Would you buy a place with a public footpath at the bottom of the garden?

[Thiscouldbe]

A house I have lusted after for years has just come on the market and, having looked at it online, it not only looks amazing from the outside but ticks all of our boxes. The downside is the reason I have lusted after it - there is a footpath at the bottom of the garden which makes the house very visible. This footpath runs along the end of the garden of at least 20 - 30 properties. This one has a waist high metal fence between the garden and the path. Others houses have hedges and others have fences. The house itself is raised slightly so, even with a hedge or a fence, you’d still be able to enjoy the view
The area with the footpath at the bottom of it is the only garden so it’s not as if there’s another area where you could be outside and not be on public display. It’s also the side of the house where all of the main rooms are.
My parents do have a public footpath running through their property. But they live in the middle of nowhere so there is very traffic. It also only cuts across a corner of the property and, due to the size of the garden and some strategic planting, they can’t really see into the garden. The most annoying thing is out of control dogs and extraordinarily entitled people who just come into the garden out of nosiness. The set up of the prospective house would be very different with it being used fairly constantly. Whenever I run along it, I’m always passing people whether it’s morning, noon or night, week day or weekend. It is a narrow path so, whilst two people can walk abreast or one person pass another, that’s about it. You couldn’t have people stopping there I wouldn’t have thought.

I think it depends if you are buying it for the house or the view. It could be irritating if you may need to obstruct the view. Only you know the area and who may be using the path. If it’s a cut through to local pubs I would be put off. If the house is the dream house I would be tempted though.

No. I have actually turned down a property for that very reason.

Given how well you know the footpath, Itd not put me off an otherwise perfect house - its a compromise.

Assuming
A) you can increase height of fence and make it dog-proof
B) you wouodnt have any responsibility for footpath
C) you can add planting to increase privacy, particularly for patio area, internal rooms, etc.

@Thiscouldbe , we bought a run down property on the towpath side of the Thames. It is the most beautiful view, I love waking up to see the swans gliding by or the boats and rowers. We spend a lot of time in that garden although if we want more privacy we have another garden on the opposite side of the house where we have our jacuzzi.
Before we moved in we were anxious because as it’s really lovely along the towpath for walking it’s quite a busy on weekends and school holidays. I can honestly say it has been such a positive experience. We’ve got chatting to some very pleasant people and it’s not uncommon for people to see us sitting enjoying a glass of wine in the sun and call out as they pass a friendly ‘hello’. Because we want to enjoy the view we have a high metal fence with vertical rails so we’re quite exposed. The house also has a huge amount of glass so people walking by can see in to our open plan lounge/kitchen/ diner. We’ve been here over four years now and it’s never been an issue. I love it. ☺️

It wouldn’t bother me, in fact it sounds lovely. I have people and traffic passing my small garden all the time, gives a sense of community. People are generally friendly and endlessly interesting!