To ask my neighbour not to use my garden as a flipping public right of way?!

[CupcakeBabaPoo]

Will try not to drip feed but this is quite outing! To cut a long story short, my neighbours, and then subsequently the world and his wife, started using my garden as a public footpath.
It was nice for a bit and it was great for the kids but everyone gets fed up of living in a goldfish bowl eventually. In the end I stopped this happening but then they started cutting across another part of my garden. I asked them politely to stop it and now they are acting like I've done something wrong - have I?! Things have got really awkward and I feel like I'm in the wrong!

What has her friend said about you on FB? What business is it if hers anyway?

Her friend walked on my path tonight, despite being told before not to. I text my neighbour (it was a bit blunt) and she said her friend forgot..... likely story.
Her friend put on Facebook that they were having a nice night, shame about her neighbour (me). Really petty. It's not her house either.

You need to put a stop to it. Isn't it that if you allow it that they gain a right of way?

And as if like magic

I can't see any diagrams

Can't you fling the window open when someone walks passed? Or keep the windows open and super soak the bastards who trample along your path!

YANBU btw!

Just FYI I can see both diagrams on the Android app

Brick walls, OP.

This is a whole new level of diagram tease....

This is getting beyond a joke now. It's all escalating tonight!

So they've been banging up the stairs all night and then her friend has left and I was driving out at the same time. She staring at me and giving me a filthy look.... I have never spoken to her and I don't understand what I've done wrong here. I'm thinking barbed wire and electric fences....!

It's meant to say *she was staring at me

It's like being back in the playground.

Where is the diagram?

re posting your image OP x

hopefully people can see it

Shiro I can see it! Thank you!

OP have you considered a pet, a guard dog perhaps?

I can see it!

I wouldn't want them walking right by my window all the time, especially since it's not their path. Too intrusive.

Prickly rose bushes in a nice line will do the trick. We had to do that for my DPs as there neighbour used to walk all over their garden and mow up to their window!! It was if he was claiming ownership of their land - and it was really unpleasant. Weirdo. Start planting and good luck.

It looks like your path provides a short cut to their property? Is that correct?

Bottom line is if you don't want them using it they shouldn't.

I suspect this is one of those issues that has the potential to blight everyone's lives. They think it's a shortcut and can't see your issue, you think it's yours, it compromises privacy and they shouldn't use it. The thing is it's probably all going to get a bit out of hand.

You need to decide how far you wish to take this, even though you're in the right the sad reality is most people who start a neighbours war wish they could have their time over and not have done so as the issue they faced was not as painful as the war they then endured.

Thank you Shi.

I don't want to go to war as we all used to get on but I desperately want my privacy. I would just be happy to ignore each other: I don't understand why her friend is now involved. Sigh.

Oh dear! I think wrote a card and buy a bunch of flowers and go round and explain that everything has got a bit crazy, but you'd like to get back to being friends but do want your privacy. So hard. Facebook thing is low though!

Seven - it's a nice idea but for once, I'm not in the wrong. They are the kind of people who you give an inch and they take a mile.

It is nice coming home from work and being able to get in my house without their DC appearing in my garden first.

I would just like to ignore her. I don't want the looks and digs from her friend - she has never spoken to me and it's not her house so nothing to do with her.

Block all points where they are using your land. Otherwise over a long period of time, it will become their right to use it and your house will lose value because of it.

Thanks blind - I did speak to a solicitor and they said it takes 20 years.

I just wanted my privacy back 😫 and to not live in a goldfish bowl.

Just block it off, prepare to rise above any silliness, ignore the friend on FB as it'll blow over. Wait it out but definitely sort it privacy wise.

you're all welcome x

Thank you all 😊 I hope it blows over. It's awkward because we all have kids at the same school.

It's the passive aggressive chalk lines and looks that have bothered me the most. Then saying her friend forgot. You don't forget not to walk on people's gardens.

Shi, thanks again for reposting the picture. I hope it makes sense to you all. I'm no artist!