Most of you who have been reading this blog for a while will know that in the past, I have had problems with horrible neighbours. One set of nasty, intimidating and just downright horrible neighbours who, for a long time, made living here very difficult. About a year ago, these neighbours packed up and left, returning only occasionally to sort out the place ready to sell. Over the weeks, after they left, things slowly returned to the nice peaceful existence where people chatted over the garden fences and stopped to say hello to each other as they pottered about their business instead of scurrying off inside to avoid seeing the neighbours. Then, towards the end of last year, the two flats were purchased by an elderly woman who, at first, seemed to be lovely. She was chatty, if a bit brusque and I had high hopes that the lovely peaceful atmosphere would continue. Until, that is, about 3 weeks after she bought the place, I came home to find the whole place filled with cars and vans and crawling with people all wandering about the place. Fair enough, I thought, the woman is readying the flats for renting and as such, I resigned myself to the fact that for the time being, there would be people around sorting things out. What I wasn't prepared for was the fact that these people, grandchildren and friends of the grandchildren of this woman, have no respect for other peoples property. This morning, when I went outside to the field to check the llamas, I found that yesterday, while the place was once again crawling with people, someone has hacked my honeysuckle plant and my beautiful climbing rose that were next to my front gate, to pieces. Now I understand that if there are tendrils of plants hanging over the fence they might need a trim but it's not as if these tendrils were hanging into someone else's garden or blocking the light or even as if there were very many of them or that they were massively long, they weren't. They were just hanging over my fence a bit onto the communal driveway, which is a kind of track. Now, I'm sure there are people reading this who are thinking "what's the big deal" or "if it's hanging over their property they have every right to cut it down" well it's not the fact that they did it it's the fact that they hacked my rose bush and my honeysuckle to pieces and that they didn't say anything to me. If they had said "do you mind if we trim it" I would have said of course. I would probably have done it myself if I had thought it was really that bad but it wasn't AND not only did they chop down my lovely plants but they left all the bloody brambles that were growing out of their side of the drive and didn't even bother to touch them! I really give up. I want to live in a field with nothing around me except cows, sheep and horses for at least a mile so I don't ever have to put up with this ever again. I think I am going to become a hermit, it's much less hassle!
I really feel for you on this one as we had the same situation with neighbours a few years ago , They were a couple in there seventies we thought they would be ideal neighbours but we wre so wrong , They had an extended family of 6 children then about 10 grandchildren , Who kept leaving home and coming back as there mother molly coddled them and real life was too much for them , There was always one or two children living there and at least 5 grand children , The noise was horrendous as we lived in a semi, then there was the parking problem , there was at least four cars there at any one time , they also used to cut the hedges at meal times peering in to our kitchen and they chopped down my ivy , they would do Diy until 11 pm in the evening , we were considerate and anything we were doing stopped at about seven oclock , it was a nightmare but we still live in a semi and have fantastic neighbours , I guess you live in a detached but thee would still be lots of noise from a family like the one that had moved in next door to you , If you get the chance to move i would advise that you do as it plays havoc with your health in the long run , I love children and am not aposed to the noise they make , It was the adults xxx
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for your lovely comment. Although we live in the countryside, like you, I am attached to the house next door which has been converted into two flats which the woman is now doing up so she can rent them out. It's not so much the noise it's the intimidation factor. They seem to think they can do what they want and I have just been out to the field to feed the llamas only to find that they have taken down my field fence to "build a nicer one" no asking, no informing me, they just made a joke of it saying "he's broken the fence but not to worry, he will build a nicer one!" Sad thing is, because of my circumstances, I won't be able to move.
DeleteHorrible neighbours are a nightmare and I had to move once to get away from an elderly woman and her middle aged son who got me to the point where I couldn't leave the house. I hope this sorts itself out for you and that nice people move in to the flats when they are done xxx
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame , lets hope it gets better , We lost our house because of ill health but the positive that came out of it is that we live in an end council house now , It has a brick wall all around the outside edge and the neighbours are fantastic , so as my friend always says , it was meant to be If they gave us our old house free we wouldn't go back , This estate is so quiet , Have you ever thought they might be doing all these jobs to sell the flats on , there is a lady on homes under the hammer that does that and uses all the family to do them up , just a thought , Take care xxx
ReplyDeleteThe sooner she fixes up the flats the better. I know it's hard but you need to take a stand with these people, don't let them run over you.
ReplyDeleteKay, do you rent your llama field? If so, the owner needs to know about the fence being removed. If you own it and are responsible for the fencing (I seem to remember you had to make it good after last year's storms) then surely it's a matter for the police if someone is damaging the property. Thank goodness the animals didn't get out. The sooner those flats are ready for new occupants, the better and I hope you get neighbours who will behave in a proper manner.
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