Neighbours walking past our front door to leave the house

[Bluesea14]

our new neighbours keep walking past our front door and squeezing past our cars when they go out. We have checked our deeds and title and this is part of our property, not a public footpath. We would never dream of walking past their house when we go out so we can't understand why they think it's acceptable to do it. They recently had furniture delivered and this was also carried down the path past our front door instead of going in between their cars.
I have attached a image which is similar to the layout of our house and the blue line is where they keep walking. Any advice on how to deal with this please? We haven't properly met them yet so we don't want to come across confrontational but we also want to make it clear that we don't want people regularly walking on our property and setting our ring doorbell off.

@Bluesea14 checked out yesterday morning at a quarter past 9 so it doesn't seem that big a problem anymore. I should save your energy, everyone.

Yes very annoying in a similar situation a big planter rectangular to divide the space between doors should do it. They are being lazy and not using the end path they have. Hate people who think it’s okay to cut across someone else’s property

To be honest looking at the picture I’d have assumed the path infront of yours was for both houses to use, do you share the path up with the left hand side neighbour? Maybe you could get a small wall erected between the path and the dividing line.

A lovely tree in a planter or a big boulder should stop them, but will it stop you too?

Absolutely NOT! So impersonal to send a letter! Please speak to your neighbours.

Another vote for @SparklyGlitterballs approach.
And big planters - which can add beauty & joy to the front of your house.

I don't think that you are being unreasonable and it looks like they are just being lazy.
Just ask them to stop and say in a jokey way 'you might see something you don't want to through the window, we are nudists etc. Haha'

I picked something up from facebook marketplace that had a path like this. It was a new build estate with a path next to the houses all the way down the street. The parking was at the back and not accessible perpendicularly to each house, so the path was the access.
They might just not realise.

We used to live in a property where our neighbours had to use our drive and walk across our back door to access the back of their house from the street. The drive and path belonged to the house we lived in but there was a right of access. Id check this, as it may be the case here too.

Fence or a row of pots. Seems odd to not use their own drive!

I urge you to have the chat first. The planters will be seen as pass agg.

Is your partner usually batshit crazy? Just talk to them.

I would hate having someone walk right in front of my front window like that. I think a large planter or boulder would stop them.

My house is similarly set up except there is a small footpath in front of mine and a couple of other houses which is slightly higher than the house. This means that neighbours/strangers who think it’s great to walk past for no reason, can see into my living room and are on eye level with my kitchen. Some just like to have a good look in and there’s not much I can do except peer into their houses if I choose to walk past, which would be unnecessary. Therefore, I would do the same as the neighbours and keep walking past their house because they’re probably unaware of their intrusion on your privacy. Otherwise have a quiet word and maybe put a large pot plant in the way.

@Bluesea14 We would never dream of walking past their house when we go out

Of course not, because their house is beside a wall.

Obviously you wouldn't walk into a wall.

Their “pathway” looks more narrow from the photo - is that just the angle?

Have you checked your deeds that they don’t have a right of way? It would show in your register of title if so.

Personally I would prioritise a good relationship with the neighbours over being bothered about this. If you do need to raise it you should do it verbally and have your register to hand.

A letter would be overkill and odd for a next door neighbour.

There is a path between the newighbour's and the wall. The OP could walk past their window and then walk down their path. Like the neighbours do but in the opposite direction.

Do it, OP, and wave when you walk past their window!

From the photo your neighbours live in the end house. They have their own path, so they should use that, tbh, l wouldn't like them walking passed my window, using it as a short cut. As others have said get a large plant pot & plant a conifer. It isn't a public highway, it is your land. Speak to your neighbours and tell them, because they will start walking over your grass, which won't be fair....

I would install a series of toxin smeared punji sticks finished off with some strategically placed razor wire. That'll learn them.
Alternatively, you could just pop round and have a chat.

Weird AF. Just put something decorative in the way. People access our door using next doors path, they've never complained and Id not sure what to do if they did. We walk between our cars using our drive, like normal people. People used to look in our windows from the road when I was growing up. Also, well weird.

@hcee19 what grass?

My previous neighbours were like this!! Same step us as your house. Neighbours always used to cut across my grass area to reach their door. I hated it as my kitchen window overlooked the front garden.

Say your Ring doorbell keeps going off and please could they start using their own pathway and not yours.

Their path is on the right, the CFS.

I'd think about getting a big rectangular planter (see link) with a climbing plant and putting it to between your houses.

https://outsunny.com/en-gb/products/garden-planter-with-trellis-for-climbing-plants-vines-flowers-freestanding-raised-bed-for-garden-outdoor-patio-2/?store=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22654874379&gclid=Cj0KCQiA49XMBhDRARIsAOOKJHaVpZ8G3vMZAfGzRgjDMfjDbN1qfQvqrCoaZ62FT3FPD9ZHYOVTbggaArk_EALw_wcB

Are both car parking spaces yours? Or is the one in front of your house, yours, and the one in front of their house, theirs?

Because I can't for the life of me work out why they would walk away from their house to go round your car to come down your path, if they park in front of their house.

Regardless, the idea of going round with a welcome card and some cookies and saying that the path is actually yours and they're triggering your doorbell is a really good one, and not too scary.

I’d be tempted to use their path and carry your shopping past their front window.