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Noisy Gardens

(44 Posts)
dorsetpennt Sat 03-May-14 14:19:17

I've been taking advantage of the sun and am in the garden 'pricking out' - no jokes please smile . A memory came back of my childhood in our lovely garden in Sussex. Sitting under one of our trees in a deck chair reading the Sunday papers. Mother and Grandmother sitting at our wrought iron table and chairs pouring out afternoon tea and dishing out homemade scones. My grandfather mowing the lawn with his old fashioned push mower. All we could hear was the mower, some children further along and the birds.
What can I hear now? A few noisy hover-mowers, a weed wacker and a strimmer. A neighbour is building yet more gazebos and is using some electric tools for that. So he can hear the radio he has it up full blast. Obviously he thinks it is a magic radio and only he can hear it. Thankfully his wife has just told him to turn off. In between that racket I can hear birds singing which is the only noise I want to hear. By the way it's not that much quieter in the countryside I've been told .

Ariadne Sun 04-May-14 10:18:05

It is beautifully quiet here most of the time, though I suppose, when all the windows are open in the summer, one can expect a bit more noise. I hate second hand music, but what I hate more is the smell of charred flesh or fish wafting into my house when the barbecues get going!

Nonu Sun 04-May-14 10:28:37

We live in the centre of town , but because we have a walled garden it seems to baffle the noise of the street .
It is so beautifully quiet , rarely the one of the flats have their windows open and their music belts out but that doesn't worry me one scrap ---live and let live I say !

sunshine

merlotgran Sun 04-May-14 10:35:07

How lovely to have a walled garden, Nonu They always seem so romantic.

I walked the dogs in our field this morning and all I could hear was the contented clucking of the chickens. smile

merlotgran Sun 04-May-14 10:41:00

I wouldn't mind betting DD1 is tearing her hair out this morning because the two year old over the back fence will be screaming her head off, then the mowers will start and just as she sits down on the bench by her pond with a coffee, the kids next door will be bouncing up and down on their trampoline. No wonder she wants to move down here.

I'd be a horrible, grumpy neighbour so it's a good job I don't live next door to anyone.

rosequartz Sun 04-May-14 11:18:10

All I can hear at the moment is the birds singing; everyone must have done their jobs yesterday.

rosequartz Sun 04-May-14 11:19:48

And the bloody yapper has gone away on his holidays. Perhaps he will get lost
permanently

Nonu Sun 04-May-14 12:50:28

It is Merlot, especially when Sometimes on a Summer we sit out and have a small tincture .
hope your DD has a peaceful morning !

Off shortly, as we go to DD for a nice lunch , Don"t DH drive you batty at times . DD picks us up and then we cab it home , DUI !

She said" I will be round about 1.30 ". I told him, so okay! he just was dashing in and said" she is late" . Me "she"s, not she is here round 1.30"
him "you said 12" , it is just because he does not listen . I SWEAR, at times what I will do to that man !!!
Anyway he has gone to watch the snooker, so that will keep him quiet.

smile & sunshine

janerowena Sun 04-May-14 13:05:34

We lived in an oasis of calm - until Next Door decided to add an extension almost two years ago. As they did so, they discovered more and more that needed replacing. So two years of builders from 8am until 6pm, then He would carry on until it got too dark or too cold. All weekend as well. I have gritted my teeth, but it has been very hard and has put me off going out into my garden. He is thoroughly inconsiderate anyway, and always has been.

When they move back in, I shall also have the noise of their new baby to contend with - and another planned. That will add to the shrieks of the 2 yr old twins to the other side, and all the garden renovations that have had to take place to accommodate them over the past 2 yrs - removal of large pond etc.

I had chickens, then HE also got some - and a blasted cockerel. Which I hadn't done out of consideration to my neighbours. As there are already 3 or 4 further up the village, it's impossible to have our bedroom windows open in the summer.

Yes, there is always someone mowing, but I don't really mind, because nowadays Sunday is frequently the only day off for many people, who also arrive home late at night. And tonight DBH will arrive home at 5.30 and add to the building noise, by sawing up some old wood for our fire.

