The Banshee in the next door garden

[SeriouslyYouSaidWHAT]

Am I being unreasonable? The kids at the far side of our garden are fine, the laughter and general children noise is absolutely fine. However the mother (referred to, by my own teenagers, as the Banshee) is driving my DH and myself inside from our garden. We are in a fortunately position having moved in to a house with an extremely large garden. However the move to our dream home is spoilt by the woman next door, who we can hear as clear as a bell across our garden, either screaming at the kids or cackling like a witch with other banshees. I know the name of her eldest who appear to always be in trouble, but never met or seen him. I even know the name of her most frequent female visitor. The banshee's DH cut the shrubs in our garden on the boundary in the early summer. Yes, he leant over the fence as far as he could reach, stretch the hedge trimmer to the full extent and levelled the hedge to the height of his 6ft fence. His excuse was the previous neighbours were happy for him to do this and he "forgot" there were new owners. This only made the noise worse. We wrote them a letter, spelling out the law to them and our shock at his actions. To which he replied we were unreasonable in not maintaining the shrubs at a height of 2m on his boundary, claiming it cut out his light. To ensure this what not the case, I trimmed the shrubs between the neighbours fence to allow a half metre gap and found the gap between the fence and shrubs filled with sunshine for a good part of the day!
But this did not help with the noise, but made it worse. On Saturday, I was on the opposite side of the property from these neighbours, (think several football fields lengths, (land is cheaper here)), talking to another neighbour and the shouting started. With a start the neighbour asked if we had guests. When I said no, that was the neighbour on the farside, she looked horrified, saying she thought it was someone just inside the garden!
Am I being unreasonable? If not, what can I do? My DH is all for filling the side of the garden with anything to try to reduce the noise and let them apply to the council to reduce the height of the shrubs. I just want a unstressed DH and a quiet life.

[DisgraceToTheYChromosome]

Oh dear. Look up the Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003 Section 65: if the shrubs are evergreens YABU, if not HIBU.

My first ever law essay.

[ReadyToBreak]

Perhaps point out to him that you need them as a noise screen ;)

[DogCalledRudis]

Perhaps she has a hearing difficulty?

[WorraLiberty]

A football field is over 100 yards long so if she's 'several football fields away' and you can hear her that loudly, I'd say she probably does have hearing issues.

[SeriouslyYouSaidWHAT]

Definitely no hearing issues. I made some discrete enquires. I also found out that as their garden is higher than ours the height he cut our bushes to was 4ft from their perspective. Apparently this was so they could have a view of our garden!
So I sort further legal advise. They can not lean over the fence to cut the bushes, they can only cut what over hangs, but after that have planning permission as we live in a conservation area. I sort the advise of the council conservation man. He said our bushes are not of a height to be antisocial, and were unlikely to become so, given the aspect of their garden, but to be reasonable he advised to trim the bushes 2ft from the boundary, which we have done.
In addition to that we have planted some hornbeam and beech to provide further sound proofing.
We were also advised to keep a diary of incidents with the view to look for a noise abatement order. We are at 27 incidents since Easter.

[CrabbyTheCrabster]

Can the legal person from whom you sought advice send them a letter making it very clear that they are not permitted to trim trees over the fence?

Otherwise I'd go with planting as much stuff between you and them as possible - hornbeam and beech sound good, especially as beech hedges keep their leaves on over the winter so will be a visual screen too. Or a tall fence in the meantime, whilst the trees grow?

[Coffeethrowtrampbitch]

That sounds unpleasant.

I would try screening her noise- would it be possible to play music if she comes out in the garden screeching to muffle it?

It might antagonise them but to be honest they seem as though they have no regard for your right to peace in your own garden as it is.

If they ask you to turn it down you could always promise to do so if they stop their excessive noise, and turn it back on if it resumes. Perhaps if they are exposed to some noise nuisance they might realise how bad it is to have to listen to noise others make no attempt to control.

I wouldn't normally suggest you do something so annoying back but if they aren't going to listen to you perhaps they need an example to realise how annoying their behaviour is.

[maroonedwithfour]

3 football fields away? Have I mis read? If so does she use a megaphone otherwise I find ot hard to believe.

[Shakey1500]

I'm also [shocked] at 3 football pitches!

[TheForger]

Bamboo is quite good at blocking out noise and it rustles nicely in the wind -watch out as it can be an aggressive plant. Water running into a pond? I'm not sure what would keep out that level of noise.

[SeriouslyYouSaidWHAT]

I measured it. 216m from the banshee fence to the front gate. So my estimate of a football pitch was not quite right. Although her house on slightly higher ground which I suspect helps the sound carry.
We decided we will be planting that end of the garden until the sound is no longer a problem. Thank you all for your suggestions.

[Capricorn76]

I sympathise with you as we have our own banshee 3 doors down. We used to be able to relax in our garden at the weekend. She moved in last summer and every Sunday (when it's warm) she hosts her relatives (she appears to be the matriarch) and loudly holds court whilst the others occasionally get a word in.

At least every other Sunday the church bus drops her off with half the congregation and again she's yelling. I cannot believe she's 3 doors away, she's that loud. I even have to occasionally shut my bedroom window when I'm inside. Her voice is Brian Blessed level loud!!

[FirstWeTakeManhattan]

Have you tried getting to know her, and building up a friendly, neighbourly relationship at any point?

When the husband cut the shrubs, was your response really a formal letter 'spelling out the law'?

Your neighbour might need a gentle nudge to keep the noise down, but you might well not be their idea of perfect neighbours either. They did, after all, seemingly have a good relationship with whoever lived there before.

It just seems one of those situations where a chat might help. I have to say, I find the habit of referring to her as a banshee, and her friends as 'other banshees' is slightly unpleasant.

[SeriouslyYouSaidWHAT]

We introduced ourselves when we first moved in. When she realised we live "that house" as she referred to our new home, she was decidedly frosty.
We did speak with the husband on the day he leaned over the fence to cut the hedge. I was polite and to the point and I think that might have been the end of the issue had she not come out and started shouting at me. I turned and walked away at that point she started using abusive old English.
I just want to potter in my garden in some tranquility. The laughter and play of the children is not an issue. It is just the woman and some of her friends.
We try really hard to be good neighbours and keep ourselves to ourselves. We get on well with all the other neighbours.
Hey ho. I shall just keep planting for the timebei have.