What would you do? No garden privacy!

[Sunnydaisy23]

I moved house last year, from a new build to an older house with a bigger garden. One side of my garden and the various neighbours along the road have 4ft fences between them, but with established trees/bushes etc so privacy isn’t too bad. The other has a very short 3ft fence, and only a couple of ground level bushes, so absolutely no privacy at all. It’s the neighbour’s boundary and they obviously like it being that way. They’re very friendly, but it means you cannot step into the garden without a 20 min conversation unless they’re not in. Other people have suggested we just put our own fence in at 6ft - but I feel like that’s a bit rude! I did think pleached trees all the way down, but it would be quite expensive and I worried they might just keel over! What would you do? Any other suggestions for privacy?!

You can’t people please so much that you can’t enjoy your own garden!

You are absolutely right! I’ve just got to get over the fear of disappointing anyone 🫣

Could you borrow a large dog? ('We're just taking care of him while his owners are away') It would necessitate putting in a higher fence - I'm sure the neighbours don't want a dog pooing all over their lawn and digging up their flowerbed. (You only need to borrow it for an afternoon, just before you do the work...)

Dog excuse is a good one if you're really worried about their feelings. You've promised to look after a relative's big dog once a week. If they ever ask about it, the dog sadly passed.

Have you actually spoke to them about this they might actually want a higher fence. I have a low fence and politely chat away to my neighbours but I would jump at the chance at a higher fence I just can't afford it

This!

Fences are thousands! If you otherwise didn't want a fence, it would have to be a pretty good friend to make you want to spend a small fortune just to mind the dead dog.

Just be honest. "I want more privacy in my back garden so I'm putting up a fence". Any ill feeling from them will be because they know they're being intrusive. If you genuinely like them, then meet for coffee or whatever.

Thanks for all your suggestions! I think I just need to get on and plant some established shrubs/pleached trees so I can enjoy my garden!

First thing I did when I moved into my house was put up a 6ft fence all round my garden. I don’t care if the neighbours didn’t like it I want privacy.

I would put up a fence.
It would have been the first thing after moving in.
Then soften the edge with plants as I hate the look of fences ( but that’s just an extra )

None of them are going to be high enough.
Average eye level is 1.5 m. Someone on tip toe straining for a chat even higher

We had this situation and swithered around a lot about it. Ended up putting in a raised herb garden and some shrubs and put our bench on the opposite end of the garden. Have now progressed to nods of acknowledgement and a rare chat if I feel like it. I appreciate living in a caring neighbourhood (it’s a culdesac and everyone knows each other. Many have lived there decades) but it did feel intrusive so having a bit of a barrier definitely helped. Tried to be careful to chat with them when we saw each other out front but not in the back and it all settled down.

I was going to suggest 6' fence "we're getting a greyhound"