Climbing Frame and Privacy

[HappyKite2067]

We don’t want to be ‘those neighbours’ but our neighbours have put a climbing frame for their children right next to our fence. We now constantly have little faces popping up over our (2m) fence and looking straight onto our patio area and into our kitchen.

Their garden is probably 4m x 6m at a push, so I think anywhere in the garden would probably intrude.

We really want children to make use of a garden, we don’t mind noise (and they are noisy!) and we don’t even mind the occasional ball being kicked over- but this is our privacy now.

Anyone been in this position before? I imagine they are unlikely to take down.

He is in his own garden with an expectation of privacy. He can garden naked if he wants. If next door make it so their kids can look over the fence, that’s on them.

That’s legally correct but we had the council round due to a similar situation and they said they wouldn’t be bothered going through the rigmarole for it. So you might have to stamp your feet a bit and then if you come to sell you’d need to list it as a neighbour dispute.

This.
honestly, they will get bored ….

in meantime if they’re staring in another solution may be looking into privacy film on the obvious windows. You can get mirror film that you can put on yourselves (with care ) that doesn’t cost a fortune. Or get some temporary cheap folding paper blinds that fit into frames (ikea used to do them) that you can take down once the novelty with kids has worn off.

i suspect a year tops …but once they’ve had a good nose over the fence at you for a month or so, they’ll get bored with that too.

yep, others have said get partners to walk around naked…frankly that’s a good tactic but timing will be tricky I assume as youdont know when kids will pop up on frame, or your mother will call!

Why are you asking on MN then?

I think you need to stick a trellis with plants on top of the fence - plants don't need to be 8 foot tall, they can be in containers you hang off the top of your fence - just ivy would be perfect, grows quickly, easy to keep, cheap.

I agree.

Our DD had one when she was young. Fortunately the neighbours on both sides had DC the same age and they all had climbing frames at the same time.
For a period of time they would all sit at the top of their frames chatting over the fence.

However, the novelty wore off and we were seldom bothered, or our DD bothering others.

I’ve asked what others have done. My first option isn’t to run to the council.

I'd just plant tall plants along the fence. Bamboo, miscanthus grass or Giant Reed would all do the job. Hopefully the neighbour will remind her kids not to be peeping into your garden, and eventually the novelty will wear off.

You and you dh should spend lots of afternoons in your skimpy bikini and speedo trunks. Perhaps consider installing a hot tub too.

There isn’t a maximum legal height. What there is is legislation on high hedges / fences above 2m that are detrimental to neighbouring properties. It’s mostly aimed at antisocial laylandii hedge owners who fail to prune their trees and allow them to grow 30ft high.

Put a 2 or 3ft trellis on top of your fence and grow a climber along it. Also, remember the kids are likely to stop using the climbing frame as much once the novelty has warn off.

No you can’t.

Planning law has restrictions on things that need planning permission, such as sheds above a certain size made of combustible materials.

Tort law allows you to take legal action for things like persistence peeking over a fence. This is a private nuisance. But I wouldn’t recommend that. Some trellis, a climber and a bit of patience should do the trick.

You can ask anything you want. You can’t compel them to move it.

But that won’t stop the whole family seeing you from their upstairs windows. You don’t have any privacy in your garden

I think the easiest solution is that your neighbour understands that they are invading your privacy so limits use to certain times of day and tells kids not to stare. Them being outside for an hour or so a day is very different to all day

I think the easiest solution is that your neighbour understands that they are invading your privacy so limits use to certain times of day and tells kids not to stare. Them being outside for an hour or so a day is very different to all day

Urgh it’s horrible isn’t it. My ndn has three noisy children and a huge bright plastic slide that they sit at the top of. I sympathise!

A huge gazebo or sail shade would stop them looking over

That only applies to permanent structures. I suspect for exactly this reason.

Yanbu but in all honesty it wouldn't bother me at all.

The children are highly unlikely to be hanging out the windows catching the OP eyes.
And the OP should not be peeking into the NDN upstairs windows.

So the action is much less intrusive than popping up from behind a fence. Or hanging out staring in like a bored cat.

My parents had this exact issue.

But it escalated from little faces looking in, to them throwing things in the garden, then calling “old people we can see you” when my parents were in their kitchen, to spraying water into their garden.

My dad went to speak to the parents on a particularly bad day but the dad was abusive and told him to go away.

So my parents put some trellis up and pots on the fence and stopped using their garden. Eventually the children grew older and they’ve outgrown the climbing frame.

There's often no easy solution to this!

Of course the problem with growing plants as a solution to the loss of privacy is the time it takes to reach a reasonable height, so either put up a gazebo directly beside the climbing frame and block the children’s view (expensive) or put up a sail shade. They’re designed to be put at an angle and thus provide shade but there’s nothing to stop you hanging it vertically. The bonus is that they come in many colours so you can go as bright or as subtle as you choose.

Are the kids really there all the time or are you just sensitised to the issue? If it’s the former, ask the neighbours what they can do to help. In the meantime, stop doing such interesting things in your garden and kitchen.

If the neighbour have put them, knowing very well the children will look on your property, it's unlikely they will do anything anyway.

Trellis? Potted or clumping fargesia bamboo (sounds fab in a breeze). One of those sail things?
100% this
Block the view, and everybody is happy.

I agree with the trellis suggestion. Or bamboo ... as long as it is a non-invasive kind like Fargesia. It's worth spending a bit if money on this if you can afford to. It's an investment. A beautiful private garden makes a house much more desirable. And your can't rely on your menfolk not to wimp out of the naked gardening come the autumn.