CF allotment thief part 2: the Battle of Barbara and the Beansprouts

[YaMuvva]

Hi all, sorry I didn’t get a chance to post the link to this in the last thread, but it filled up too quickly.

So, another update

DH and I sat and had a looooong talk last night. We poured over every option, the pro’s and cons and the best and worst case scenarios. We thought of every possible situation that could arise from each option and we made a decision this morning.

it was actually the best/worst case scenario talk that clinched it.
Best case scenario for selling it to her was we get a little bit of money. Worst case is we have no allotment and the house possibly devalues.

Best case scenario for if we shared the land is that she is a pleasant plot neighbour and isn’t bitter that we are on the land that used to be ‘hers’ and doesn’t try to boss us about. But worst case scenario is that she remains bitter and makes our lives hell, interferes and our allotment space becomes an unbearable place to be.

Best case scenario for if we keep it to ourselves is we have the enjoyment of a long awaited allotment, one that makes a massive difference to DH’s MH and our general life enjoyment. Worst case scenario is that we make a neighbour - who is smart enough to find another plot or use her own generous garden - cross.

We figured that the worst case scenarios for all 3 weren’t worth risking the absolute best case scenario could bring.

So we are kicking her off.

We discussed letting her wait some months before making her leave or until the end of the growing season around about the end of September. But that when you consider the weather, that would mean we wouldn’t truly be able to enjoy the allotment in good weather for a whole year. I know it can still be enjoyed in horrible weather but the thought of missing out on a whole entire summer of gardening, relaxing and recuperating just feels too long. She has also indicated she will fight us - well she can try and she won’t win so I’d rather the ‘fight’ was a short one not a long one

We went to the plot this morning (no Babs in sight!) and took a soil test, took pictures, used that app to mark the plots (thanks to PP for the tips), and measured it and took pictures of the measurements/readings. From what we can tell she has root veg, fruit and a little herb garden patch, all growing fairly well considering the time of year. We didn’t disturb anything

Going to call the home insurers today to see if we can get legal cover and reclaim costs from the previous owner so solicitors can write her a letter - if not we will just instruct our current solicitors and make the reclaim too. I know we could do a letter ourselves but I really think a legal middle man would be worth the money. We will take solicitors advice on how much notice to give her - but it won’t be long notice. No point, may as well rip the plaster off now. We won’t be offering to buy the shed as I don’t want to be beholden to Barbara or have her make out to others that we stole the shed. We want a clean slate, to pick our own items.

I do feel bad that Barbara will be losing something that is so dear to her and that her ‘sanctuary’ will be taken away but the bottom line is it does not belong to her and she has known this for 10 years. She could have spent that 10 years, or even just the nine months since the house went on the market, to find another sanctuary. We are being selfish, we have been through unimaginable struggles and it’s time to just live for ourselves not a random neighbour. If that makes us a pariah in the community I can take it.

DH also messaged our police officer friend of ours this morning who said if the time comes to bin her stuff and dismantle the shed to call 101 and tell them “We are doing this, it’s our property and we will handle everything with care and bring it to her home” and then if she calls them saying we are stealing or damaging our property then we are one step ahead at least.

I like Plot Twist 🤣

OP you are being very mean to this woman who I imagine was left as a foundling on this plot of land and brought up by squirrels, so can’t possible have any knowledge of worldly things like rent and title deeds.

I think Helena Bonham Carter could probably play her in the film.

I think I must have missed something, I thought you were a little older than that. I was imagining DH as something like Rufus Sewell.

Barbara was borrowing something from a friend. The friend sold that thing. Barbara can't borrow it anymore.

Why are some people not getting this?

Time to get some BARBed wire...

I hope you don't mean to imply that DH won't make it to the end of the story!

We are early-mid 40’s, DH more mid than early so Rufus is perhaps a bit old!

(Why am I talking like this is actually going to happen 🤣)

Plot Twist would be an amazing Aardman animation or a film in the guise of The Kingsmen. Babs could be the matriarch or a criminal underworld dealing in illegal Courgettes and masquerading as a retired green grocer all the while having a side hustle dealing crack.

#TeamYam all the way

Another vote for Plot Twist!😂

Have you checked Barbara’s deeds to see if she has an allotment plot of her own. I assume not as she’s using yours but I would still want to check.

Surely if they were friends barbara knew the house (and by extension the allotment) was beibg sold? Not like she had no notice

Nooo! He survives 75% of the time!

Plot Twist is a great title, especially if the whole thing is played completely straight, no last minute twists at all.

I vote dame judi Dench for Barbara
and Maggie Smith for your seller

I’m afraid I don’t have much (any) sympathy for Barbara. It sounds as though she knew the house was sold 3 months ago, yet she still went ahead and planted for this year, without considering that the new owners might want to use THEIR land. Rather than feel hard done by that she will no longer be able to use her ‘sanctuary’, she should reframe things and be grateful that she has had the free use of it for ten years. Presumably, she also knew that the house was for sale and that would have been the time to buy the land or formalise the arrangement with the previous owner (if that is even possible).

Let’s be ambitious. Imagine…a West End Musical! songs likes “Carrots mean more me to me than carats” “You bet, courgette” “Plotting my life” “The allotment means Alott to me”

That's a very good point: you don't want to lose your topsoil.

Could your DH be played by Chiwetel Ejiofor? He should be in more things IMO.

Op, as we read threads, we get a vision in our heads of who would play each character in your upcoming mini-series. Your solicitor will be played by Judge Judy and you will be played by the woman from Mandy (also Motherland). Sorry if you were hoping for a more refined, Bafta award winning actor. Barbara will be played by the actual Queen Camilla as a one-orf with her fee going to charity. It reminds her of Highgrove, it being all organic.

Sounds too cheeky chappy and too much like Oliver! You need it to be more maudling and reflective of the wild depths of Yorkshire

On Ilkley Moor Car'rot
Long lost leeks of Leeds
Up hill and down dale, the growers grow and the radishes fail

I couldn’t be bothered to see if this point has already been made, but if Barbara has been on the land for 10-12 years or more she could claim the land, in which case could argue it should never have been sold to you. It is the law of adverse possession.

'Reviewing the Vegetation'

I think this is a sad thread. I understand why you're doing what you're doing and I wish there were some way you, your DH, and Barbara could all benefit from the allotment. She has no right to it yet desperately wanting to keep an allotment makes her someone I'm sympathetic to. I hope she's able to find another one somewhere else.

OP what will you do when this inevitably hits the daily mail and you're outed and Babs discovers these threads?