Neighbour does not like the look of my garden - threatening to sue

[craxmum]

A new neighbour has moved in last month (we are sharing a wall in a semi-detached property). She seems to have a major issue with the way my garden looks (just paid me a visit at 7am on Sunday to inform me that she hasn't slept properly since she had a party last night and her guests were apparently "aghast"). First thing she did after moving in was decking and astroturfing her back garden fence to fence (the bits that weren't already covered in concrete).

She did mention it a couple of times before, but I never thought it bothers her that much. Now she made a vague threat of suing me for damage to her assets, as apparently her house value and enjoyment of her property is impacted. I mean, she bought it a couple of weeks ago (at the normal market value as far as I can see from the open sources), surely she made the decision with full awareness of what my garden looks like? She added a couple of personal insults (about me being foreign etc) as well.

My garden is a bit informal allotment style. We grow berries, tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, beans, herbs - stuff like that, also have a couple of dwarf fruit trees. Sunflowers all over the place at the moment. I have two small children (3 and 5), they absolutely love it and they have their own little experimentation areas. There is a bit of lawn, but with two dogs it is not in great shape - trimmed, but with some bald patches. There is an occasional weed or two, or maybe ten. Plenty of butterflies and bees. A composter (of a posh type, fully closed and maintained, not leftovers rotting in a bin). There is a water butt and sometimes watering cans / other gardening equipment lying around. I mean, it is by no means perfect, and can sometimes be messy and looks quite rustic, but I absolutely cannot see what I can do to comfort her apart from ripping all vegetation out and paving over.
AIBU?

Craxman,

I have experience of bat shit neighbours and I therefore fear you'll have more craziness to deal with in future.

I therefore recommend keeping your mobile charged and handy at all times. If she comes to your door / says something over the wall, hit video on your phone to record what she says. Otherwise if you need to take it further it will turn into a she said/I said word against each other which the police can't really do much about. Make it CLEAR to her that you deem her behaviour harassment and that you're not open to hearing anymore about it. Be polite but extremely firm.

I had the police out about my neighbours behaviour a few times and they've now been told by the police that if they knock on my door or attempt in anyway to talk to me then they'll be charged. It's been bliss ever since.

Thankfully I had witnesses but the police actually told me to record on my phone if they approached me again (as they initially denied my allegations although broke down and confessed when the police pointed out I had witnesses).

Good luck!

You're being very chilled and charitable op

Wow she has a hide. If someone knocked on my door at 7am to complain about my garden my words would be unrepeatable. Seriously though your garden sounds amazing .She sounds like a potential bully in the making. Tell her she keeps it up you will treat it as harassment .Your garden absolutely no way can she dictate. Unless it is a haven for rats and I rather think hers will be she not got a leg to stand on .Silly mare ,you have to wonder at some people's mentality.

Kill her with kindness!

Take a basket of your lovely produce round and say you have a glut.

Watch her squirm.

She’s probably having a settling in crisis

She wasn't overtly racist (and I am same race as her), more along the lines "we don't do this in Britain in case if you did not know". Ah yes, as a foreigner you'd be unaware of our Olde Traditiones, Astroterfe ynd Deckynge. Silly cow, your garden looks lovely (and very English indeed, actually). Any neighbour who knocked on my door at 7 on a Sunday morning would get very short shrift indeed,

I worry about our neighbours thinking our garden is a tip as there's is perfectly looked after and ours has a trampoline, lots of wildness and big trees, but luckily they love it!! She sounds completely insane!!!

She's sounds racist. I bet that's her real problem. keep a log of incidents and tell her clearly that you wont put up with harassment from her.

She sounds like an . (Insert whatever strength of swear you prefer. You sound like you have a lovely, functioning wildlife-friendly garden.

Astroturf, concrete and decking sounds awful. Threaten to sue for creating a flood and rat hazzard!!

