We have a considerable sized garden, around 100ft. We created a kind of split around two thirds of the way down - we have a bench under a freestanding Arbor with trellises attached, so the end of our garden is not completely cut off but is a bit of an obscured view from the house. The idea of this being we have a large patio for entertaining, followed by a pretty garden area with the trellis, then behind the trellis is the kids area. Here we have additional seating, a ping pong table and a trampoline against the back fence.
A neighbour that backs on to us has been round to ask us to move the trampoline. I want to start this by saying we are absolutely on board with moving the trampoline away from the boundary and we plan to do this. However, the neighbour also decided to write a letter, and the letter is so far off of the tone she was giving out in person. She asks in the letter that we move the trampoline a considerable distance from the boundary, or get it removed completely as she doesn't want to be able to see the trampoline or my daughter on it at all. Our garden is set higher than theirs, so even though we have a six foot fence, it is not six foot on our side iyswim probably more like 5ft - I don't think moving it up by the 8-10 metres I have available in the kids area will meet her requirements. She specifically states that as we have a large garden we have the space to move it - while technically this is true, I don't want to move the trampoline in front of the trellis as that was the point of putting the split there, I want to view my pretty garden and the kids have their own space. Yes I do have a large garden, but I paid a premium for it so I could use it how suited me, not so my neighbours can tell me how to use it.
The meet in person had me sympathising completely, but the letter and how it is worded has really got my back up. It has given me a deadline to move said trampoline (I would have moved it tomorrow following our talk) and the entire thing comes across as really confrontational and threatening. I could understand if she had spoken to me about it before, but I've literally never met her. In the face to face meeting she also briefly mentioned our ping pong table and fire pit (fire pit has been lit twice in a year, once to BBQ).
My plan is to move the trampoline as far up the kids area as possible but say that's as far as it will go even if she can still see the trampoline or the top of my child's head. It will mean re-working the space though so the ping pong table will need to be much nearer the boundary fence so the noise of that will be worse. I'm pretty sure this isn't going to be good enough for the neighbour. AIBU to tell her tough if she comes knocking again? While I'm absolutely looking to compromise by moving things around in the kids area, am I being a complete cow for saying I want to keep my pretty area of garden trampoline free?