Constant garden machinery noise from neighbour

Our house used to be in a very quiet cul de sac, peaceful day and night.

As the houses have changed hands over the last ten years or so it feels like we're living in a cross between a building site and Battersea Dog's Home, with a cattery round the corner. Not to mention the pub nearby that has become a Sports Bar and all during the Summer shows sports events on TV in the back garden, so it sounds like we also have a football stadium nearby in the evenings.

At some point it will probably quieten down again once the new owners have sorted all their houses and gardens. Probably about the time we sell up and move

Ecological, because it’s a man toy (usually)!

They have to prove they’re working hard.

The bigger and louder the engine the bigger and harder the man using it!

🤣

The question remains to be asked, why in this day and age is it not possible to provide silent garden machinery?

Complain to the council. They can serve a noise abatement order on them.

"their" garden, not "there" and I used to teach English!!!!!

You don't mention your relationship with them - have you spoken to them to find out what they're doing with there garden? I'm thinking just a friendly chat, without mentioning the noise. It may be short term work, in which case I'd dig deep (!) and put up with it, but then at least you'll know. Having established some contact would then put you in a better position if you do need to mention noise should it continue. Good luck.

Well as long as you don't drop the cat in a neighbour's wheely bin I suppose you'd call chasing normal. Oh and I hope you don't refuse to throw back the ball of the neighbour's boisterous children.

NotSpaghetti

...they do come back though!
🙄

That’s what spray bottles are for

...they do come back though!
🙄

I'm afraid I chase cats out too if I'm close enough.
😕

Notagranyet24

summerlove We have indeed gone out of our way to spend money we can't afford on a row of cherry laurel which may, in 4 or 5 years offer some cover. However, the slope of the hill above means there will never be a return to satisfactory privacy.

As to the initial tree. A mature gingko should actually have a TPO. They are rare and are regarded as living fossils because they are the last living specimen of species living 290 million years ago. It seems like vandalism to chop such a tree down especially as the garden is quite large and sun is a pretty pathetic reason. Still, everything about her says neurotic, I saw her chase my cat on one occasion, I worry what she might do next.

But there wasn’t a TPO.
I’m sorry you’ll miss the trees, but I think calling her neurotic for cutting down her own trees and chasing a cat out of her yard is a bit much. Not everyone wants somebody else’s free roaming animal in their yard making messes

A couple of hours every couple of days…not really ‘constant’!?

summerlove We have indeed gone out of our way to spend money we can't afford on a row of cherry laurel which may, in 4 or 5 years offer some cover. However, the slope of the hill above means there will never be a return to satisfactory privacy.

As to the initial tree. A mature gingko should actually have a TPO. They are rare and are regarded as living fossils because they are the last living specimen of species living 290 million years ago. It seems like vandalism to chop such a tree down especially as the garden is quite large and sun is a pretty pathetic reason. Still, everything about her says neurotic, I saw her chase my cat on one occasion, I worry what she might do next.

Notagranyet24

We have a neighbour like this. It almost feels personal when we sit down with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and she starts up some infernal machine.
It really upset us when we discovered that she had cut down a beautiful, mature gingko tree and then we came home from holiday and discovered that she had persuaded a neighbour to cut down a row of four trees.

They were at the bottom of her garden, she claimed they were blocking the sun and their leaves were a nuisance but their absence now makes the entire back of our house and garden visible to several houses in the road above. I am still furious, I can't dress or walk about scantily clothed in my own bedroom. DH says I'm making a fuss and we have argued about net curtains because he hates them. Neighbours drive one mad.

You’re angry she cut down her own trees?? We can’t control what others do in their own property.

Surely the answer is to plant your own privacy screen?

We had neighbours cut down our "privacy" tree.
We now feel exposed to an estate behind us. It really isn't nice.

However, I'm lucky to have a nice home, a garden and people who love me. I'm trying to ignore it and focus on what I have.

