To think it’s just a bit weird to sit on someone else’s garden wall and have a chat

[Flamingolingo]

Just that really - looked out of the window earlier and there was a group of probable students having a chat on the pavement outside my house. Two were sat on the garden wall, which is very obviously the garden wall and right in front of the sitting room window (I wasn’t in the room at the time). It’s my wall for sure, and it’s 100+ years old (and will be very expensive to rebuilt when it does eventually crumble. I was planning to go out and water the flowers and gently move them on, but they left after about 15 minutes and before I finished sorting small children out. They didn’t actually do any harm, but AIBU to object to people randomly sitting on my wall?

I cannot imagine why anyone would he pissed off at someone sitting on the wall outside their house, it's not like they are taking a shit in your garden. Comparing it to someone sitting on your car bonnet is ridiculous

Well, it’s pretty evenly split, but some of the attitudes are quite odd - not sure how I’m the CF for not wanting someone to use my wall as a bench, surely the CF is the person sitting on the wall. They were properly adult, not 15 or so.

And it’s not just ‘a wall outside my house’ - it’s my wall, within my front garden, and very obviously so. It’s also a bit knackered looking, probably has quite a shallow foundation, and covered by a conservation order (so cant be rebuilt until really needed and rebuilding is complicated). It’s also way too long for signage, two sections at about 10m each, and spikes would not be allowed.

I’m glad they did move without me having to be a bore about it, perhaps they spotted that they were being watched though.

If it's wobbly, you need to sort that out anyway. If it fell and injured someone you could be liable.

While doing that, plant something along the top to deter people from sitting on it.

I know I said upthread that it’s wobbly, but it’s not actually, I wasn’t sure, so tried it yesterday. It will become wobbly though if people keep leaning on it. And yes, when it becomes dangerous it will need to be rebuilt, but that in itself is something of a drama - it will involve planning permission and conservation officers, and residents committees, and method statements and finding a bricklayer who will work in lime mortar, and building an exact replica, for the walls are considered particularly important to the conservation area. Or, people could just not lean on it and then it would probably do another 50 years. We took out some very large hedges that were at the end of their life just after we moved in, we have a lot of shrub things growing behind the wall so I’m hoping when they get bigger it will be less attractive as a perch

Can you plant something that will trail over the top of it? Preferably spiky. Should be allowed even in a conservation area and would keep people off.

Ah cross posted, I see you have a plan already.

Thanks @KingofDinobots (cool name). We do have some barberries and pyracantha that could be relocated to the wall, but we’ve been saving them for the rear boundary because that backs onto open parkland

We’ve actually been moving a lot of spiky plants around, because there were many in the back garden, mostly at eye height for young children and in places they would likely trip up

People occasionally sit on my low wall. Last month it was a group of teenagers for more than an hour. I find it rude and intrusive. They could see right into my garden and I can't understand why anyone would think it's OK to use someone elses' property as a seat.

I’d maybe move the spiky plants to the wall for now - lots of places are still closed, and everybody knows it’s safer to be outdoors at the moment. You don’t want your wall to become a favoured hangout over the long summer holidays!

Thanks @SantaMonicaPier - glad its not just me, and sorry you had to deal with that. If we were using the front room it would have felt like a goldfish bowl with them right outside the window. It is interesting how many people think my attitude is OTT though - I’m just not going to understand because I wouldn’t plonk myself on someone else’s wall (I would sit on a wall in a public place though).

@KingofDinobots don’t worry, I’d just become the raving madwoman of the Crescent if that happened. Like I said earlier, so what if I’m a bit Hyacinth 🤷‍♀️

Of course YANBU! It’s absolutely not the done thing to sit on someone else’s front wall to socialise.

Sounds totally normal to me. If the wall is unstable, put a little sign up saying so and fix it. How do you know it won’t collapse into the pavement one day?

Solutions like spikes on the wall (which the OP can’t do anyway) or hedges and prickly plants all sound a bit costly and time-consuming. A bucket of dirty water flung from an upstairs window when you’ve just finished washing them down? Free - and makes a great point too.

@StillCoughingandLaughing I like your thinking! Hence my original thought about going out with the hose to water the plants...