It's only really the ceaseless noise from next door that gets to me. Two years is a long time to put up with building work and dust. It also means that you never ever get to lie in past 8am, and it's miserable if you feel ill.

Soutra Sun 04-May-14 14:07:41

We should have one of the quietest gardens in our village, backing onto a large farnhouse garden and then the manor house grounds, and most of the time all you can hear is the birds. BUT our otherwise in every respect lovely next door neighbour has spent every evening attacking his drive with his new toy - a power washer so that is noise coming into the house from the front and now (!) he is using a petrol mower to cut his not very large lawn. Petrol mowers are fine in the right hands but he is doing a lot of forwards and backwards so lots of short sharp bursts of noise. Is it really necessary at 2 pm on a Sunday afternoon?

seasider Sun 04-May-14 17:20:14

Do not understand the objections to washing being out? It is hardly noisy and more environmentally friendly than using a dryer. Sheets smell lovely too! Our neighbours decided to build houses for their children in their large garden so two years of tools and hammering every fine evening and weekend from 8 am. Neighbours behind have moved the kids trampoline next to our wall so in addition to the noise little faces peering over as they bounce so no privacy in our small garden sad

kittylester Mon 05-May-14 14:03:03

blush today MrL has been power washing the 2 back patios - sorry everyone.

Actually, we only do it once a year so I think we can be excused! smile

glammanana Mon 05-May-14 14:49:22

Seasider Just picking up on your comment about trampolines I have noticed them in front gardens as well as,very strange indeed so some poor neighbours would have noise back and front of their properties.
We had a no laundry policy when we lived abroad on a Sunday and no use of any lawn mowers either.

Lona Mon 05-May-14 15:29:17

Feeling quite angry today, as my neighbour on one side had some friends round last night, and you should have heard the racket until about 3am!
He is a very polite, quiet young man who maybe is not really aware how thin the walls are here!
He will be made aware very soon wink

On the other side is an equally nice bloke, who suffers from depression and often sleeps most of the day.
He thinks (or rather doesn't) that Sunday afternoons/evenings is the ideal time to start drilling holes etc in our shared walls!

Directly behind my house, the neighbours, with small children, have sited the play apparatus right next to my fence, which is at the bottom end of their large garden and about 8 feet from my kitchen window!

Grrr angry

seasider Mon 05-May-14 20:43:55

I know what you mean Lona. My neighbours behind have a large garden but the trampoline is up against our joint wall. I think they put it away from the house so the noise does not disturb them!

merlotgran Mon 05-May-14 21:00:41

I hate the flippin' things. I know kids get a lot of fun out of them but they are a major eyesore and take up far too much room in a small garden.

Treebee Mon 05-May-14 22:29:03

My neighbours irritate me with the three Ds; dogs, drums and DIY.
Plus that loud shouty guttural 'music' from open bedroom windows. Then shouting at each other from different rooms, "What?" I can hear what they're saying, why can't they?
Grrr, rant over. I must be a horrid neighbour, but I love peace and quiet.

grannyactivist Tue 06-May-14 00:19:23

When we moved into our dilapidated old house it needed a complete overhaul; re-wiring, new plumbing, ceilings taken down and replaced, new floor joists.....etc. etc. AND our two sons played both piano and drums. The 'attached' neighbours were a very elderly couple and so we went to great pains to not make noise too early or too late, but inevitably there were times when we guessed they would find the ongoing racket a bit much. So I often took them peace offerings such as flowers, plants and fruit jellies (a particular favourite) and they had an open invitation to call in and see how the work was progressing. One day they came in when we had just brought the ceiling down in the dining room; the elderly lady looked at me over the rubble and said however difficult it was for them to put up with the noise she pitied me trying to live in such awful conditions and raise children. They were wonderfully patient. Just as our major work was completed they died and their extremely dilapidated old house was bought by a builder............. and you can guess the rest. hmm

gillybob Tue 06-May-14 13:06:15

There is very little peace and quiet for my neighbours in the summer. My three DGC are outside in the garden from first thing in the morning. They sing and dance, they squeal with delight, they splash in the paddling pool and chase each other with beetles and worms. Bliss. smile