I suppose I shouldn't complain but...

Do you use the trains, Monica?

Not only spoilt your view but devalued your property, I would think.

Monica. What a shame. You have every right to be upset. Sadly, progress usually sees a price to be paid by someone. How about a little arbor or a little sunhouse by the trees facing away from the new eyesores?

... now that my ... neighbour is away not aware.

It is understandable that you are upset about it. A nice view is a lovely thing to have and no one would want to lose it. I live in a nice but fairly ordinary council estate but when I sit on my sofa, a large tree opposite completely fills the view from the window and it could be in the country. I would hate it to be cut down for any reason.
It is a very quiet estate (now that my nightmare neighbour is aware) but we have just had a proposal from the Council about an area of green being rented out to a car hire company so we will have more cars on our estate which the council has already caused trouble on by going mad with yellow lines. The area is very scrubby and does attract fly tippers but children play there and it is nice to have any bit of green in London. I haven't objected because the council needs to raise money and it will provide jobs but I feel a bit sad about it.
Quality of life is important. I hope it is not too bad.

bobbydog I sympathise, we live opposite the village primary school. Classic Victorian with flat roofed extension. About 10 years ago they installed blindingly bright security lights round it, which light up the surrounding area up like - as you say - the Blackpool illuminations.

We and neighbours have tried to point out that the lights actually make breaking in easier, there is very little passing traffic to see someone and anyway the lights are so blinding that anyone taking advantage of the lights to break in will not be seen anyway, but to no avail. Thankfully we do not have the pond problem you have.

merlot, you have the kind of gantries we were expecting, which would have been no problem at all. Why Network Rail went for these hideous huge gantries I have no idea,

strawberrinan, I quite agree, that is why I titled this thread 'I suppose I shouldn't complain but'. It was the sudden shock of seeing the gantry appear overnight, one day nothing the next day a huge engineering structure, which because it faces west catches the sun like a beacon in the afternoon

We have a pond we can see from our lounge window which has ducks and moorhens on. Beyond is a high school but was obscured by tall trees. Now because the school has had an extension and a car park built, we have lights on until 10.30pm with the reflection bouncing off the pond into our lounge. The promised replanting of trees as before has been refused now so our lovely view and darkness at night has been transformed into Blackpool illuminations. And there is nothing we can do. It's making my terminally ill husband so stressed.

It could be much worse

www.facebook.com/theliverpoolecho/posts/1711298968936024

Our gantries blend in quite well with the pollarded poplars on the edge of our field. We've managed to completely conceal them in the garden with a tall conifer hedge.

They're not as solid as yours though.

I wonder why they're so different?

merlot, you are right, the gantry spoils rather than blocks, but is so large and blocky that it is difficult to lead the eye away from it so blocking is the only solution.

I think when electrification started we expected them to be much lighter more 'see through' gantries like those used on other lines www.google.co.uk/search?q=North+eastern+railway+gantries&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJr-_FzfjYAhVJe8AKHcJUD2kQsAQIKA&biw=1600&bih=769#imgrc=FBAFEVec2Wqe9M: but what we are getting is:
www.google.co.uk/search?q=Great+Western+railway+gantries&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiI59ySzfjYAhUMAsAKHbIlDXgQsAQISw&biw=1600&bih=769#imgrc=sYvnF0lYaot0TM: and the railway behind us does really look like this.

Sorry about the long link addresses.

I saw a man on a programme this week who had a detached house in the middle of farmland, lots of vegetables all around him.
It's now going to be turned into an enormous chicken farm, free-range. It was in Cornwall, I think.
3 pylons; that's nothing. Count your blessings.

By the way, electrification in the north was cancelled.
If you don't want it down there, send it up here.

I had my finger burned with bamboo; we already had phyllostachis aurea and against DH’s express wishes I added phyllostachis nigra, a variety which I had craved for a long time. They both grew to about fifteen feet, which was fine, but spread in an insane fashion including, like WKF, into my neighbour’s garden. So they had to go, but it took ages and a lot of hard work to eradicate them altogether. Shame really; I did love them and they are great for screening and aurea for bamboo poles!

We planted some bamboo in our garden and loved it. The rustling noise it makes when the wind moves it is so relaxing. We had to remove it though (which wasn't easy) because it sprouted up in so many different places including our neighbour's garden.

Later we found out that we'd planted running bamboo and not clumping bamboo. It's recommended that you dig about 2' down in the area where you are going to plant the bamboo and place metal sheets as a barrier to keep the roots from spreading. The other alternative is to grow it in large containers.

Unfortunately clumping bamboo is not always hardy and we get hard frosts, so we've not tried again. I do miss it though, so thanks for jogging my memory lemongrove. I just happen to have a very large planter standing empty!

Bamboo make a lovely ‘blocker’ of anything unsightly, if you plant about four reasonably close together, within a couple of years they thicken up to create a green wall, and you have the height to start with.

Monica I think it is quite justified for you to feel upset - I would too. I hope the kind thoughts and ideas of people on here will help you to at least partly resolve the issue.

The same thing happened to us a few years ago, M0nica. Our bungalow is less than 100 yds away from the London to Kings Lynn line but fortunately there was no view to spoil because of the high embankment. Our unspoiled view is in the opposite direction.

I was horrified when the gantries went up but you soon get used to them. We have a high conifer hedge running along that side which means we can sit in the garden in total privacy. The trains whoosh by in seconds so the noise is not a problem. I'd rather have trains than heavy traffic any day.

