"S R" wrote in message
...
We've recently moved to a new house with a garden, which we wanted so the
kids could play safely. Obviously, when they're playing football or tennis
there is a risk of the ball going into the neighbours garden. They are a
middle aged couple (no kids) who look after their garden and won't put up
for too long with our kids climbing over the 4ft stone dividing wall to
fetch their balls.

I want to avoid any aggro. It's not that the couple are nasty or
anything - they have been helpful since we moved and are generally OK, but
I dread the day when my kids kick the ball at their single pane windows
and smash them. To be honest, I wouldn't like it either if I were in their
shoes.

I was going to have a sports fence put up along the wall, but since the
wall is theirs they objected. They also commented they wouldn't like it on
the grounds that it would look like a prison camp.

I thought that perhaps I should consider restricted the kids ball games to
one area and putting one of those cricket nets there so that we could be
sure that the ball won't go far. It'll be safer because at the bottom end
the garden faces a busy road and I don't want the kids chasing after the
balls on there.

So the questions:

1. What options are available to erect a suitable barrier between our and
the neighbours gardens?

2. How much of a say do they have in what sort of fencing I put up on the
edge of my garden?

3. What is the maximum legal height for a garden fence.

4. What if we put up an 8ft high washing line and hung some nest from this
as and when the kids were playing. The netting could be easily taken down
when not in use.

5. Would I require permission for cricket net type apparatus?


Tell the kids to play ball games elsewhere and reserve the garden for family
activities like barbecues and the like.