sit out but on the rare occasions I do, like yourself OP, I would prefer it to be a bit more private. It's not easy.

Cooldryplace · 14/07/2021 07:52

My back bedroom windows overlook 5 neighbours. In the last 20 years I'd say I've spent maybe 20 mins looking out of them and that would only be to find out what's going on if people are being particularly rowdy.

It would be different if we were overlooked by someone's kitchen, for example, but really how often do you do more than glance out of a bedroom window?

Also, it's easy to screen, say, a seating area with plants over time.

CliftonGreenYork · 14/07/2021 07:57

I've never understood the obsession people have with not being overlooked in their garden. Would love to know what dodgy things you are worried that your neighbours will see you getting up to.

Greenlittle · 14/07/2021 08:00

I like to sunbathe naked in mine 😃

RedRiverShore · 14/07/2021 08:00

Part of our garden is but most isn't, it doesn't really bother me as it is only from top upstairs windows from next door that is

TwoZeroTwoZero · 14/07/2021 08:07

You can see our garden from the other houses, as we can see our neighbours' gardens, but it really doesn't have any impact upon what we do out there and I highly doubt they'd care even if they were watching. It doesn't feel anything other than private.

We have a small summerhouse as well. It faces the side so no neighbours can see inside when I fall asleep on the settee in there.

Jent13c · 14/07/2021 08:11

Ours is incredibly overlooked on all sides but 1 but really it was the best we could afford so its not a big deal. The biggest gossip my neighbours could have about me is to comment on the ridiculous amount of washing that I hang out there. Plus realistically my garden is for the kids at the moment, its no zen tranquil space.

bigbluebus · 14/07/2021 08:33

We used to have a garden that wasn't overlooked until they built houses behind us. The position of them in relation to us isn't too bad and because we've been here longer we have mature trees and put trellis on top of our fence just before they started building, which at some times if the year cuts out the neighbours view. However, we did visit the house behind us just before it was first sold, and it's view into next door's kitchen would put me off living in the house next door to us. That said, the neighbours in the house behind are annoying for many more reasons that their windows overlooking our garden - loud music, yelling mother, screaming for no reason children, loud performance parent father. This impacts on our enjoyment of our garden far more than whether or not they choose to stare at us from their bedroom windows!