I assume the gantries will detract from your view rather than block it. The trick is to plant trees and shrubs that will lead the eye away but not in such a solid block that it spoils the view entirely.

Don't despair.

Thank you for all your sympathy and support and helpful ideas (*Wilma*).

Although electrification has been going on for years and they have been doing ground works on the line through the village for about a year, we had never actually considered whether the gantries would be visible from the house, we just assumed they would be hidden by the trees.

The gantries behind our house have all been erected in the last week. The work is done at night to cause minimum disruption to railway services and I suspect the offending gantry only went up the night before we noticed it.

The garden was one of the attractions of the house and the knowledge that surrounded by houses, most of them Listed, with the land behind us and the railway taken up by their gardens, we knew we couldn't be built behind. We never thought that our protector, the railway, would turn on us.

M0nica, I know how you feel. A lovely view is priceless and such a tonic too.

I lived at my last house for nearly 30 yrs. It was built on a slight hill and the back garden sloped upwards very gently, so sitting down on the terrace and looking out we saw large trees from gardens at the back of us, which were far enough away not to cast any shade. It was like being in a secret clearing of a small wood with a wonderful variety of trees - so private even though we had houses at the side and back of us. It was a lovely green haven. Above the trees we got massive expanses of sky and nothing else.

About ten years ago the neighbours sold up and the new people cut down all the beautiful mature trees in the garden. He said trees were 'messy' None of the trees were any where near the house of buildings so weren't causing problems. He just didn't like them. I went right off them. (Philistines! ) Then people at the back moved away and new people moved in and they too chopped down the trees. Slowly the woodland all around my house vanished and I could see rooftops and aerials and satellite dishes, then loft extensions being built.. It sounds silly to say I felt really hurt and sad but I did. I got an even bigger expanse of sky to admire as I sat down but those trees were special, all beautiful and mature. I know trees cannot be your 'friends' but some people may understand why I cried when I heard the buzzing of chain saws from over the fence and watched proud, strong trees being felled for no good reason. ( I am the founding member of Tree Huggers Anonymous.)

So yes, views are precious. I have moved now and we have a lovely green garden and we aren't overlooked but I miss my big sky and the little bit of woodland I used to enjoy. I have kept OH busy planting trees (front and back) since we moved in. I hope your planting hides those unsightly gantries.

I am surrounded by houses though none of them actually overlook us and we have nothing directly in line with the back garden which makes it very private. A couple of years ago the house who owns the large garden behind us sold the land and we received a letter of intent to build a bungalow. I won't go into detail but I objected and it was not built. However as often seems to happen these days, the plans have now been passed.

The irony is that DS works for the builder and is likely to be building it!

One tip I read that we've used in our back garden needs a bit of geometry to get right. We're in a bungalow, but overlooked by a house. The neighbours we're joined on to chose to plant leylandii trees to stop the people in the house looking in their windows. These trees are now enormous and need serious attention at least once a year. We had a gardening book that showed us how to calculate the height of the something to block the view of our windows from the house. We used trellis set at the right height and grew ivy on it to create a wall of ivy blocking the line of sight of the people in the house.

I will try to use the diagram to explain. Ignore the numbers and just focus on the letters.

A= the top of the gantry (shown as a tall tree here)
C= where M0nica usually sits in the garden enjoying the view
The view of the gantry can be blocked by placing choosing something higher than the height of D to E e.g. a tree trellis or arch, etc.

I hope this makes sense and helps someone.

We've lived in the last street in our town for over 30 years and are right next to a public park/playing field and open fields which have been brilliant for walking, especially with our dogs. Now 676 houses are to be built on the part of the park/playing field and open fields which are classified as green belt. The lane that runs along the side of the fields will become a bus route and the number of houses trigger a new primary school and a row of shops.

There's a campaign, but the owners of the fields offered the land to the council and they live on the other side of the road where they developed the farm land as fishing ponds. They also knocked down the old farm house and built a large house with part of it as business premises for the fishing ponds. The rumour is they offered the land in return for protection of the green belt side of the road where they are (and the money of course).

When we heard we were shocked at the number of houses planned and in fact the original number was higher. It was reduced to give the large house with some holiday properties at the other end of the lane a bit of a buffer between it and the new houses. This is another old farm that was run as breeding and boarding kennels for donkey's years. When the kennels closed the property was still the original farm buildings and the people who bought it turned the main building into a luxurious home and the outbuildings into holiday cottages. It was sold for just under £1.5 million about 3 years ago and is the most expensive property in the town, far, far more expensive than the surrounding area.

We won't be moving because we're in a bungalow and the location is good for shopping, motorways, etc. We always hoped that the green belt label would protect us, but it turns out that the council will just designate a different bit of land instead to keep the numbers level. We've just decided it had to happen some time and crossing our fingers it won't be as bad as it sounds.

My sympathies go out to M0nica and everyone affected by changes to their environment.

Our view wasn`t really what most people would call a view, but we had a good view of Boston docks from here, saw a good few interesting boats come in. Then they built a large, ugly corrugated iron building, in BLUE, which took away our "view", but that has also been blocked from our sight by 2 new blocks of 3 storey houses.

There is an enormous amount of house building going on in areas near us.

What a shame M0nica hope you can sort out ( blot out) the eyesore with trees/shrubs.Yes, get a garden designer to help you plan and actually do the work, he /she will have good ideas.
Electrification on the railways is going on all over now I have noticed.As is house building on a massive scale.