Returned home to find neighbour in my garden

[OyO]

I don’t know what to think about this.

I’m supposed to be at work all day, as normal. Came home early with some kind of sickness bug to find my neighbour standing in my garden chopping away at a hedge.

I was completely startled and said ‘hello? Can I help you?’ To which she responded: ‘well you were never going to cut it’ and brazenly carried on. I asked her to get out of my garden, she took her time and then climbed a ladder to go over the fence and back to her side. She’s now leaning over the hedge into my garden and still trimming it.

I’m at a loss. She’s so brazen I’m not sure if I’m being unreasonable in thinking she’s cheeky or not.

We have a 6ft fence separating us half way then a 5ft hedge. The hedge belongs to her and sits on her boundary. It’s an unruly hedge which overhangs into our garden and has done for the last 3 years (since we moved in). Our cat lounges under the overhang as it offers shelter and we have a family of dunnocks that live in the actual hedge. They’ve been there for years and we feed them daily plus have a bird bath for them.

The cat is now terrified hiding indoors right now and the dunnock nest has clearly been disturbed due to how far back she’s cut the hedge.

It’s a private garden. She’s in her 70s and doesn’t speak to anyone except to police their gardens. She once collected up all of the blossom from her front garden that had fallen from someone’s tree and dumped it on their drive (it blew back again ).

She’s right, I was never going to cut it back because I didn’t want it cutting back. Is she allowed to do this?

I’m also worried that she may pop into the garden whenever she feels like because she really didn’t seem to fussed about me catching her.

I have an easement through my NDN’s garden. That doesn’t mean I flounce through whenever I feel like it. If I needed access I would knock and check it would be convenient. Your NDN should be doing the same or better still leaving you to manage your garden as you see fit.

Vinca minor is far too good for your neighbour. You need horsetails and lots of ground elder. Very difficult to get rid of. Get a Virginia creeper and train it over the hedge. Very invasive and loves being cut back. Will grow back with renewed vigour within days.

She was in YOUR garden cutting the hedge that is in your garden. This is not acceptable, end of. It is your choice whether or not to cut the hedge whatever the reason. I can't believe people feel the need to question your motive. Think it's quite black and white. Tell her politely to keep out and ask if she would mind you going in her garden uninvited.

You can buy seed bombs in every garden centre.

How have I lived for 48 years and never heard of a dunnock?

Misses the point of the thread.....

Different generations probably blew this differently

Being rude isn't generational. The OP asked her to leave, it's nothing like a man asking your permission to paint your fence like you wanted!

Because people should take a pride in their properties,thats why.Help wildlife? lol lol.Its an excuse,and you know it.

No lol it's not an excuse As pointed out repeatedly it's important for wildlife and not legal.

Why should people take pride in having a freshly shorn hedge anyway? Is it possible that the OP likes it that way and isn't worried about having a crappy identical to everyone else garden?

Bigfathairyones

How have I lived for 48 years and never heard of a dunnock?

A dunnock is a hedge sparrow by another name.

wot a cow! x
I hate this sort of thing. My neighbour cuts our hedge but he asks first and I don't mind because I don't own it and he can have the fucker if he wants.

Help wildlife? lol lol.Its an excuse,and you know it.

Oh dear. You do realise that if you genuinely believe that, you are a total philistine.

Dunnocks are lovely.

They sort of shuffle around like little baby mice.

YOU can cut back any overhanging branch that comes into your property. However, the cut branch(es), and any fruit or flowers attached to the branch(es) remain the property of the tree owner and must be returned.

SHE is not allowed to go into a neighbour’s garden without permission to cut a tree / bush back. Nor can she lean over into your garden to cut back the ‘offending’ branches or she will be trespassing.

At those who are laughing at helping wildlife you would hate me. I've spent nearly £100 this year planting my small garden with bird, bug and bee friendly trees bushes and plants. I've got two birdboxes, a bat box, a huge bird feeding station, several different bug houses in appropriate places and nothing is getting trimmed back to "neat" standards until autumn/winter when it needs it to grow next year. All except my monstrous lavatera, humongous campanula and giant lavender which are gorgeous and the wildlife loves!

