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?

Your garden sounds lovely!

It sounds to me more like that her fake garden is devaluing your property!

We had a problem neighbour who complained about lots of minor things, including sending us a letter to complain about our (quite quiet) music volume and telling us she would report us to the Council. We told her that we'd be more than happy for the Council to send a person round to measure the noise levels and we'd then follow their recommendations.

Never heard from her again.

She's obviously nuts...do you grow those as well?

Your garden sounds absolutely gorgeous! I hate astroturf. A lot of our neighbours have it, and ok, it looks better than our grass (because ours is all dead!), but environmentally its batshit.

At least youve realised early on that shes awful. Please please don’t take parcels in for her, if you’re asked, because she’s already shown that shes a racist bully. Shes probably a liar too, and would accuse you of stealing or damaging her goods.

Good luck.

She definately can not sue you the silly bint. Just ignore her and do not let her get to you but I would advise getting cctv to cover your property just in case she tries to damage it. Also please advice her that if she bothers you again you will contact the police.

mix the raspberries with sliced nectarines and vanilla sugar. Leave to mix for a few hours. Eat with or without clotted cream. Lush (it's a Clare McDonald recipe). That's a recipe??!! Put two fruits together in a fairly classic combination, add sugar (albeit flavoured with vanilla), and leave to mingle?

I've always felt the minimum qualification for something to be a recipe is that it's something that you wouldn't come up with yourself without a lot of experimentation if you were left alone in a kitchen with a reasonable range of standard ingredients.

Please get a scarecrow and dress it as her.

I think cctv would be a good idea- it wouldn't altogether surprise me if she has trouble aiming weedkiller.

And all gluts should be sent here immediately.

paid me a visit at 7am on Sunday

Counter sue - her deluded self absorption is affecting your enjoyment of your bed. The great nincompoop!

It is entirely irrelevant how your garden looks OP. Yours actually does look like a typical English cottage garden and a bit reminiscent of Gertrude Jekyll. It might not be to everyone’s taste but that is utterly immaterial. No one can dictate to you what you do on your own property unless you live in a specific conversation area and there is some sort of covenant on how for example the exterior and gardens have to blend in with the overall look of the neighborhood. The point is that your garden and house have feck all to do with your NDN, even if for example you liked to pile up old tires, as some kind of homage to post-apocalyptic urban design. You need to nip this in the butt right now. It doesn’t matter if she was drunk or has issues. Don’t humour or even entertain Astrozilla to feel entitled to comment about what you do with your own space. I am not a fan of immaculate lawns and pretty ordered flower beds or the cottage garden look. Everyone else in my neighourhood is and that is entirely up to them. We all have very long gardens. I have a total tropical jungle in the area closest to the house with palms, bananas and large leafy evergreens with a daybed, a little table and low chairs. The rest at the back is a wildflower meadow. It’s totally low maintenance and my dogs love to run around in it. A while back a neighbour told me that my garden spoiled the overall look of the view out of the back from her top window. I just laughed in her face and replied ‘Tough titties!’ She no longer speaks to me. Win-win situation!

Seriously, get some chickens and watch her implode 😂

You will have to drop in the conversation how HRH Prince Charles grows his own veg.
As does Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey.

Give her something to talk about at her next party

OP, she sounds overwrought.

I think you need to be plain with her:
She can’t sue you because of your garden, and if she does she will have to declare that when she sells which will 100% for sure devalue her property as a ‘dispute’.

Oh and mention that you overheard her visitors say that they were “aghast” upon spotting her dire astroturf but they didn’t want to offend her so pretended it was your garden of actual living plants that had them clutching their pearls!

I wouldn’t take the kill her with kindness approach as otherwise she will start taking the piss. I’d avoid her at all costs and if she starts again make it crystal clear that you will be keeping your garden exactly as it is and will log and treat any further complaints as harassment. Gardens are for growing things. Her garden sounds sounds like an assault on taste, decency and all that is normal and you should be the one suing if that was indeed a thing. Personally I can’t understand people who cover their gardens in plastic and think tomatoes come wrapped in plastic from supermarkets but that’s just my view.

Your garden sounds lovely... very eco friendly and great for your kids.
Hers sounds awful tbh. Each to their taste but she shouldn’t be trying to impose herself on you.
Sounds like she is racist too.

I would ignore but maybe keep a diary of what she says/ does in case it escalates then you have evidence of her harassment.

Darling, do record everything in your dairy. Do take photographic evidence of your garden and of her garden as well. Do not insult her in return even if you really wish to do it. If she comes again with the same sort of thing tell her that next time you will not answer the door and if she continues bothering you, you would have to take her to court for harassing your family and for being xenophobic.
I would put one camera in your garden (in case she throws some poop) and one in the front garden.

My neighbour's garden is beautiful but she is also a cunt. All she does is complain, complain and complain. When she talks to other people she sounds such a sweetheart.

I also love your garden. With prices going up within the last two years everyone will need a garden like that soon.

Decking and fake grass? Totally dead from wildlife. That's not a garden at all.
Yours sounds lovely.
There is a very simple answer to her. FUCK OFF

My final thought for you Op, you’re missing one vital thing in your garden. May I present....

Your neighbour was clearly smoking crack at her partyast night.

Party last night*

Valkyrie I want that for mine. Dd would have mario and luigi figures to match.

neighbour is clearly bonkers. OP - I agree with those who say that you should make a note of every interaction you have with her. I get the feeling she is going to find a lot of things to complain about. Also, DO NOT change anything at all about your garden because of her. DO NOT compromise on anything because once you do she will just take the piss and increase her demands every time.

Your garden sounds beautiful! Tell her that she can complain all she wants, however, she shouldn’t bother begging for fresh vegetables when the full impact of Brexit kicks in and we are all living on baked beans!

I am currently considering getting my husband to make an allotment at the bottom of our garden (we have just removed our well used climbing frame and safety surface so are midway through digging the claw ground up and planting grass).