You need to stop this before She gets even worse, she'll start harassing you, complaining about every single thing you and your family do. I agree you should start recording any conversations, don't open the door and if she insists on speaking to you just be polite, don't enter into any ridiculous conversations with her. It must have been a very boring party if all they talk about is the neighbours garden. Don't offer her any of your lovely fresh veg and fruit.

She sounds a deranged racist twat. If you were my neighbour I’d be asking for tips and hoping to get some of your lovely fresh produce! We just have a patio with tubs of herbs and flowers.

She has an ecological disaster for a garden and wants to sue you!? I would sue her right back for environmental vandalism.

Ah yes, as a foreigner you'd be unaware of our Olde Traditiones, Astroterfe ynd Deckynge.

Love this Schnitzel! 😂

theirs*

@craxmum your garden looks and sounds wonderful.

Your neighbour, on the other hand, is bonkers.

Let it wash over you. And don't answer the door to her at 7am. Or, if you do, prepare to laugh in her face. Tell her you know you'll be great friends as you share an absurd sense of humour.

I love your garden.

I don't love your arsehole neighbour. If someone woke me at 0700 to say that, they would find themselves with two arseholes.

That is incredibly rascist and if that was me I'd have no problem at all telling your neighbour to FUCK RIGHT OFF!!!!
It makes me really angry reading your post. She cannot sue you for having a perfectly normal garden. If you had q0 hives of bees that had attacked her and several cockrels well maybe but a normal garden - what the hell!!
She would have got super short shrift from me and would never dare come over again.
As for sueing you can most certainly report her to the police for her rascist comment - please do and get them to go and talk to her about it. It will be the last you ever hear of her.
Don't you love people who move in and immediately start throwing their weight about

I hope she warned you about her party before it happened, just in case it might have affected your enjoyment of your property.

Go on, put some of your tomato feed on your sunflowers to encourage them to even greater heights.

You sound lovely. Your garden sounds lovely.

She sounds very unpleasant. You’re making a lot of excuses for her awful behaviour, which reflects well on you and says absolutely nothing about her.

(Btw I’m very disabled and poorly but still managed to have veg etc in my little yard in my old flat, managed to transform a mainly slabbed over yard into a vibrant natural playful place with a robin who’d come ‘chat’ to me whilst I lay outside or picked courgette flowers and smelled lavender in pots all up the walls... don’t link ill health to evil AstroTurf!!! No garden now of any sort and very sad about it boo.

OP both the description of your garden and the picture make it clear you have a beautiful garden. It's exactly the sort of space we all should have if we want to encourage wildlife and guard against flooding. It's a perfect example of an efficient, attractive and environmentally-friendly space. Far from being Un-English it's very reminiscent of Alys Fowler's garden, featured on the BBC, as well as in her books and articles. This person is clearly a problem, do as other posters say and document. If her guests truly complained then they are tasteless and the kind of people who are unthinkingly contributing to the environmental mess that is the planet we now inhabit. Disliking other people's gardens is not a grounds for legal action, if it were half the country would be suing the other half! Stay strong. Have a look at Jeff VanderMeer's Twitter feed (the SF writer known for 'Annihilation' and other books) he has a re-wilded garden and often posts snippets of uptight neighbour comments, many of which are hilarious.

Thank you everyone for the opinions.
I think killing her with kindness is the strategy I'll try next. I very conveniently have a glut of raspberries, hope she's not allergic :)

Crax your garden looks amazing! I'd love to have the time/energy/knowledge to have a garden like that.

As PPs have said tell your miserable NDN to fuck off

Your garden is gorgeous OP and you sound lovely. Your neighbour doesn't know how lucky she is!

If as you say, she is the same race as you but British rather than overseas born, it sounds like she is very insecure about who she is, thinking somehow that the further she moves from a natural garden, the more she will be accepted. Maybe she has been influenced by snobby or racist neighbours herself in the past/ her childhood into believing that her AstroTurf car park-type space is the better way to have your garden. Or something like that?

I agree, kill her with kindness and she may prove to be a good friend in the future. She is clearly at a vulnerable stage in her life.

I'd just kill her OP.