OP your neighbour is a knob. Totally disgusting messing with nesting birds and I'm glad you've reported her. I hope the sprinklers work! Good luck!

I absolutely get how frustrating it must be and how she has no right to be in your garden. But just to pop another perspective on it - do you think there is any chance she has dementia? My mil is in her early 70s and was diagnosed about a year ago. You wouldn’t immediately realise it if you only had a short interaction with her. But she has does similar bat shit crazy things (including tipping her rubbish in her neighbours graden). Also, she has lost all inhibitions and where she was once meek mild and friendly, she is now cantankerous and rude. Fortunately, my mil lives with Fil and he is able to contain her behaviour and explain/apologise/rectify when needed. Does your neighbour live with anyone you could take to about this?
Hope you get it sorted x

OP did you say your neighbour was cutting the grass at 9pm? Shouldn’t all decent 70+yr olds be in bed by then?🤔

Sabadel you do actually have a point there. It is a possibility that her reckless and strange behaviour could have a medical cause, such as dementia.

Sabadel- good point. my mother had Alzheimer’s and in the early-to-mid stages she did similar things. Not a reason to tolerate it, but try to find a relative (maybe someone who visits you can buttonhole) to talk to about it.

That's a rude neighbough who wants nothing but war,report her to the authority

She’s definitely not delicate, she has that prison warden vibe.

I'm stealing this to describe our ndn!

but try to find a relative (maybe someone who visits you can buttonhole) to talk to about it. - and what if she doesn't have dementia? What if she is just a twat? How would she feel if the OP 'buttonhole' a relative and start asking personal questions about her MH?

That would properly start a war.

And as for 'should keep your property nice' - there is no SHOULD about it. A property owner can do whatever s/he wants, within reason. Cutting a hedge, or not, is not unreasonable. lol.

She's breaking the law by entering your property and probably she should not be cutting anything on your side of the boundary.

I dunno. Seems like she wants a war and is forcing you into one. I would ignore anything that doesn’t transgress boundaries and be scrupulously polite and calm and assertive in all my dealings, taking appropriate notes and recordings ‘just in case’, and thinking if any of my responses could be viewed negatively in a court of law. And then try not to engage or spend too much time on it.

Hope the RSPB have some teeth when it comes to this sort of thing!

And I really do like the "drench her with the power hose" option. That's what you'd do to any other marauding trespasser with no manners in your garden upsetting the birds (cat, for e.g.) so why not?

As for her littering your garden with her trimmings, no. That's got to be some sort of offence, somewhere - it's like throwing her rubbish into your garden! Do please get on to the council as well about this.

Ah, now I believe you are actually obliged to give all the bits from her hedge back...along with any fruit from fruit trees...

My MIL has got dementia but years before this developed and was diagnosed she was still a bit of a difficult neighbour and had very odd ideas about hedge and tree boundaries.

I hope you sorted things out OP.

Hope the dunnocks build a new home. We too have a CF neighbour. Came home one day to find that he had clipped HIS hedge and put the clippings in OUR brown bin, completely filling it up so we had nowhere for our lawn mowings. Was fuming but he is such an entitled twat just waited until he was out then dumped the bin into his skip. Then the other day found his son in our garden, looking for a ball - he had gone through two private gates - told him that he cannot just walk in, he must ask permission. Had to put a lock on the gate for peace of mind. What is it with some people?

We found our neighbour whose garden backs on to ours sweeping debris onto our garden. She had paid someone to chop down part of our tree that hung over her garden as she didn’t like it. No discussion nothing. She didn’t like the pine needles falling in her garden. What she did was illegal. We are in a conservation area and you need permission to touch the trees. We got a tree man round who issued us with a licence for our tree and she received a letter from my OH threatening her with legal action. Never heard a word after that. Now if she had popped round and had a chat the outcome may have been different. Your NDN is not allowed to trespass. She cannot cut the hedge on your side of the fence. It’s as simple as that.