Why do my neighbours insist on sitting in their front garden?

[vnk21]

I am sure this makes me unreasonable but the incessant noise is giving me the rage.

I WFH, in an upstairs room at the front of the house. Today it's about 26 degrees here so I have the windows open. And all I can here is next door.

There's currently an entire family of them outside (mum, dad, and various kids). The parents have garden chairs out in the front garden and the kids are kicking a ball around - all of them are making a load of noise. Plus every time anyone walks past they have to engage them in conversation.

The houses in this street have small front gardens, Theirs is paved, and the size of 1 large car. Their back garden is at least twice the size. Why would you not sit out there?!

I'm not expecting silence, but the incessant shouting/screaming is so bloody irritating - especially when one of them goes indoors and they carry out a yelled conversation from the house to outside! First thing this morning it was lovely, birdsong and (because it is a relatively busy road) cars going past. But their noise is far more irritating than cars going past.

There's no solution other than closing the windows (and sweating in the heat) is there? Or hoping for rain.

I appreciate it's only a week and the schools will be back next week (so at least I should get some quiet 9-3), but I'm concerned they're going to be like this for the whole 6 weeks holiday which will drive me mad!

Because it's their property, and they can do what they like?

Put your telly on, or a white noise video on YouTube to block them out.

Or, heaven forbid, pop your head out and, with a smile, ask them if they'd mind keeping it down a bit?

I agree there is a performance element, the dad in particular laughs like the Laughing Policeman (no one naturally laughs like that), and is generally very loud and performance-y in everything he does.

They also are the parents who never tell their children off. If they did, the kids might be slightly better behaved and less irritating.

I have now closed the windows. I can still hear them of course but the volume is far less intrusive.

@fashionablefennel

Sounds like they have a very happy home if they are regularly spending time together laughing and squealing....perhaps a little annoying but also the epitome of child happy noises.

Feeling the need to put on a show and make a spectacle of yourself strikes me as the opposite of being happy!

Trying too hard, too much involvement of the neighbourhood, every time anyone walks past they have to engage them in conversation.

A happy family wouldn't be so desperate for so much outside distraction.

Either way, being a nuisance to your neighbours is just rude.

There's something in this I think !

Extroverts like publicly sunbathing .accosting every passing acquaintance for a chat & watching (& discussing) everyone else go about their daily business.

Introverts would find all of the above painful.

Am I close?

These comments about front gardens are funny.

My street is a terrace and the small back gardens get no sun in the late afternoon and evening so everyone sits in their even smaller front garden then, if the weather's nice enough. (not that often).

They manage to chat or play quietly though.

And most of them earn well above average salaries. They're just not snobs.

The snobbery on this thread is astonishing. The reference to 'decent people' is the low point so far.

What happened to live and let live?

maybe they like chatting to people?

It is exactly the problem that forced me to buy industrial noise protection headphones that I have to wear now almost all the time INSIDE because people OUTSIDE "enjoyed" their front and back gardens.

For those who do not know physics, sounds are airwaves that act like punching, it is a real physical action. Nobody wants to be punched incessantly, but that is what noise does, it is a physical assault, however minor.

Yes, people can enjoy their homes and gardens, but quietly.
No music, no parties, no ball games, no screaming. If you want any of these, go elsewhere.

It is not long ago that a disabled person had to suffer in a society that ignored them. It is time to think about noise sufferers as well.

You've only just closed the window? 🙄

unfortunately the concept of the 'indoor voice' seems to have gone the same way as the concept of taking your litter away with you. Many of the 30 somethings are also stone deaf as they spent a lot of time with their ears plugged with music players; the millenials will be the same. Sorry. Basically many people are selfish pigs.

How annoying. But you have options.
Close your windows-makes it quiet
Get a fan-makes it cooler
Use earphones-distracts
Bitch about them to other annoyed neighbours-gives perspective
Ask them to be quiet-makes enemies
Sit in your own front garden with better ice lollies than their kids'-makes you a power bitch
Turd their front garden in the night-makes you a secret Ninja.

