to have not told her we're moving?

[tickleyourpickle]

We live on a very quiet road and have been here for 8 years.
All of our neighbours are elderly and lovely.

A new couple have moved in at the back of us, their garden backs onto ours.

Yesterday we were playing in the garden after school with my DS(5) and DD(3) when the new neighbour pops her head over the fence. I thought she was maybe popping her head over to say hello, but no.

The conversation went like this :
Hello, do you live here?
Yes, hi I'm tickle
I've just moved in, I thought this was a nice quiet road
Yes it is it's lovely
I wasn't expecting children

I came here for a quiet retirement I didn't expect to have noisy children playing at the back of my garden

I was literally speechless, I could have put her out of her misery and told her were moving house in 2 weeks, but I didn't.

you might need to hold an easter egg hunt in the garden soon...
and then a wide variety of playdates and goodbye parties in the next few weeks
all of them out in the garden, as of course you are packing up the house.....

Im pretty sure if you say what area you are in you could have a mumsnet childrens party flashmob round pretty quick

Please tell me you are inviting every child from each of your DC's classes for a big leaving party the day before you move. Even if they aren't changing school.

My former next door neighbour, who was in her 70s, lived alone in a 4 bed detached house on a new build development. Our row of houses overlooked a playground which was part of the plans for the development from the start, and appeared on all the paperwork when buying the houses.

She complained to the local authority many times about the noise from all the children (but then she also complained to a neighbour that his cat was sitting on her fence and wearing it down.)

(but then she also complained to a neighbour that his cat was sitting on her fence and wearing it down.)

omg, thats the funniest thing I've read today

OP, I would say 'oh well, you won't have to listen to them for long because a family with 5 kids and three dogs are moving in in two weeks'

I'd be sending the DC over at 20-minute intervals to say that they accidentally threw a tennis ball over, and can they please have it back?

And yes to a large barky dog or two. And a note saying you're so sorry to be moving out and not getting the chance to get to know her better, but you've just sold the house to Waynetta So-and-So as she wanted space for her growing family and her boyfriend's burgeoning motorcycle repair business.

Silly woman.

We have neighbours like that. The kicker is they have a 3 year old and a baby ... who aren't ever, ever, ever allowed to be outside. Seriously. The 3 year old spends 50+ hours a week in childcare, then isn't seen again from Friday evening when he gets home until he leaves again for childcare Monday morning.

They moved into a family neighbourhood in a large family home with a garden, and expect silence around here. Sorry, but no. We bought a family home with a garden for a reason ... so my children could be children and play in it! And yes, the children can be noisy playing sports back there, but much preferable to sitting on their behinds watching screens all day!

The complaints we get are amazing: couldn't they go to the park by themselves (um, no)? could they not bounce their balls? could they stop playing outside now (asked at about 6 on a lovely summer's evening)? why do they have to play outside (in your own garden and on your own drive)?

We ignore them for the most part. I just feel bad for their children.

elvira, Love the cat/fence issue. Our neighbour tried to tell us that skateboarding would ruin the driveway , ruin it! so they shouldn't be allowed to do it. We told him he was ridiculous.

I hope when I'm older I'll find joy in children playing. I want to be a Terry Pratchet older woman. Nanny Ogg style maybe.

I do wonder if it's old age and all it's glory that makes people like this or if they've just been grumpy souls their entire life.

I used to live next to an older man who used to love to share his kit-kats and enjoyed waving at us when we sat on his wall. Bless him, he died days after my Dad and I remember going to his funeral even though we had our own to organise, rest of the family wasn't up to it but I couldn't bear the thought of him not getting a goodbye from a family that had adored him.

How strange to introduce herself like that!

A lady in our street had petitioned the council several times to have a big grassy area ploughed up so that it stops "attracting shrieking children to play" despite the fact her kids played there for years. I try not to get too snarky about the fact her grandchildren are allowed/encouraged to play there for a week each summer, it's obviously just the kids that live here all year round that shouldn't.

ScoutsMan You've got me in tears. Our neighbour, widower, didn't see much of his children, died six weeks before DS was born, and he was so looking forward to his arrival.

What a shame you're moving!

Before you leave drop a note saying you are leaving but are renting the house as an open house - drop in centr multiple refugees - and hope that's she can welcome them to the community

I wonder what on earth she thought she'd achieve by that? Had you been staying, it's not as if she could seriously expect that, purely to help her achieve what she wanted, you would be gagging the children and making them stay indoors till they reached adulthood.

Is she renting? Tell her "Never mind, you probably won't be here for long anyway. Something about that house, people never live there more than about 8-10 months. God's waiting room, we call it."

Please please tell me that your new owners/tenants have a ton of children and several barky dogs. And roosters!!

Just got back from the shops (panic buying Easter eggs)
These responses have made me laugh so much, I wish I had a good response for her at the time, instead of my speechless shocked face!

Kids are now happily playing in the garden, I've actively encouraged them to play tic, always guaranteed to produce maximum screams of laughter trying to catch each other.
Ball games are out of the question though as she doesn't seem the type to throw them back!

I've always respected our neighbours, never out before 9am or after 7pm and we've got along with everybody, they all say they love to hear the children play as it's always so quiet round here.

Unfortunately the new lady moving in is single and in her 60s, no pets. As young at heart as she is, I doubt she will be causing too much noise

So what are your buyers like? I hope they are lovely noisy people 😈

Oh, cross posts, what a shame.

Aha! Your house's new owner sounds like an ideal person to foster dogs! We've got some real barkers and whiners in need of temporary care until we've got them settled enough to go to forever homes right now...

Alpaca il take 3 for the next 2 weeks !

I would wonder if this lady may possibly have Alzheimers or dementia. She might just be really rude, or she might have a condition that's making her that way.

Or if course she may be a miserable shit!

I'm with you Andrew

She sounds very rude.

And why on earth didn't she do some research into the neighbours before moving in if she's so keen on a quiet retirement? Surely the previous owners would have been able to say "yes, children next door" if she'd asked?