On Sun, 10 Aug 2003 22:17:23 GMT,
(Sally Thompson) wrote:

big snip However, we are upset that in planting the leylandii he has
(or has had) our own deciduous hedge cut back - probably beyond the
boundary, but it is difficult to prove that of course. They have
removed growing tips of the wild roses and have also today cut off
some branches of an existing ash tree which was right on the boundary
- and thrown them over our side.

Thanks to all for your comments - it was really helpful to me to get
some other thoughts. Just so you don't think I'm ignoring them, here
are answers to some of your points (have rolled them all up in one
post, hope that's okay):

Re the Ash tree - do you know who owns the tree? (Chris French and Helen Johnson)

No - it was in existence when we bought the land, slap on the boundary
line. Since we own the boundary and the fence, I suppose we own the
ash tree.

T r Y and have a chat with the guy, just to see what his ideas are (Anne)

We have tried! Not a possibility I'm afraid.

You could go to his front door and invite him for coffee (Steve R)

Did that when they moved in, but suddenly there was a non-response
regime (not just to us).

There are lots of problems that neighbours can create- I'd suggest that 'not talking' is one of the most minor (Anton)

I agree. However, it is in our normal nature when turning the corner
of the house or coming out of the back door and finding ourselves
facing our neighbour to smile and say hallo. That meets the turned
back. We do now ignore him since that is what he appears to want, but
it isn't natural to us! I was really only stating this for
background, though - it isn't really the issue.

Ash is awfully tough - and so are wild roses. Cutting them back really won't do them any harm: in fact they will probably just come back stronger (Victoria Clare)

Yes, thank you for that Victoria. It's good to know, because I was a
bit concerned about the time of year it had been done. It isn't
really just the tree, of course - it's the way it was done that got to
us last night.

Odd for being quiet and shy? (Janet Baraclough)

I don't think that's how you would describe it if you knew the person
concerned. There are issues which I have not mentioned and which I
don't want to air in a public forum - and we really don't know and
are not qualified to judge the reasons. We have thought of all the
obvious ones, and are not without sympathy for people with particular
difficulties.

Why not think positive? Leylandii is a good nesting place for several species of birds (Jim Paterson)

Hmm - so is the original hedge! As I said, the leylandii hedge is not
really the issue - it was more the removal of quite a bit of ours to
plant it that we felt.

As a general point to you all, we do take on board that everyone has
the right to grow what they like in their own garden; we actually
think this hedge could be a good thing in some ways if that will make
him happy. We have enough land that if our own hedge suffers, we can
plant another row in front of it. We do not dispute that our hedge
was growing over the boundary and that they had the right to cut it
(although they have actually gone a bit over the boundary) but
originally they liked the hedge. I felt upset because this was the
first thing we had planted on the land, we had nurtured it and felt
huge pleasure in it, and it hurt that someone had taken the chop to
it! I'm sure as fellow gardeners you can imagine how we felt.

Anyway, we have decided to keep the peace and say nothing. In the
scheme of the world it really isn't very important. Thanks for
letting me let off steam though.


--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
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