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Allegedly, hanging one's washing out in the garden ruins the aesthetic look of the place [shock]

(178 Posts)
TerriBull Fri 23-Apr-21 15:19:47

So Edinburgh residents were told by a building developer. A "no washing outside" clause has been written into their title deeds. Completely unreasonable imo. Their gardens their private space!

Where would Naples be without it's washing ???

Any opinions on drying washing outside ? Personally I'm all in favour.

Beswitched Fri 23-Apr-21 20:38:15

Puzzler61

Oopsadaisy has just reminded me of holidaying in Florida.
We went for 3 weeks and midway we arrived on Anna Maria island and wanted to wash some clothes.
Draped them over railings at the front of the apartment, and a voice boomed out of a sound system “Get that darn Laundry in - no Laudry allowed outside!!”
I felt like a naughty schoolgirl.

Big difference between hanging washing out in your garden and draping it over balconies. The latter really affects the look of a residential road and I can understand you being asked to remove it.

Grammaretto Fri 23-Apr-21 20:44:36

One of life's pleasures is watching laundry blowing on the line. I even have a proper wooden clothes prop so it flies high for all the world to see.
I have a pully in the kitchen for when it isn't possible to dry washing outside and the Rayburn cooker keeps it warm.
I love the smell of sundried clothes.

There will always be strange people who object to things like that. We kept bee hives in our garden for many years because the bee keeper discovered she wasn't allowed to keep bees in her newbuild home.

Grammaretto Fri 23-Apr-21 20:55:40

I have just looked at the development, online, and as there don't seem to be gardens or a drying green perhaps it's not practical to hang out washing.

Amberone Fri 23-Apr-21 20:57:19

I don't really understand that.

Those houses probably all have fences around their back gardens (I've yet to see a new development that doesn't), so who will see it anyway? Or do people hang their washing out the front in some places??

Amberone Fri 23-Apr-21 20:58:38

Okay I take that back - just seen Grammarettos post!

MissAdventure Fri 23-Apr-21 20:59:14

Considering envoironmental issues, it should be compulsory that new builds provide space to line dry.
So much talk about businesses "doing their bit".
Poppycock!

Puzzler61 Fri 23-Apr-21 21:01:51

It was a bluegreen vacation resort by the beach Beswitched, not a residential street.

Aveline Fri 23-Apr-21 21:04:25

I live in Edinburgh in a 60s block of flats. There are no rules about hanging up washing but it's simply not done! None of us would dream of hanging washing out on the balconies or in the lovely garden.

Witzend Fri 23-Apr-21 21:10:05

Puzzler61, my sister who’s lived for over 40 years in the US, say the general attitude towards anyone who hangs washing out, is that they’re either mad or poverty-stricken, probably both. She’s in Massachusetts, not Florida, but I imagine the sentiment is much the same.

That Edinburgh developer is very out of sync with current trends, though. Tumble drying everything is terribly un-eco-friendly!

monk08 Fri 23-Apr-21 21:15:21

Love to see washing on the line.Grammaretto I have a wooden prop must be 50yrs old was here when moved in and we've been here 47yrs. Our neighbours on the one side been there 7yrs never seen a thing on the line.

Beswitched Fri 23-Apr-21 21:16:30

Either way, there's a big difference between Wasing drying on a line in a private back garden, and washing draped over the edge of a balcony.

MaizieD Fri 23-Apr-21 21:17:49

Banning outside drying of washing has to be the most stupid and environmentally unfriendly action ever! What on earth is wrong with the world? People have been doing it for centuries.

The obsession with 'tidiness' is utterly ridiculous.

I must confess, though, that I use the tumble dryer for towels because they are like sandpaper if line dried, but everything else goes outside or on the rack in the utility room.

MaizieD Fri 23-Apr-21 21:20:45

Aveline

I live in Edinburgh in a 60s block of flats. There are no rules about hanging up washing but it's simply not done! None of us would dream of hanging washing out on the balconies or in the lovely garden.

But once upon a time in Scotland didn't every tenement have a drying green for the residents?

Why is it different now?

And what's so dreadful about a line of clothes being dried?

Aveline Fri 23-Apr-21 21:23:11

It's not a tenement. Years ago when we did live in a tenement we all had a day once a week to hang out washing.
We have washer driers and clothes horses. It's not a problem.

Kali2 Fri 23-Apr-21 21:32:31

Actually, it is a environmental problem as dryers take a lot of energy. Nice to use when weather is really bad- but if everyone used dryers all the time- it would be a real energy issue.

Kali2 Fri 23-Apr-21 21:33:52

Towels can be dried outside then have a 5 minute blast with dryer spiked balls to fluff out.

Elegran Fri 23-Apr-21 22:01:15

This is the link to one of the three sites where hanging washing outside is banned. You can see from the video that they have no garden to hang it in! In fact, the opening floor-length windows of their living-room open almost onto the footpath that all their neighbours will pass along to their front doors. That is even worse than banning the washing.

amahomes.co.uk/shandon-garden/

Shelflife Sat 24-Apr-21 07:09:39

Washing outside on the line - what's the problem , they do smell nice too! Would never leave it out after drying though. My mum dried outside but she too would not do it on Sundays.

Savvy Sat 24-Apr-21 10:55:50

I've never heard of not hanging washing out on a Sunday before, can someone tell me why they don't do this?

Marydoll Sat 24-Apr-21 11:05:00

The reason in Scotland was all about Keeping the Sabbath day holy. It was a religious thing.
My mother never hung out washing on a Sunday and she was from an Irish Catholic background.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29708202

Sara1954 Sat 24-Apr-21 11:12:30

Just hung the third load of washing this morning, and I am really enjoying seeing it drying in the sunshine.

Gwenisgreat1 Sat 24-Apr-21 11:19:09

Of course i love to hang my washing outside and proclaim to the world that my clothes an other bits are clean!! Do people really prefer to live in a damp atmosphere with washing drying throughout the house? Can they all just afford tumble dryers and using them? I use mine when necessary, but the natural thing to do is dry outside!!

poshpaws Sat 24-Apr-21 11:28:26

Mapleleaf

I wouldn't buy one of those properties - and I can think of a suitable place to stick those title deeds! ?

Absolutely, totally 100% agree. I do hope none of their properties sell! CF's!! (I was brought up in Edinburgh, and agree with other posters - I bet it's Morningside wink)

Elegran Sat 24-Apr-21 11:36:25

Savvy

I've never heard of not hanging washing out on a Sunday before, can someone tell me why they don't do this?

It doesn't apply any more, savvy, except in the minds of the likes of Hyacinth Bucket and the promoters of "exclusive" housing.

The original reason was to keep to the fifth of the ten commandments.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." and hanging out washing was evidence that you had broken a commandment, instead of spending the time reading the Bible and going to church.

In Moses' time, the Sabbath was the Jewish Saturday - so really it should have been on Saturday that work was banned!

Savvy Sat 24-Apr-21 11:39:39

Thanks Elegran that explains it. I wasn't bought up in a Christian family, so wouldn't have known the reference.