To be pissed off that my neighbour has cut his road side hedge so short - I have no privacy

[bagpuss90]

So my neighbours hedge runs adjacent to the pavement , and my garden runs adjacent to his. He has had the road/pavement side hedge cut so short to like 4 foot , so everyone walking past can see into my garden . It’s my happy place and I feel robbed . I was out there this afternoon and it felt like everyone who walked past looked in my garden - I think it’s a natural reaction , I don’t take it personally! I have the grand kids out there in a paddling pool sometimes and don’t feel 100% happy doing that now. Also I’ve spent quite a lot on garden furniture and stuff this year - so I’m not happy with the security aspect either . I’m going to have to raise the fence between mine and his . I just don’t get why anyone would do that , as obviously he has no privacy now either. We do get on and I’m not going to fall out with him about it. But I’m still pissed off

I 100% get why you are pissed off I would be too
but your still being completely unreasonable

If the hedge hasn't been cut for 12 years was it overhanging onto the pavement and the council have told him to cut it back

Is this a front or back garden?

If the OP is in the UK then the main bird nesting season runs from March to September https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/birds-nests-and-nestboxes.

Pruning to improve vigour is normally done in the dormant winter months.

Advice when I wanted to thicken my hedge is to cut it down by two thirds, to rejuvenate and thicken it.

It has worked, it is growing really quickly. It won't need doing again for quite a few years.

Could he have done this?

Apologies. I thought it was pretty much over by now. Certainly in my garden all the signs of nesting in my privet hedge are over before this stage of the summer, and the guy who cuts it for me tells me that June is the end time for nesting. Perhaps it varies by hedge type and location. We have done hard cutbacks in the late summer before, without any cost to the plant.

Why are people so obsessed by privacy. I have low hedges I prefer them.

He is not responsible for your privacy. Grow your own bush or put a fence up.

It’s his hedge, that’s the only relevant factor. YABU

It Is a weird thing to do without warning imo. Could be have thought he was doing you a favour as it was casting shade on your garden?
definitely get that trellis up and plant some laurel along there. It won’t take long to get them 6ft +

Have you gone and stood on the pavement and checked what can actually be seen? From that far away with a fence surely passers by only see shoulders upwards, and can’t see the paddling pool or garden furniture? Or maybe they’re really wide gardens and they can see?

I think your idea of trellis makes sense. Or maybe ask neighbour if he meant his hedge to be cut so low? Maybe it will grow and never be that low again. It’s totally his choice though

Its his hedge? He can dig it up if he likes.. get your own. Get a 10fter if you like

@NebulouslyContemporaneousit is over. Well just about - 31 July.

UPDATE- my neighbour has been to see me and he is livid and very apologetic . He left the guy to it to cut his hedge. He said it’s mullered- his words not mine . He only wanted a bit cut off . Well it can’t be stuck back in again so will have to sort the trellis . Poor guy not sure what he is going to do

Gosh are you on UK time? I'd be more pissed off that he'd come to see me so late at night than about the hedge tbh!

Well it would piss me off too so yanbu about how you feel but its his hedge and not even on a shared boundary so it's not anything you can do about .
Can you put a higher fence up or grow a hedge yourselves to give you more privacy.

Is the fence yours? Just put a trellis 2.6 ft high on top of the fence and grow some pretty climbers up it.

Grow your own bush. 😂😂😂

Maybe he likes to watch the world go by and feels isolated otherwise? Maybe he wanted to let more light into his windows? Maybe he wants to plant sun loving plants and his garden was too shaded by the hedge? Maybe he's getting old and intending to trim the hedge himself going forward, he wants it at a height he can easily do it without climbing a ladder? Maybe the council sent him a letter telling him it was too high? If you don't ask him, you'll never know, but I sincerely doubt it was "because I've never liked that woman next door and after 12yrs I've finally figured out a way to piss her off".

Is the fence yours? Either replace the fence or put a fence on your side.

Same here. We get the evening sun at the front so we've had a small patio put in our front garden and have a table and chairs out there.

However, we've also bought four 6ft photinias and planted them in such a way that we have privacy. Plus we have a relatively big front garden (about 40ft x 40ft). It works for us

In some ways he’s done you both a favour. Now it’s no longer private should anyone try to steal from your garden they’re not shielded by the hedge and they would be visible.

So he’s going to let them grow up again?

😆

My ex had a Transit-sized work van, which he had to bring home every night in case he was called out. My neighbour objected to him parking it on our own drive.

It meant she couldn't see right along the road, apparently.

What? My back garden is side on to the feeder road of our estate, and has a six foot wall with fencing inserts, built when the house was. Every house with a back garden bordering that road has similar.

Are you thinking of front gardens? Roads without pavements? There is certainly no such rule that applies to OP 's neighbours back garden, going by that diagram.