To think it's my bloody house and garden so I'll have a bbq or bonfire if i want too?

[Werkwerkwerkwerkwerkwerk]

Just as the title suggests really.

We're already confined to our homes for the most part, why are people now trying to control what we can and cannot do in our own gardens?

Need to find as much joy as possible or I'll join all the other near alcoholics that have evolved at this point.

@Notimeforaname - people are having bonfires because the tips are closed and some councils are not collecting garden waste. Someone in our town had one and burnt a double mattress - apparently they got burnt by throwing petrol on. So of course more pressure on NHS as well as polluting everyone’s lungs when a respiratory virus is doing the rounds

LOVE a bonfire!

We have a big fire pit with logs around it to sit on. We cook on it for fun and use it to burn garden prunings and other scrap wood. Luckily our next door neighbours (who are big fans of a bbq) don’t suck on a lemon and don’t mind. They use our pit now and then themselves.
The neighbours over the other side of the road have allotments at the back, while there’s a also a chap who teaches bushcraft and some new-agey shamanic schizzle to people...so bonfires are pretty common place here. I love the smell of the woodsmoke, very evocative and comforting to me. My parents were fire people too.
Personally speaking, I think woodsmoke smells much better than the stench of sweaty burgers from a bbq.
Live and let live.

BBQ is ok but would be courteous to inform neighbours so they can bring in washing etc.

Bonfires - no (sorry). It's warm weather and most people have their windows open. A good chunk of the country are poorly with breathing problems and don't want to be breathing in acrid smoke.

I don’t mind bonfires (I don’t have them myself). They are an infrequent thing and as long as I don’t have washing out. None of my neighbours would have one on a sunny day and I quite like the smell of a fire presuming they are just burning garden waste.

We have regular bonfires. Always late in the day, at the bottom of the garden- if the wind is blowing away from our row of houses. So it blows towards houses that are at least 1 or 2 miles away. Only properly dry stuff, and nothing toxic. (So dry twigs etc- not plastic) So do our neighbours.
Doesn't bother anyone.

And we light our wood burner daily- living rurally we have no mains gas & the alternatives are very expensive.

I will carry on doing these things.

When we lived in a suburb, our neighbours had a BBQ up against our fence (under our windows) every single sunny day. Could never get washing fully dry outside & our house filled with smoke.

It's not always as simply as 'BBQ good, bonfire bad)

It Is never acceptable to have a bonfire in a residential area imo. I've managed to go my whole life without ever feeling the need for one. Just buy a garden bin and go to the tip occasionally.

Must say though - burning unsuitable materials disclaimer applies. Burning plastics, massive no no...as well as other toxic shit.

Do posters get a kick out of being so rude and offensive?

Have a BBQ OP, a bonfire is less of a good idea.

However to posters questions what garden rubbish, our bins haven't been collected since October last year, the council have already pushed collection back to an April start (cost cutting) and are now saying May.

I have a large, mature garden. DH mowed the lawn the other day and got 12 charity bags worth of grass clippings alone. We have just had a skip so got rid of the garden waste that way, but there was a lot more than just a small pile up a corner.

Personally speaking, I think woodsmoke smells much better than the stench of sweaty burgers from a bbq.

What on earth is a “sweaty burger”?

I agree. Bbq yes but bonfire is unnecessary and selfish

I burn wood in a fire pit sometimes and sit out with a glass of wine, is that what’s meant by a bonfire?

I have a large, mature garden. DH mowed the lawn the other day and got 12 charity bags worth of grass clippings alone. We have just had a skip so got rid of the garden waste that way, but there was a lot more than just a small pile up a corner.

Get a composter? Surely the most sensible idea if you have a large garden you’re struggling to keep on top of?

Just buy a garden bin and go to the tip occasionally

Which would be great advice if the tips were actually open.

I woke up the other night thinking the house was on fire. Really, really strong smell of burning and smoke. Thankfully it was just a bonfire from down the road. At least they waited until night time, I suppose! There are so many bonfires lately. People must just enjoy setting fire to shit.

The police, fire brigade and council in our area have said no bonfires.
Purely for the fact people with covid are struggling to breathe anyway and the advice is to keep windows open if you have symptoms . and also it’s a waste of resources at the moment if anything goes wrong.

We can manage to keep on top of it in normal circumstances, we fill two large wheelie bins a fortnight (at least) in normal circumstances. A little more than a composter would manage.

@PyongyangKipperbang

So you don't have a composter?

Our neighbours had a bonfire a few nights ago and we didn’t really mind because it was in the evening when we were all indoors and they warned us beforehand so we could close windows. Also understood why they did it, they had excess garden waste and the council have stopped taking the garden bin for the time being plus tip is closed.

If you warn neighbours and do it in the evening I don’t think it’s a huge issue.

Where's the OP?

Oh and not everyone has a compost bin, they’re not the norm where we live at all.

Just buy a garden bin and go to the tip occasionally.

Garden bins aren’t being collected and the tip is closed.

Bonfire/Chimnea if no washing out and after say 7pm. BBQ never can't stand smell of burning flesh. Would rather have any of them than kids screaming. Can't please everyone all of the time.

Well, OP certainly did a good job of winding mumsnet up! Bet they've had a right laugh!

Cannot understand why anyone thinks it is acceptable to have a bonfire in the garden, especially in the current climate where all neighbours should be at home/in their gardens too, unless of course you are very isolated, on farmland etc. Someone who used to live behind us regularly had bonfires in the middle of the afternoon on the sunniest day of the year, at the bottom of their huge garden so it was away from their own property but really close to lots of others. They didn't seem to care how it affected the neighbours and how utterly anti social it was. I got so fed up of having to retreat inside, taking in the washing and shutting all the windows that one day I ended up turning on the hosepipe and directing it over our fence into the fire. I told her that every time she had a bonfire, I would do the same. She never had another bonfire and moved house shortly afterwards. Good riddance inconsiderate cow.