To wonder why this is 'common'?

[Ellbee83]

I live in an end-terrace house, with a small front yard/garden which I've made as nice as I can with plants, garden furniture, a few fairy lights.
It's south-facing so for (literally!) a few months of the year when the weather allows, if I'm at home and not busy, it's lovely to sit out in the morning with a coffee, or in the evening with a book & glass of wine.
It's genuinely one of my simple pleasures, it's nice to watch the world go by, smile at passers-by, idly chat with the neighbours if they're around but mostly 100% minding my own business and enjoying my own outdoor space.

Yesterday evening, my neighbour (72f) from 3 doors down went past, walking her dogs. She stopped to chat as we often do - the weather, how the flowers are doing, that sort of thing, nothing major! She then went on to tell me how she wouldn't dream of sitting out in her front garden as she'd been taught it was 'common'. I laughed in surprise and said 'Oh, am I being common?' to which she laughingly agreed I was!

Now, tbh, I found it waaaay more common that she'd be so rude but I'm curious - is sitting out in the sun, in your own front garden seen as 'common'?
Not too bothered either way and I'll carry on doing it but I've restricted myself to the back garden today 🫤

Interested to hear opinions!

Many people do though - thats the point

I've not heard that it's common, but honestly the idea of people stopping to talk to me would put me off doing it most. 😂

The idea of sitting eating/drinking in your front garden as "common" sounds quaint now, the last time it would have been anything people cared about might have been the early 80"s? Can"t imagine the clowns with phones glued to their faces would even notice now?

In America they all sit out on the front porch don’t they…in the movies at least and desperate housewives

my front garden is making my house look nice, and by extension the whole street and area look nice, because neighbours do the same.

That's more than enough use? I am not sure why laundry drying or people drinking tea sitting at the front would be an improvement. It's not wasted at all. I don't live or sit in the hall either, but that's not what it's designed for in most homes.

Yes, it is just setting yourself up as bait for all the neighbourhood energy vampires.

My dad was doing some work in my garden, a guy stopped to chat about what he was doing. I come outside and my dad and this random guy are both having a brew in my garden, talking DIY

me “never mind, I just live here”

Sitting out in your front yard would be an uncommon thing to do round our way and we are very common.
But that’s Lincolnshire for you.
😉😁.

They do, but they’re not usually right next to the street.

I'm too posh to worry about being common.

This. I’m younger than the OP’s neighbour and I can remember being told as a child that eating in the street while walking was ‘common’. I still can’t do it now. However hungry I am, I have to wait until I can sit down to eat or it just feels wrong. It doesn’t mean I look down on other people for doing it though. I think the neighbour thought the OP was joking about being common and joined in the joke.

Don't know and don't care whether it's common or not, but it's always been something that bothered me, that so many houses have such beautiful front gardens and yet you never see anyone actually enjoying them. What's the point?! So good on you for enjoying your lovely space!

another way to look at it: if I only had my front garden, I would fence it as high as possible to get privacy, fences or bushes or whatever ,and no one would get to see beautiful front gardens anymore because most people would do similar.

The point is like the entrance hall, it's pretty and it gives you a good feeling when you come home.

I haven't got a front garden, my house is straight on to the street (now THAT'S common!) but I think the principle is that you don't live your life in public for everyone to see. By the same principle, I would never put make-up on except in the privacy of my home. However if I had a front garden, I might well sit out in it.

I have never in my life described anything as ‘common’ - If someone described my behaviour thus I suspect it would only encourage me…

Such accusations are surely the preserve of those hopelessly riddled with status anxiety - and should be politely ignored! If you’re comfortable and happy, please give her no further thought!

I was brought up in a small Welsh valleys town and people would often sit out their front on deckchairs when the weather was nice. It was a very working class area but I’d never consider this behaviour as common but it may be something that was once more peculiar to working class neighbourhoods.
In the US sitting on your front porch chatting to neighbours is a very popular way to spend an evening . I think it’s great that you do that and ignore your silly neighbour and crack on.

When people lived in the slum courts, terrace housing and the back to back housing etc, children played out the front and women would converse while scrubbing the steps/sweeping the street etc, so it was looked down on. Growing up, in the 70s, there were people, usually over 55, who would stand at their gate and talk to anyone who came past. They'd keep an eye on the kids, parents knew there'd be a door you could knock on. We'd run the shop/chippy for them, if asked. When we got paddling pools out, we'd have them in the front. The very thing that put a pp off the house she was offered, gave us great memories and meant we grew up in safety. There's many areas were people still sit out the front. You'd have to be very insecure to take any notice of these stupid declarations of 'common'. Eating in the street had the same connotations of not having formal dining or cooking facilities. The working poor would eat from street vendors.

My mum was of the generation that sitting in the front of the house was considered common, possibly harking back to the days where women scrubbed the doorstep and gossiped

Then I moved out of England and front garden sitting isnt a problem, indeed my neighbour was enjoying her dinner Wednesday night, chatted to me and friend as we went by on our walk, and on the way back invited us to join her for a drink - an opportunity lost if we all sat in seclusion in the back of the house

Don’t let small minds stop you enjoying your front garden, OP. I’d never heard it was common. I associate it with people in Mediterranean countries sitting in front of their homes enjoying the sun and chatting with passing neighbours — a lovely sociable scene.

And rudeness definitely is common! I hope your neighbour just thought you and she were sharing a joke.

I was always taught that the height of bad manners is making others feel uncomfortable.

So, sitting in your front garden swearing and blasting music, thus making others feel annoyed, would be ‘common’. But so is commenting on someone sitting in their front garden and making them feel embarrassed. True class is about sensitivity and adaptability to the situation - it’s nothing to do with wealth or social status.

My mum would never cut our sandwiches into squares as it was "common", only ever triangles 😂bizarre where these things come from!

Oh dear, I only have a front garden and have been enjoying actually making use of it for the week of sun we had. I wasn't aware I was being common!

Damn

I think it's very modern, OP. I've notice quite a few people in my bit of London putting seating in their front garden this year.

It depends on the area, the house, the size of the garden and the garden furniture but yes, it certainly would usually be ‘common’ except in unusual circumstances, however it would be even more ‘common’ to tell someone they were doing something ‘common’ so I wouldn’t dream of telling you and I’d still have a chat with you whilst internally marking you as ‘nice, but a bit common’ - sorry, not my rules just the way I was brought up.