..the village where children are banned..a new kind of utopia?

[zippitippitoes]

You also have to be over 45 years old, no starting the car after 9.00pm etc etc

\link{http://www.guardian.co.uk/family/story/0,,1748634,00.html\ here}

a taste of the article

<

'There comes a time when you want to live without children'
............

"It's like Britain was 30 years ago, where you live among considerate and polite neighbours. If a stranger comes into the village, everyone will take notice," says Eden Guisley, the chair of the Firhall Residents Association.

Some residents have children and grandchildren of their own, but feel that they have done their bit and now want to be free of the problems that living among them can bring. "Everywhere you go today you are expected to pander to the needs of children," one home-owner, who has asked not to be named, tells me. "They are noisy, messy and destructive, but try and complain to the parents, and nine times out of 10 you will make yourself an enemy," she says. "I have to put up with badly behaved children in restaurants and parks. I want my neighbourhood to be free of that."

There have been legal challenges to child-free communities in the US. In 1977, a couple was forced out of their Florida condominium after having a baby. The unsuccessful age discrimination suit went as far as the supreme court. There have been other successful cases since then, but none that conclude that living without children should be seen as discrimination. In the UK there are those who believe no one has the right to exclude children from any neighbourhood.

Carolyn Hamilton, the director of the Children's Legal Centre, is adamant that such communities should be challengeable under the Human Rights Act. "If nothing else, it perpetuates the stereotype of children as nuisances and criminals.">

communities for special interest groups of all kinds could follow which is what is happening in the US

Ha ha ha I've just dumped my children with my mother until next weekend.

I am going to be having a childless existence for the next six days.

Not that I want to make anyone jealous, of course.

ahhhh my little piece of heaven.

sounds a bit like Switzerland. You're not allowed to flush the toilet there after 9pm.

block of flats i lived at, you werent allowed to hand washing out on the balconies.

when i moved here i was very aware that we were moving to an predominatly OAP area, and was worried about the noise my children make. My neighbours have said its lovely to hear to the little ones playing. We have been made very welcome here.

hand washing out? "hi there - would you like a pair of knickers?"

d'oh, hang washing

d'oh, hang washing

misdee, did you have children then?

yes we had dd1 then. there was a drying area round the back of the flats, which i didnt use as it wasnt visable from my windows. the balconies were full brick ones coming upto my chest (i'm 5ft 3), so we used a drying rack and also used a tumble dryer far too much. it was written in with the leasehold, due to the fact they wanted to make the flats look nicer and having washing out made the area look untidy.

And were you using cloth nappies?

I'm toying with the idea that there ought to be a green tax on estates which don't allow washing out on clothes lines. Why should they be allowed to make such environmentally unfriendly rules?

Ww weren't allowed to hang washing out on our balconies at the apartment either.

Of course you can flush your loo after 9 in Switzerland! Lived there for donkeys and never heard such a thing!

if you live in a flat you can't. honest.