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

I think this is a problem of people being crammed into small spaces and living in too close proximity - normal, everyday things become magnified and disproportionately annoying.

I do think you could easily fix this though - I'd make a 3ft raised platform along the fence and stand tall, bushy plants along it in big pots. Or buy a gazebo with a curtain, as suggested upthread. You could literally solve this in a day.

As neighbours go, this could be worse. At least they aren't noisy and playing loud music on the garden all day every day.

I agree, people have become very intolerant of each other. They want privacy and isolation but can’t afford it. It’s highly doubtful the neighbours get their kit off to lay there staring at the ops house for hours on end, even if it was buck palace you’d get bored of that.

So I suspect it’s they are facing this way,and it’s more the op keeps looking at them, as she’s annoyed about it.

she needs to get high screening, and yes it’s going to cost money, but it’s the only way round it. Hedging, preached trees, bamboo, many things will do it. But she will have to chuck money at it, as they aren’t going to stop using their decking as they please.

So raise your fence as well?

Had neighbours like that - he used to mow his back lawn in the nude. Had he had a body like Mel.Gibson I could've sold tickets or doubled thé value of the house. Sadly hé didn't - from either élévation. Explained why hé had a manual push mower, though.

Was he building a tree house deck or something! How thoughtless!

You could put some form of garden structure, shed, summer house, office etc right at the end of the garden. There are height allowances for the different roof types (apex/pent) and they will absolutely block their view of you and your view of them. Permanent solution to them looking at you. You can go up 2.5m without planning and higher with planning due to the proximity of the fence to where you put the structure.

Any hedge can be cut back to the fence height but you could request a higher fence height through planning. Due to the height difference between their garden and yours you are likely to be granted permission although it won't look great with this looming wall. Bamboo is a grass and not a shrub or tree so does not come under the high hegde rules just in case you are interested.

Personally, I would raise the fence. Mirrored film is great for day time and easy to apply. I would ring the planning department for advice as they have illegally raised the height of their garden and you have lost privacy. Ask about both fence and summer house stuff.

It is illegal to raise your patio or decking by more than 300mm . ( 1 ft ) . Complain to your local planning department

Huge angled umbrella. We have a rectangular one and it's brilliant.
If you put it towards the end of the garden they won't be able to see, even from above.

About twelve years ago we were redoing a house for resale and even to raise the height of a wooden balcony you had to have planning permission. You can look online at your local council planning portal to see if planning was given and if not ask them to check as it is intruding on your privacy. The regs were tightened in order to avoid the sort of intrusion you are experiencing.

Sorry I can see many posters have raised the need for pp

Thank you for all of the suggestions.

While I appreciate the illegalities of what they have done I don't want to cause a 'rift'.

I think the bamboo in pots mights be an option, I have trellis with ivy growing but not fast enough 😂

The tilted umbrella might be a cheaper option too

Thanks for those of you who have offered options and sympathy

I think I also need to try and ignore them 😊

Put up something large that causes a lot of shade to be cast in that area so they're forced to move

Ugh sometimes people do stuff like this to ‘mark their territory’ and they get a bit of a kick out of the fact it’s making other people feel uncomfortable. I can’t imagine putting myself of display like that 😕

Hope you manage to block them out OP.

This. They're more than likely looking at the sun

Having been brought up by an out and out narcissist, who thrived on divide and rule, I learned a thing or two. I would firstly, on sunny days ask a young female friend with an amazing figure, to wander around your garden in the tiniest bikini. If this doesn't stop them, import a male hunk to do the same. If there is no reaction to these efforts, pick a large amount of comfrey,it grows wild, and put it to soak in a barrel close to their sunbathing location. It is the best tomato food, and I love the smell, but it drives most people away.....far away.

Soluckyinlove
I will get my six foot daughter and six foot two son to walk around in their swimwear

Off to look up the plant 😂

Has anyone suggested you start keeping bees?

Not yet 🐝

They might be facing the sunshine?

@BurntBroccoli there was a tree close by, but to call it a tree house was a bit of a stretch. He thought it was fun and great. Good views up there. Nice guy, rarely used it. But one day I looked out the bedroom window to find a new deck staring right at me. And that can be an uneasy feeling.

I like some garden privacy, others don't care. I used to have a neighbour sit out in the garden every day drinking. Harmless chap. But it was still a bit weird!

Not sure if OP has a semi or a terrace or detached. But if it's a semi, make the most of the fact they aren't in the house! You can play your trumpet and sing to your heart's content. For some people having neighbours in close proximity on the other side of walls can be an issue.

A bit of clever planning could give most of us space or the illusion of such. Small thickets in gardens can really help. Completely open, slash and burn gardens are pretty horrible in my eyes.

That sounds like my worst nightmare!
I agree with the small thicket - if you plant closer to your house then the more privacy you get.
Open plan gardens look awful in my opinion- seems they are in fashion though with manicured lawns (or shudder fake grass) and clipped box trees.

To add insult to injury, they removed MY fence to install it, and built it around 3 inches over the boundry into my garden, then stuck the fence back up. May not seem a lot, but that 3 inches has made a huge difference to what was only a small patio to begin with.
One member of the decision panel actually suggested I pay out to have reflective film on my windows 😅
Thankfully I got my climbers a couple years ago as small plants at only about £15 each. The biggest ones I've found are smaller than what mine are now and are £120+ so I'm glad I got mine years ago and now have well established ones to help with privacy.
I'm not sure what mine are but they have grew and established very very quickly, so I can try and find out what they are If you are considering some climbers. I did try bamboo but it's barley grew let alone spread