Same subject, different opinions! Just yesterday, I was reading this thread on Gransnet: www.gransnet.com/forums/chat/1296503-What-are-front-gardens-for?

Would you be complaining if the room you were working in was at the back of your house and all this was going on in their back garden?

The office would have the same interruption, especially open plan when everyone's talking about the gym or watching coronation street

@mrsbitaly

Do you know what after the year we have all had chillout. Yes it's annoying but it's so nice that people can catch up now and enjoy themselves and others around them.

pretty sure no one was banned from using their own garden during the pandemic, so there really is no reason to be such a nuisance.

Some people are just twats unfortunately, rude, show off and anti-social. They decide to live in busy area but show no respect for anyone around them.

Unfortunately, until we have stricter rules (or you have the luxury to move into private estates where the leases or rules are strict and anti-social behaviour banned), neighbours just have to suffer.

Noise cancelling ear phones and a fan (so you don’t have to open the window) are your friends here op. I think it’s very strange thing to do, but it’s not something I’m used to. Where my friend lives everyone is in their front gardens passing the time of day with anyone passing. It’s actually quite nice when visiting, they are like a community and all know each other. Not sure I’d want to live there though. For me a good neighbour is one you never hear and rarely see!

YABU it's their garden

The problem is the OP is working! I bet her neighbors wouldn't like the noise if they were working! Children playing and running around isn't an issue it's the volume!

I would shout out of the window that you are working and for them to be quieter OP!

I don't buy the excuse that it's because we only have a few nice days etc. We all have to share the space and their wants do not trump yours

what a bunch of weirdos! I can't understand people who have no sense of privacy and put a show in the street like that.

This!

I feel your pain vnk21. I've currently got next doors family and friends squeezed into their tiny, North facing, front garden staring into my window. They’ve got a massive South facing garden but that would mean they’d have to clear up the dog shit first. It's def about putting on a show

I shut the blinds last year but I’m not doing it this year. They can enjoy watching me scratching my arse watching telly

@Dentistlakes - that's my idea of a good neighbor as well! We are like that!

@vnk21

They don't have grass at the back either.

Front is a little sunnier in the morning, but there's not much in it. Certainly yesterday they were out the front all day, even when the back gets more sun later in the day.

They're all so fucking loud, they don't talk they shout at each other. I am slightly hard of hearing too, god knows how someone with normal hearing would manage with their noise.

I think you have somehow acquired my old neighbours. Sorry. I did wonder where they had gone and who had got them, guess you drew the short straw.

If your home office was overlooking back garden would you expect NDNs not play or sit out talking in their back garden?

I appreciate they are loud, noisy and unaware that their neighbours may be WFH or sleeping. And also that it is a bit oblivious to sit in their front garden shouting to people in the house ...

But Your stress levels would be far lower if you problem solved it for this week (whilst they are off home during half term and sitting out the front)

Get a fan and close your office window. Open the window first thing and close it when they get out their camp chairs

Relocate to the back / middle of the house with your laptop until schools return - maybe sit at the kitchen table

• put headphones on with lovely calming music 🎶

• pop out and say to your neighbours "hi, I work from home, there's my office (point up window almost above them) , thought I ought let you know 16 of my colleagues can hear your loud conversations too.." (and we've interrupted our meeting to find out if louanne wanted orange or black currant too )

I agree. Also think just having a 'few nice days' unleashes a sort of madness on some. Not least when it comes to dress sense. You just don't see that happening in Barcelona or Paris .

My front garden is about 2m by 3m and mostly a flower bed, but we sit out there to get sun in the autumn/winter and some mornings as our back garden in nor facing and is in total shade most of the year. We get some sun from midday until the late afternoon at the back during summer. I have the opposite issue in that our back garden is very small and the gardens that back o to it are huge, yet the occupants choose to have their parties and bbqs right up by the fence, so 7m from our windows but 25m from their own. We get all the smoke and noise. We can’t leave our windows open at night as they are always out there shouting and playing loud music. Unfortunately the only bedroom at the quiet front of the house is a box room, otherwise we’d all move into that!

*north