Should I accept random woman gawping through my bifolds?

[GleeFull]

I live rurally. It's dog walking, horse riding, rambler territory. My house is surrounded by a large field (privately owned, not by us) with very few neighbours. At the very far end of the field and nowhere near my house, is a bridle way which said dog walkers etc use. Nobody enters the main part of the field in general because it's private property, though you could if you wanted to as there's no fencing or gates to stop you. Mine and my neighbour's garden adjoin the field and we both have very large windows onto our gardens.

There's this random woman and her dog who have now taken to walking slowly around the perimeter of the field. Whilst she does this, she stares and has a right old nosey into my garden and directly into my house. I also have a dog who goes flipping mental at her and her dog essentially being at the other side of a livestock fence (waist high). Last week, I called my dog in as she was standing with her dog at the bottom of my garden (about 20feet from my bifold doors). She waved at me like I welcomed her being at the other side of my garden. Usually I'm the neighbour who waves and smiles and stops my car to chat, but I just wanted to say, 'This is like you're in my garden with me, f**k off!'

Any advice Mumsnet?

Set up some speakers by the boundary where she loiters and when she drifts by give her a blast of white snake

I wouldn't be able to resist a passive aggressive "you know that this isn't a public right of way don't you?"

But she isn’t in your garden is she? If you’re that bothered, put up a big fence!

The topiary would be great! I found some old cctv signs earlier in the shed so I might put those on the fence. She’s clearly quite thick skinned so my grumpy face and not returning her wave, probably won’t keep her away. I have to agree with @DSD9472 in an open space, the distance feels like nothing. It’s just a grassy field over a waist height fence, so I guess a similar scenario to posters who get gawped at over back garden fences.

Have a word with the farmer and let him/her know that it would appear someone has taken to walking their dog around the entire thing and did he/she know… since the field normally houses sheep and I’ve no idea if dog poo is bad for sheep 😇.

Unless she's the landowner - or has permission from the landowner - then she needs to stick to the bridleway.
Do you know the landowner? Perhaps you could have a word as they may not be aware people are using the whole field.
We've had this situation locally when lazy dog owners thought they could let their dogs off the lead and run them all around the field. The result was dog mess not being picked up in a field that was growing grass for animal feed. The owner went ballistic on Facebook - and rightly so. Signs were erected (which bizarrely have frequently been ripped down).

This

Plus a passive aggressive "you know the bridle path is over there" or "there's no right of way there" every single time.

Sadly there are lots of people who don't understand that they and their dog should stay on the path.

Why should I? I have a fence which is appropriate to the situation I live in. It keeps my dog in and marks a boundary. At the boundary with my neighbour, we have tall hedging and fence panels as that’s appropriate for privacy. This is a field not a street or a recreation ground.

Or you could just go out and say do you know the field is private property. Maybe she doesn’t realise.

Unfortunately the land is owned as just part of a much scattered estate. The sheep are in rarely as they get moved about. I’ve had some useful ideas here. Interestingly I think it’s mostly used for hay production in the summer and the odd sheep grazing in winter so her dog pooing might not go down well if they catch her. I’ll practice my scowling for tomorrow

It’s weird that she’s waved at you.

We’ve got a path that goes along the back of some houses here and I must admit I’ve had a nosey to see what extension/conservatories/garden furniture people have as I’ve been walking , but I would be mortified if anyone had seen me and I certainly wasn’t looking into their houses, I wouldn’t think gawping in someone’s window would be welcomed by many people.

She’s probably a bit thick, I’d go with telling her she’s on private land and see if she takes the hint.

I think you should include a map

I am too.
And you know what I learnt about walking rights before walking in a random field. Actually in my home country, doing what that woman is doing could easily trigger the farmer to shoot towards you too. If not at you.
So yes you learn.
there is no excuse for not learning.

@CaramelMac It is weird that she waved at me, isn't it? This was why I was doubting myself in thinking this wasn't right, tbh. I felt really bad about not waving back, but I know if I did then she'd think it was ok. And it's really not. Like standing looking over the fence from your next door neighbour's garden isn't ok.

So my husband says he thinks she's freshly moved into a house not so far from here across the other side of the field. Where they've put up a massive solid remote control gate, which blocks out all her drive and garden. And nobody can gawp into her property. That's kinda really pissed me off. Maybe I should just try and be flattered that she's sussing out my house renovate ideas 😀

In addition to my earlier topiary suggestion, add a sign at the end of your garden, visible from where she walks:
' If you can read this sign, you are trespassing on private property'

Then have a motion sensor sprinkler, that just so happens to spray slightly over your boundary into the field 😆