Neighbour row over lawnmower sees feuding homeowners build rival wooden barriers between their gardens
A row that began over a lawnmower between neighbours has turned into a five-year feud
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A row that began over a lawnmower between neighbours has turned into a five-year feud with each homeowner building wooden barriers between their gardens.
Heather Maxwell, 61, said that she and her “nightmare neighbour” were initially friendly when she first moved in eight years ago - the grandmother would even mow her neighbour’s lawn for her.
However, relations soon soured when the neighbour borrowed the lawnmower without asking permission.
To make matters worse, the neighbour reacted with rage when Maxwell asked if she could trim her 16-foot hedge in her back garden.
A row that began over a lawnmower between neighbours has turned into a five-year feudRawpixelShe woke up to find that a six-foot-tall wooden fence erected on their front lawns.
After complaining to her local council, they responded by shortening it and painting it blue.
In retaliation, the grandmother-of-four built her own fence to run directly beside it.
Maxwell said: “One day [in June last year] she started building a fence down the front garden. Before this, it was completely open other than a little chain[link] fence.
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“'Right away I said 'why are you doing this?' and she said 'I'm doing it for myself' and she went and slammed the door and built the fence.
“I contacted the council and I said 'it's a danger, I can't see past a six-foot fence when I'm coming out of my drive. I can't see past it to look out for pedestrians and it was actually over the footpath.’
“I said 'it's a risk, somebody's going to get hurt'.”
The neighbour then modified the fence by creating a slope so that Maxell could see around the corner.
She slammed the fence as being out of place with the neighbourhood, and dismayed at the colour choice of blue.
Relations soon soured when the neighbour borrowed the lawnmower without asking permission (stock image)
Getty“I can't see anything from my living room window now but the blue fence. I'm quite minimalistic so everything in my house is black and white. It's just a horrendous colour.
“From the other side of the fence, as you're coming up the park, all you can see is this big blue mass. It's just so obvious.”
Maxwell, who is from Northern Ireland, hopes that it can be instead painted black, however is aware that neighbourly feuds “don’t get resolved overnight”.
“I have grandchildren and they're only four and five and I can't even let them go beyond the grass now, because I can't see any traffic or any cars. It's just not safe now for them to be out.
“My advice to others [dealing with a neighbour dispute] would just be to stay calm and be in it for the long haul as it doesn't get resolved overnight.. Even if you're turned down, keep going.”
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said they spoke to both parties and no offences were detected.