Am I a CF if I plant trees in my garden?

[BigBlueBubble]

Hallo lovely people, can you please tell me if I’m being a CF?

My house is on a hill and NDN is further up the hill. My living room with big French windows opens into my garden. I have a 6ft fence which prevents NDN seeing into my living room if they’re in the garden. If they’re in the house the slope of the hill means they can look out of their window and just about see over the fence but that’s never been a massive problem.

However .. NDN has recently installed a raised deck so when they climb on it their heads pop above the fence and they peer over. And now they’ve put up a massive ugly orange gazebo tent right next to the fence and the peak is so high, because of the slope it feels like it’s towering over my house.

I can’t make the fence taller, it’s already the permitted legal maximum of 2m. But I’ve been advised that I can plant a row of tall trees and NDN can’t do anything about it because as long as it’s not evergreen there’s no legal restriction on the height. It will have leaves in the summer which solves my problem because NDN aren’t sitting out on their deck or putting up their gazebo tent in the winter.

My question is, am I a CF if I plant trees along my boundary to give me some privacy? NDN probably won’t be happy because I’m on the east and they’re on the west so the trees will cast a shadow over their deck and part of their garden. But they’ve already invaded my privacy with their deck and gazebo otherwise I wouldn’t be considering this as a solution.

HuckfromScandal
"I like the Pergola idea
But would be difficult to use with a "sex pond" so close......"

You mean you wouldn't pop a table and chairs under the pergola and shout words of encouragement?
"Is she faking it? Is she? Yep, that's definitely her faking it noises"
"Not to worry Mr Sex Pond, you might last longer next time"

Do they really want to look at you?
They do peer over. And sometimes they stand there in their smalls, dripping wet, and have a shouty conversation over the fence that I can’t get away from.

Those pleached trees are ugly. Bamboo is invasive, even the non invasive type, even if you destroy it, you will constantly have to remove bits of it.
I thought that trellis was OK, seems to be normal here. How about a row of fixed planters attached near the top of the fence with tall plants or ivy with supports? I have seen planters at the garden centre that you can attach to the top, like small window boxes.

Given how deep a sex pond is then, unless the decking setup is very different to what I'm imagining they have almost certainly breached 30cm height that requires planning by the time they get to the front edge of the decking. It could be legal if they measure it at the house, but illegal further down. Quick google suggests most hot tubs are 80-90ish cm tall and obviously it'll have had to be built up underneath at the side nearest you to keep it level.

Planting trees is not cheeky-trees are good! Decking and sex ponds however are the depths of vulgarity..
I agree with a pp-plant lovely things that you can enjoy, not a row of leylandi.
They will take a while to grow though. How about a hawthorn hedge with some climbers mixed in? Birch trees? Japanese maple?
The neighbours may be awful but the birds will love you.

“I'd be careful, it can make a surprising amount of noise on a windy night!*
Hmm. My bedrooms are at the front (staircase and landing at the back). But theirs is a single storey bungalow so their bedroom is at the back and at the same level as the fence.

I should point out that it’s not my fence either, so I can’t attach anything to it, no trellis or planters etc.

put up your own pergola on your side www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20642

interesting discussion above

Apparently trellis can count as part of the fence depending on your council, but a free standing trellis is permitted as it is a temporary structure, and so is a small shed.

Who owns the fence?

From what I can see they have something like this. The raised deck is the issue, not the tub.

Sounds like a line of trees is fair game (and necessary).

Do they need planning permission for a raised deck? Worth asking your council.

Start sunbathing naked it's cheaper

You can put up another fence or screening in front of their fence then attach trellis to that. Our ndn raised his patio and now peers over, pretending to be cleaning his window, so we put up trellis that you cant see through. I think bamboo sounds a good idea.

What about a living fence? They are sort of plaited(?) or woven and grow lovely in the summer, die back in winter, repeat. Seem to be a lovely little haven for birds too.

I'm growing a mainly hazel hedge next to my fence. The hazel is quick growing and I've also got some rambling roses growing through it. Good for wildlife as well!

Smashing diagrams

get planting Lady ]flowers]

Excellent diagram, OP.

The trees look nice (if pricey). And another vote for "they started the CF-ery."

Stand under it and start singing "Sex pond sex pond you're my sex pond" a la Tom Jones.

I would go with the pleached trees. They look really nice.

Cross post about who owns the fence, so nothing to stop you putting something on your side, like a freestanding trellis then.

The pleached trees are expensive, but bamboo would be costly if you are going to plant it properly, i.e. dig the trench, line it with high guard membrane / steel to prevent it spreading etc. You will also lose a bit of your garden space, which might not be an issue depending on the size.

Sex pond has made my day, home it gets cleaned regularly (not envy!)

Pleached trees are lovely but high maintenance and expensive

I only have a small garden. It’s about 25ft from my house to the fence. The slope is quite steep so the fence already looms over my garden. I probably can’t build a pergola because it would loom even closer, plus would be difficult to build on a slope. Can’t use trellis because it counts as a fence and the current fence is already max permitted height. Currently considering pleached trees (expensive) or bamboo (possibly noisy and invasive). Good idea to apply for planning permission for a taller fence/trellis to clad in climbers!

What a hassle! Stupid neighbours and their sex-pond-deck-gazebo

If you have the money you can buy boxed / pleached trees, something like a boxed lime tree.

Fab idea. I've been in love with pleached limes ever since I went to Batemans, Rudyard Kipling's house, where there is a formal pond with pleached limes down both sides.

I was going to suggest hornbeam, because it has a fairly compact habit, takes well to pleaching and holds onto its leaves until well into the winter. I just looked up the price and a pleached hornbeam 6' high is £350! A row of those would look fab though, and it's a nice, traditional, native species, good for birds and wildlife.

For a quick, cheap job, trellis and Russian vine would do the trick but you might end up regretting planting a Russian vine. It didn't get the nickname of mile-a-minute for nothing.

Pmsl at "sex pond".

Bloody awful, vulgar things imo, and someone (possibly on here) referred to the water in them as "chlamydia soup".

I'd borrow an air rifle and pop a few holes in it one night when they're not there. (Actually, I probably wouldn't, but I'd bloody love to).