Is this trespass?

Nanna rose - On page 1 Solitaire has put a pic of her rag doll cat.
OP - Which was it? You 'only knew because the bins had been moved' or the gate was 'forced'. Forced implies opened in a way which damaged the gate.

I'd be furious if anyone came into my garden without permission! (I've got bolts on the back gate, anyway - so they can't.)

Does the neighbour's cat often come into your garden, Carolebarrel? Do you know where it gets in ...? If you do, I've got a great tip for you ...

Get a man - any man will do - to pee around the place where the cat enters. Cats hate male urine, and won't step over it! (Make sure he doesn't let loose on your flowers though, as most plants hate male urine too!)

If you don't have a handy man, perhaps you could advertise - 'Wee deal for adult male - 50p a pint.' I'm sure you'd get lots of replies!

haha, nice one Lyndiloo! But the cat came over the fence, so we'd have to spread the wee about a bit! Elrel, yes the gate was forced. My bolt needs replacing, so I have been wedging the bins behind the gate on the garden side to stop anyone coming in! They were heavy, so she must have used force. Gatepost has pulled away from the wall. I have come home before to find the bins moved, so am now thinking this has happened a few times before. I'm off to B&Q today!

Thanks Elrel - didn't realise that was 'rag doll'.
I hope, Carolebarrel, that the lock does its job. Very difficult with thoughtless neighbours.
I might try a very direct approach 'If we are to get on as neighbours, which is important, I need you to......' and you could add that you are happy for visitors to use your drive when you are asked and have given permission. We do that a lot along my road.
Good luck!

No police, they have enough to do, as others have said, being friends is the best thing, and maybe put a lock on the gate, if you think that would stop her.Good luck.

I have a house cat too Hm999, he's a sphynx (hairless) and thankfully he's never escaped. If he did I'm quite sure panic would set in and we'd be out searching for him.

We'd always knock on a neighbours door to ask to look in their garden for him but if they were out, and we could get in with out forcing our way in, we'd go in for a look.

Not as difficult neighbours but as panic stricken cat owners. I hope if that were ever the case, they'd understand.

I came home from work one day and a neighbour (who overlooked our garden) had been in and completely reorganised, dug over, moved rocks and plants etc. on our long bank which overlooks the lane.

She said she had been dying to do it as it looked a mess!!!!

In fact we were leaving that bank along the side of the lane to go back to nature, like the hedges alongside it to crate habitats for wildlife. It had some cultivated plants like buddliah and mallow from its former incarnation as garden and lots of wild species as well.

Darn cheek of the woman!

Synonymous, your post made me laugh. I read it as ' gin ' not 'gn' and thought it a very good idea. Cheers ?

Hillmix I had to go and read that again - see what you mean! I will join you with one of those thank you. Tonic and slice of lemon in mine please.

You may not need to get locks.
I put a simple carabiner on my shed as a "lock" to keep out anyone including GC's who now never bother with it. Coming across some type of "barrier" just stops them all the same.
Alternatively if you want to go "all out" get some spy cameras that link to your phone and turn on with motion. We had hundreds of "alarms" and clips due to very curious hummingbirds!
If said, lady knows she will be on camera that should keep her at bay.

What’s a carabiner ?
You’re story keeps changing Carolbarrol, in your last post you are implying she pulled the gatepost away from the wall or are you meaning it was already like that and the reason the gate didn’t shut properly
Just get the gate mended then she won’t get in and will have to knock to look for said Ragdoll ...Poor thing I think the modern idea of expensive indoor cats is not good, a cat should be out and about in the fresh air climbing trees not looking longingly out of a window

I wish my neighbours would come and take their cats away from my garden instead of letting them use it as a passage through and a place to poo.

Yes me too Jalima horrible creatures. No cat sh*t all over their garden of course.

As we are talking about garden predators, any idears on how to deter a fox. He's lovely and so healthy looking, but, he's taken to digging in my pots and it's gone beyond amusing now.
A neighbour has suggested I get him some toys (serious) to play with.

Petra you could try the 'get off my garden' spray deterrent which is aimed at cats and dogs.
DH has made up a bitter apple spray to try and keep our kitten off the worktops so now the kitchen smells like a chip shop! Sprayed on the pots outside shouldn't be so overpowepost though and might put off the fox. They really are a pest.

Synonymous
Would you PM me the recipe for this 'bitter apple spray'
Thank you.

Or you could leave it out some food, petra. It'll be looking in your pots for worms to eat...

petra I have heard that lion poo is a deterrent to foxes.

I don't think you have to keep a lion in the garden, it is available in pellet form.

Further to question of what is a a carabiner (/kærəˈbiːnər/) or karabiner is a specialized type of shackle, a metal loop with a spring-loaded gate[1] used to quickly and reversibly connect components, most notably in safety-critical systems.

These are excellent for all sorts of things, but as mentioned effective for keeping GC's out of the garden shed or storage. Also as it will slow down any "person" no welcome to the garden, it will defer them from entry too.

Although I do like my high-tec cameras.

"A little silly about their pets", really? Would the reaction be the same if the woman had been looking for a child? To many, their pets are more than just an animal, they're as much a part of the family as anyone else...

NanaNancy DH had something similar to that on the garden shed - unfortunately it deterred me too, as I found it very difficult and too stiff to use.
DGS could manage it though.