Neighbours and sunbathing

[everythingisgoingup]

I am trying to gauge if my neighbours behaviour is usual or if perhaps I am being unreasonable.

They are a retired couple who LOVE the sun to the point that they look orange (the colour of a baked bean).

When we moved in several years ago they would sit for hours in the sun at the end of their garden staring at our house. On every sunny day they would be there.

After lock down they had their terrace/patio redone and it is now several feet higher and wider (half the depth of their garden) it is HUGE.

When they walk on the patio they can see over the fence as the terrace is so high, their head and shoulders are now above the fence. The fence is six feet tall.

This year they have positioned their tables and chairs up to the fence and sit either here with their sun loungers facing our garden (looking directly at us) or at the back facing our house (looking directly at us).

If the sun is out, they are out.

They sit with shirt off (husband) and in a swimsuit (wife) It is almost like they are on holiday tbh.

I find them intriguing and annoying in equal measure 😬😩

Because I work from home I see them from all our back rooms.

Is this usual behaviour ( I have never experienced it and have lived in six houses) Have you experience similar with your neighbours?

I don't know why I am posting I guess I needed to share

That would piss me off big time. I'd be planting some fast growing bamboo in planters all along the fence to grow high enough to block their view of your house.

People sunbathing in their garden is very normal.

Being annoyed by people looking into your garden is also very normal, as it's planting something or putting up trellis for privacy.

Be glad they aren't nudists...

We have some planting but because of the way they have the terrace they literally look over

Personally I would not put may chair facing neighbours (there is no need imo) however they don't seem to want screening and we would have to have something 8-10 feet tall

🤷‍♀️

Are they just facing the sun and it seems like they're looking at you?

If they're staring at you, then yes that's odd. But they're probably not.

Put in bushes, nice fast growing tall ones. Couldn’t be doing with that lack of privacy

Bamboo in planters, will grow fast. Are they moving the chairs around to follow the sun?

I doubt they are looking at you, what's to see? A mostly empty house all day?

or trellis nailed to the top of the fence, clematis, roses, honeysuckle, consider
the judicious planting of a tree, close to your house, blocking their view of you
and you them of course

How much did they raise the patio by? Because that potentially needed planning permission.

If they've raised the level enough to need PP, they are CF.

Ask the local council for advice.

Do you get on with them?
If planting bamboo doesn't work is give um something to look at. I'd go on patio and do yoga, shave me legs anything and if all else fails I'd do it topless.

Strategically placed garden sail @everythingisgoingup
Get them on Amazon and loads of places.
https://nidfashions.com/product/garden-sail-shade/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw0YGyBhByEiwAQmBEWhjHAv4j-170sP87ivcuyFx5gI27k4QKS-HNbJAkJWpzYySCdo38OBoCxJ4QAvD_BwE

I mean don’t plant bamboo - it’s almost like Japanese knotweed and many people won’t buy properties with it on anymore and some lenders won’t lend

https://www.environetuk.com/blog/is-bamboo-the-new-japanese-knotweed-2

Is it not OK if its contained in planters rather than just in the ground though?

Do you have a flower bed close to the fence they are looking over? Perhaps it is time for a liberal application of manure on that flower bed.

Our neighbours are the same with their sunbathing but fortunately they’re not looking down into our garden. I only see them if I happen to spot them through the gaps in the fence when I’m in the garden or from the back bedrooms when I’m upstairs. As I’m at work most days that’s not very often at all!

We sunbath at the end of our garden as we have a north facing garden so that's where the sun is. We have a patio there and a garden sofa set and umbrella along the back fence. So we sit facing the back of our house and may occasionally seem to be looking at the neighbours house but it's not intentional. I don't see the issue.

Are they sitting facing the sun which just happens to be the direction facing your house too?

@everythingisgoingup there are actually laws about raising the height of patios above what they previously were. contact the planning department in your LA/ if no joy, I would plant conifers but never let them get beyond the regulation height above their patio! dont plant bamboo, it will take over your garden!

Did you also build up your patio so high that you can look directly over a six foot fence?

@tridento part of our patio is built up ( although I think it follows the naturally level of the plot ) - we actually dug down to build our patio when we moved in to make it level with the rest of the garden but left the bit where the summer house is as it was too much faff/too expensive to lower that bit. We could look over the 6ft fence into neighbours gaden if we wanted too but never do. They have also dug down at the back to level everything up.

Sounds illegal to raise their patio that high
we moved house because our neighbour built a platform which looked straight into our garden

This^ You can’t raise your garden much more than the natural landscape. It sounds like they’ve heightened it unreasonably and without permission. Please look into this. I would hate it!

I doubt that the neighbors waste as much attention on you as you do on them, no matter in which direction they are facing.

Yeah what are they actually seeing, you an average person WFH doing average things?

Many houses are overlooked.

Plant some climbers, border plants, might take 2/3 years to establish but then it's problem solved isn't it?

If you don't want to be seen and can, think about moving to a detached, mature garden property.

Wee call to local council, if the decking is of a significant height they'd likely need planning as they're overlooking you to the extent you say.
Many a person has been told to remove along with tall play structures etc