My terraced yarden was quieter!

[Hogwartsian]

I have just moved from a Victorian terrace in the city to a suburb/slightly rural neighbourhood. On a hot day in the terraced house, I would sit in my little yarden and just hear almost silence. It was blissful!

Sitting in the garden of my new house, all I can hear is repeated power washing, lawn mowing, and various other power tools.

I feel duped! Anyone else experienced similar? I am missing my lovely quiet yarden so much!

Oh gosh ,a yarden !
This is what I want !!!

People often buy houses with bigger gardens because they want to have space to be able to have BBQs and parties, so they have more furniture and decking and it all needs jet washing, then they take up hobbies or DIY because they’ve got the space and you get the electric saws, grinders etc going on, plus bigger lawns, longer hedges that need trimming. And the trend for outdoor living seems to show no sign of slowing down with people making their gardens into extensions of their living areas.

My friend moved to the countryside because all summer long they were listening to the sound of lawnmowers and assorted power tools.

I’d love to live somewhere a bit quieter , but I guess that many people don’t unless they are extremely rich and can afford somewhere completely detached from everything and everyone else! Or your own farm or something like that. It must be bliss to live like that

Some like these outdoor kitchens , which are lovely , but must be noisy if people are out there a lot.
I suppose we are all having to get used to a more Mediterranean type of living with climate change and the weather being hotter and so on and gardens are a big part of that and need maintenance and cleaning.

Today it is noisy. The most noise coming from the "respectable" 4 bed detached houses out the back - the terrace is largely silent.

Screaming kids. Hot tubs, Dogs barking louding. A loud male voice asking where his smokes are. More screaming. More dogs - sounds like fighting.

The blackbirds join in and give it their all and are accounting well for themselves. More screaming.

Mr. Power Tool down the way was first on with the lawnmover, then the jetwash. Now I think it is some sort of electric saw, which competes well with the screaming.

Tomorrow maybe it will be silent if half term is over, then there will be a glorious silence during the week days up to about mid July.

The sound of surburbia!

Yeah, suburbia is just full of DIY'ers with all the power toys.

I think the neighbours perceive me as odd as I head out on bike or camper or canoe for another day or weekend away...while they all polish their generic leased SUV's or mow the lawn...

I love my yarden and it's the perfect description as I have loads of plants in pots and established shrubs in the raised bed. Currently silent apart from birds but expecting the raucous disco to start soon when the house of young men behind returns from somewhere or get up.

Why can’t people be quiet and respectful. I can remember my parents saying ‘ be quiet , think of the neighbours ‘ . Not everyone is and that is sad.
😔

I've never heard of yarden before but I knew exactly what you meant. It's a perfect descriptor of a small walked outside space with no grass

Our previous house was a Victorian terrace and it was blissful - until the alcoholic harridan moved in next door and she'd spend every single Friday, Saturday and Sunday getting absolutely hammered with her clique in the back and would screech, shout, swear and "sing" until about 5am the next morning - despite knowing that I worked 6 days a week from 5am-7pm and had to be up at 4am.

Moved to our current house, a lovely semi on a Close and it's relatively quiet around here apart from the kids who play out on the street but I don't mind them. I do get a bit antsy over one neighbour's love of power tools and pressure washers though.

I think we must have a ‘barden’ then, a wrap-around rooftop balcony garden as we live in a converted mill. No grass but totally private and no neighbours. We live in the centre of a small market town but we are insulated from the noise. And we’re so high up that the barbecue smoke doesn’t reach us. I’m sat here in my pants, reading my book and revelling in the knowledge that no one can see me (thank goodness!)

I wish people would do things the old fashioned, quieter way eg. Washing with a bucket and sponge/brush, using a normal saw. Why does everything have to be so noisy!

This sounds so lovely & really the solution!

I think garden speakers should be banned. I can't bear it when a neighbour a couple of houses down inflicts her "music" on the rest of us.

I think we must have a ‘barden’ then, a wrap-around rooftop balcony garden as we live in a converted mill. No grass but totally private and no neighbours. We live in the centre of a small market town but we are insulated from the noise. And we’re so high up that the barbecue smoke doesn’t reach us. I’m sat here in my pants, reading my book and revelling in the knowledge that no one can see me (thank goodness!)
Goodness,that sounds like heaven.
Can I ask what county you're in @ThePieceHall ?
To better picture and envy you.

Great word OP, i have just discovered that I have moved to a terraced house with a yarden :)
And it has been wonderfully quiet and peaceful today - unlike my previous big garden where neighbours would be out frantically cutting hedges and mowing the grass on a day like today.

watch out for drones!

I’m the opposite in the sense that lawnmowers etc are noisy but I don’t take it personally.

But when people start with their music I do take it personally. Very personally. In my head I call them fucking shitheads who are too thick to understand anything and I wish a number of disasters to befall them. The loss of their equipment being number one. I dream of someone playing loud music they can hear when they’re ill, or on night shifts, just so they may begin to understand it.

But hedge trimmers? I’m okay with them.

Edited - what happened to Birdsong Radio? Cant we have it back again?

I have a yarden. A small, mid victorian terrace patio-like backyard. Think Coronaation Street yard. Sometimes topped with astro, often with a bistro table and chair set and small bbq. Spent a lot of time getting to know my yarden in 2020. My kids are outgrowing it rapidly so we're thinking of moving but I'll absolutely miss it. Se get frequent robins and starlings visit! We are the noisy ones with the kids always outside and asking if anyone needs a poo 😆 It was blissful, pre-kids!

I like it. Easy to understand. I also love floordrobe.

Yup! I think it’s the acoustics as you are surrounded by housing in a circle which must amplify the sound.

Plus people are obsessed by powerwashing on estates - I absolutely detest Karchers that hum and vibrate and whistle for hours on end.

I want one too!

So a backyard then 😁