We have a neighbour like this. It almost feels personal when we sit down with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and she starts up some infernal machine.
It really upset us when we discovered that she had cut down a beautiful, mature gingko tree and then we came home from holiday and discovered that she had persuaded a neighbour to cut down a row of four trees.

They were at the bottom of her garden, she claimed they were blocking the sun and their leaves were a nuisance but their absence now makes the entire back of our house and garden visible to several houses in the road above. I am still furious, I can't dress or walk about scantily clothed in my own bedroom. DH says I'm making a fuss and we have argued about net curtains because he hates them. Neighbours drive one mad.

I often wonder what people are constantly finding to mow/strim etc. because it can seem from the noise they are “at it” every day.

But Freya5 I do agree with your last sentence - and believe we should strive to mitigate neighbourly nuisance issues by improving (where at all possible) with high fences and thick foliage to dampen the sounds. A tinkling water feature does wonders too.

But ultimately accept that the rather small gardens that so,called family homes have these days have limited space and the best option for energetic children is something like a trampoline because that way parents know where the kids are.
They will grow up and move on eventually.

Try to focus on something else, I have neighbours who do not garden at all. One told me he doesn't know how to, think that's the case with the other one too. Both tenanted properties. Frontage overgrown on both sides. I love my garden and tend it as best I can. Next doors really used to frustrate me, as I'm stuck in the middle, one has a massive trampoline next to my small patio. Ignore, think of nice things in your garden, let them get on with what they are doing, we cannot control what others do in their own backyards.

Norfolk is quite unusual in that a lot of it is made up of little parcels of land that people own which are not near their homes, if that makes sense! So a couple live around the corner on a street but there is no garden attached. They then have a path that runs about 100ft+ long behind our garden fence on one side. It then opens out into a reasonable sized garden with summerhouse, shed etc which is their garden. We have a large hedge along that side so we cannot see them nor them us.

Their house gets no sun whatsoever so obviously they enjoy their garden because it does get the sun. Problem is they are either mowing the grass, cutting their side of the hedge with electric trimmer, or using one of those machines that grinds everything up etc.

I have only ever said something once on a beautiful Sunday morning when my Mum was here. I put her a deckchair out in the sun about 10.30 and he had been using noisy gear since 8.30. I expected it to stop soon but it went on and on and by 12.30 it was still going. It stopped briefly and I called over “please don’t start up again, you’ve been doing it since 8.30.” He said “nearly finished” and carried on! Next time I saw his wife I made it very clear that he had ruined our morning and pointed out if we hear they have visitors in their garden we never start noisy jobs neither do we object when they have endless BBQs when we have washing out. She got the message as he only does short bursts now.

If they go away for the weekend or are on top of their jobs it is absolutely wonderful in our garden, just birds singing and peace, perfect peace.🙂

Be thankful you don't have 2 neighbours with dogs that howl and bark all night like we do. I've always slept with the windows open and now they have to be locked shut to keep the noise down. It's like living next to Battersea Dogs Home.

leaf blowers and Strimmers are the spawn of the devil

Not if you don't have the strength to use rakes and scythes. Then they are a boon.

Disclaimer: I use rakes, scythes, leaf blowers and strimmers depending on the size of the job.

You could start your mower up the minute they turn their machinery off...

I'm afraid there isn't much to be done, except avoid your garden when he gets busy with his equipment.

Our neighbors don't do their lawn often, but always when we sit with a glass of wine after work and before dinner. We move to the front garden for a while until they are done.

Do you have a front garden that you can set up as seating area?

Get a battery operated radio, turn it on in your own garden - preferably facing their boundary, rank up the volume..............and go out for the duration.

Thank you all.
The previous neighbours who lived ther for over 10 years were lovely. They were garden proud..never a ‘weed’ in sight, but they were considerate with noisy machines. The current neighbours have been there for around three years and just won’t have anything out of line. Strimming and mowing is done…followed by leaf blowing to get every blade of grass off the lawn. It takes ages believe me.
I spend most of my time outside because I love gardening and nature in general. It is ( was) my sanctuary.
( leaf blowers and Strimmers are the spawn of the devil 😲😄).