Vote: what time is acceptable for a family to have breakfast in their garden on a Sunday morning?

[Giggsie]

Assume this is a garden of a terraced house in a large city. Also assume the family have kids and dogs but it’s a normal sound level breakfast: talking but not shouting, no barking, no music.

My neighbour has, since spring, taken to kicking her 4 DC into the garden at 6.30 every school morning while she gets breakfast and school lunches ready. They have to wait outside (they have a covered area for damp days) until she's done, and boy, are they noisy, playing and often bickering. Then she roars through the window for them to be quiet. I try to imagine what the alternative might look like for her as she thinks her current strategy is favourable.

After 7.

I would say 9am

Before 11. Otherwise it would become brunch.

I'd say 7 but it depends on your neighbours. Mine are one deaf woman and a man who gets up at 5am because that's what pensioners seem to do. He is already pottering in his garden when I come down bleary eyed. He's probably onto lunch by 7!

If it’s normal sound level, they are entitled to use their garden for breakfast whenever they like - and 7am on a weekday is hardly unreasonable, especially with the weather we’ve been having recently. Kicking the kids out at 6.30 is a bit keen, the more so if they’re unsupervised. Have you had a word with your neighbour, to let her know her DC are disturbing you?

After 8am, any time before that if someone woke me up I would be fuming. 7am I can see the logic but it’s a weekend when people like to try and get a bit more sleep.

After 7

After 8am but pref after 9 am.

Well I don’t think noise before 09.00 is appropriate on a Sunday regardless of how it’s being made. ( although I can see a breakfast could be pretty quiet). If people are calling to each other and the dogs barking etc then that could potentially be annoying to neighbours.

7am during the week, 8am at weekends unless they are particularly noisy, in which case 9am.

The only problem is that the kind of people who think they are particularly noisy usually aren't, and the ones who think they aren't usually are.

Bin collections start at 6am in many inner city places. That’s far noisier than an Al fresco breakfast.
Inner city also has bus services running regularly from very early.
It’s your garden, whatever time you want is ok. If people don’t like it, they should move to the countryside where they can complain about the church bells ringing instead.

The answer is different depending on the level of noise, a family of two speaking quietly would be fine at 7am as they wouldn’t wake anybody up whereas a larger family with young children and/or strong voices would definitely wake people up so 9am for them.

I wouldn't do it before 9am on a Sunday. I wouldn't be bothered if my neighbours were in garden from 8am though. 7am far too early at the weekend in my opinion.

Obviously it has been loud enough to be heard by other people, unless OP is talking about a hypothetical breakfast, so I would say 8.30-9am.

Not before 8 (edit: if it’s a regular occurrence).

9 might be more considerate but 8 is perfectly fine as well imo.

I’d say “anytime” if it’s just a one-off / rare occurrence.

I’d be having it at the time I wanted it.

After 9. We have breakfast out before that but a) it’s just me, DH and DD15, and b) we read at breakfast. No chatting!

In this unusually hot weather I would think you could do things outdoors a little earlier than usual, as a lot of people will be out earlier, and later (in the evening), than usual to avoid the heat and people will be more understanding. I'd say 8am would be fine. In more normal weather then 9am would be better.

I had breakfast outside at 6.45am today, it's lovely.

We don't have main bedroom windows facing the garden, they all face the front.
One neighbour has a teen who leaves for school at 7.30am, so is normally up and running by 7am.
The other side has two primary school age boys, they are normally also not up that much later.

Weekends - I would say 9am

But - we live in SE London and have a colony of these really loud and annoying parakeets living in a tree next door. They are worse then most children and definitely up a lot earlier as well.

On a Sunday, I wouldn't do this before 9am. Other days maybe 8am.

Not on a Sunday! Even church bells don't tend to start before 8.30.

I voted 9am. I live in a flat and wouldn’t hoover/put washing on before then on a Sunday.
If it’s a warm night and windows are open you’ll wake your neighbours - it’s up to you to decide if you’re a considerate person or not. I think 9am is fair game.

Anytime they like, in their own garden.

Our parakeets screech in the evenings, no sign of them in the mornings.

That does remind me of when BIL came to stay from the deepest countryside and complained that the garden birds (no parakeets back then) woke him up 🤣.