Mad neighbours

I agree StTrinians, but we live close to the town centre with little parking. Without our front patch gravelled we would probably have to park several streets away. We have students locally in HMOs all with cars who take up road space. Gone are the days of students on bicycles.

But the look of our road has changed over the years sadly. The elderly neighbours across the road would turn in their graves to see how their lovely flower and shrub filled front gardens with forsythia, lilac and ceanothus smothered walls are now weed filled parking plots. Very sad.

I understand that you feel a sense of loss, as it changes the whole look of a street when people pave their gardens. Intrestingly, I have a neighbour who ripped out his garden, paved and has added as many sheds as possible. Some people don't value green space. Loss if green space can lower property value, as it lowers "kerb appeal". The thread on trespass resonates. I now have gates both sides, as have caught various neighbours trespassing, with their dogs, or looking for cats. One actually was feeding their cats in my garden. Now I lock the gates at night. It feels great. Control what you can, and protect your property. Try to ignore their bad behaviour otherwise it could stress you out. The car parking looks odd, because it's out of keeping with the rest of the street. You were right to feel sad about it. It is a loss.

Great idea! I would do the same if I was them. Stop folk half parking on the pavements.

We have a dropped kerb, but I understand people shouldn't park outside our house when our car is on the front "patch" and blocking us in, but if we are out in the car there is nothing to stop them parking outside our house and effectively preventing us from parking on our "patch". I am willing to be proved wrong.
The only comment I would make is that concreted over gardens increase flooding, so waterpermeable building materials are better for the environment.

Personally, I think that this couple having their front garden made up into a drive for their car are very sensible. Have no idea why anyone would think it madness.

So much more convenient having the car, almost like an extension of the house. When they bring shopping etc. home so much easier for them to transfer it into the house, in bad weather, they can get from house to car without getting soaked, etc.

As long as they are also arranging via local authority to have a dropped curb there, then they are correct in that they can stop people parking in front of it.

Some lovely designs around not for these front of house drives, and no reason not to have edges with flower beds to give it even more interest and good drainage.

I do wonder that someone is watching this - perhaps with some envy - and pricing it up. Madness it most definitely is not!!!

Well, thank goodness for my friendly little area.

We had a neighbour some years ago who simply could not stand to be outdone. He HAD to have the latest design in DG windows/doors, he HAD to have top of the range fake grass (could no longer mow his lawns), he HAD to have the latest designs in furniture (swapped his sofa three times in as many years), HAD to have the biggest TV (and watched it at night with his curtains open so everyone could see it), bedding plants HAD to be purchased from the most upmarket garden centre despite him driving past several others to get to his destination.

It was exhausting because he always asked us what all the other neighbours were planning, we didn’t have a clue half the time as it was none of our business and we didn’t really care anyway.

The oneupmanship was off the scale and I genuinely think he was a little mad.

As long as their car park doesn't interfere with your property in any way, or put you at risk, etc., then I don't understand what you're grumping about!

They're in their 80s, so even if they live to be 100+, they haven't got that long left on our planet anyway, and it's their £5,000, not yours.

At their delicate ages, and if they have movement/mobility issues, they probably need their car closer to their house.

Let this glorious old couple live what's left of their lives and keep your nose out!

BlueBelle

Oh Cariad sing another song

PMSL 😂

crazyH

Monica - your ‘himself’ sounds like a Lawyer I see on TV - Court TV 😂

Absolutely not - though come to think of it, my best friend is a lawyer and a judge - and she is as mad a box of frogs.

It saves your wing mirrors too 😉

Maybee: I have to state on my insurance if my car is parked on a driveway at night.

A good point. Off road and garage parking should reduce premiums.

By many accounts on here, premiums can increase substantially past 80 so anything one can do to minimise that seems sensible.

I'd have thought turning their front garden into a drive is a good idea, convenient for them and leaves a clear road for drivers. If more of your neighbours did this you would feel the benefit of being able to drive freely without the starting and stopping (giving way) to oncoming traffic when the parked cars on the road create a slalom effect 🙄.

Agree with other posters - their money and their business

crazyH

Monica - your ‘himself’ sounds like a Lawyer I see on TV - Court TV 😂

He sounds like my Godson - not a lawyer or M0nica's expert 😁

Monica - your ‘himself’ sounds like a Lawyer I see on TV - Court TV 😂

My ancient next door neighbour could barely walk; she drove everywhere and parked her car very close to her front door; in the disabled space nearest to the shop door, etc.

When she came to mine for coffee or a meal, she drove. Less than a hundred yards door to door but she couldn't walk that far. Into the car from her front door , up her drive, along road to my gate, down my drive to stop right at my front door.

There must be many mid-80's people getting increasingly frail on their pins, hanging on to their car because without it, they'd be housebound.

You do not need planing permission to turn your front garden into a parking area.

However, you have to ask the Council to drop the kerb.
Our kerb was dropped already.

Why are they mad? Its their money and they obviously think its best for them. I wouldn't like my car on the road but I do dislike gardens turned into just hardcore so would have to still have shrubs and plants.

Watermeadow , if your neighbours are doing it to stop people parking outside their house . They must have applied for a dropped kerb of to extend the original dropped kerb .

watermeadow

I am not spying on my neighbours, their house is just across the road and while the work was being done it was as visible and audible as if it had been in my front garden.
I too had hoped to hear of some really odd neighbours.

All our neighbours have their quirks but, probably, so do we .

Perhaps all our neighbours are odd because 🤞 we all get on well
😁

I am not spying on my neighbours, their house is just across the road and while the work was being done it was as visible and audible as if it had been in my front garden.
I too had hoped to hear of some really odd neighbours.

Many years ago our, then, 14 year old son wandered through our kitchen and said as he went through. 'I am so glad I have eccentric parents', and disappeared.

I have always shrugged this off as teenage insrutability, but this week we had an expert in to look at our house and take wood samples to date it. Himself, a little eccentric, greying, with a ponytail, he used to commute between the UK and Japan.

Anyway talking about old houses generally afterwards he said to me 'The thing about old houses is that they have real character and so do their owners' Hmm. I told DD who merely commented. 'I keep telling you that you and daddy are really odd.'

It makes me think. perhaps we are an example of odd and troublesome neighbour. We have only been in our house six months. One neighbour hasn't spoken to us, if fact has cut us dead since day 1. The other side is a vets practice, we have spoken to him and he seems very pleasant and I hope we gave the same impression, but I am beginning to worry.

I think it’s highly likely WE the mad crazy neighbours! 6 of us living here, in a three storey mid terrace, 4 dogs, son, 23 has an alternative metal band and sometimes practises his “roars” & “screams” at home. Dogs bark if someone breathes the wrong way!

However, even though the children living at home still (aaaagggghhh) are all adults, they are pretty respectful of neighbours, try to keep dogs quiet, don’t let them out in the garden between 10:30pm-6:15am, no “roaring” or “screaming” between 10:00pm-9:00am or loud WiFi use (gaming, group chats etc) between those hours too, no cooking after 9:30pm - so despite a full house and chaos it’s no more noisy (as a general rule) than smaller households.

Next door to our right is also a house with now only two newly retired people who are very quiet, however next door to our left neighbours are two flats, downstairs is one lady and one very noisy dog who she often leaves in the garden barking for up to half an hour, upstairs is a very mad young lady, with a 5 year old son and three dogs and no direct access to their part of the back garden. She also is a dog sitter? Not sure how! Lots of different dogs coming and going and child shouts and screams a lot, no so bad in winter, but in summer they spend hours and hours in their back garden and it’s horrendous sometimes.