Making combined front/back garden private

MissA44

Hello, 

we are in the process of buying a property where the side of the house is the driveway, it’s gated and open plan to the back garden / front garden. There is currently a 1m brick built wall around the boundary however as we have small children ideally we want something a bit more secure / private. The wall is along the side of the public footpath and road, so I know we would need to apply for planning permission for anything higher than 1m which I’m pretty sure will be declined. I’m just wondering if anyone knows of any other ways to privatise the garden? 

Other houses in the village have high fences that run adjacent to the road. 

Bendy_House

It seems to be one of these situations where a 'wall' or 'fence' might have a restricted height, but throw in some shrubs and trees and anything goes. The house on the other side of the road, for example, appears to have bushes which are twice the height of 'your' wall in places.

Have you had a copy of the deeds yet? That's your first check, and your conveyancer will be going through this looking for weird covenants and clauses to warn you about. Ask them what - if anything - is said about wall height.

If it appears restricted, then also ask them for their thoughts on how to overcome this. Will it really need a long row of hedging plants against the inside the wall?! And, if that would be permitted - ie nothing to say it cannot be done - then ask their opinion of, instead, having trellis mounted on posts attached to the inside of the wall, to which you then grow climbing plants.

This would be easier to manage, automatically limit its overall height, and also the trellis itself will provide an immediate physical boundary that your children wouldn't be able to climb.

But, you'd need to know the chances of it being acceptable.

gozaimasu

Is there anything that would stop you from putting a screen inside the wall? The wall itself would still be boundary between your property and the pavement. I've seen a few places that have erected a couple of posts on either side of the wall and then put up some battens to make a slatted screen. It's well above 1m and backs onto the pavement/main road.

Something like this:

Grenage

Plant a hedge.

Section62

MissA44 said:

we are in the process of buying a property where the side of the house is the driveway, it’s gated and open plan to the back garden / front garden. There is currently a 1m brick built wall around the boundary however as we have small children ideally we want something a bit more secure / private. The wall is along the side of the public footpath and road, so I know we would need to apply for planning permission for anything higher than 1m which I’m pretty sure will be declined. I’m just wondering if anyone knows of any other ways to privatise the garden? 

Other houses in the village have high fences that run adjacent to the road. 

You need to check really carefully for covenants and planning conditions restricting the height of things on the boundary and in the garden.  The tall bushes/shrubs the person on the opposite side of the junction has* may be in breach, so don't assume you could do the same. (*Do they actually belong to that property, or are they on council land?)

As a corner plot on a junction there is the additional consideration that a low feaures might be needed to give adequate visibility (sight line) for drivers.  Don't assume that because other people get away with tall fences and hedges that you will be allowed to do the same (whatever anyone on online forums tell you)

Having checked for all restrictions that might apply, you'll have a better idea of what kind of screening you could put up with or without the need for planning consent and/or the agreement of the developer.

But that said, if you are wanting a property with a relatively private garden, choosing a fairly modern corner-plot property on an 'open' estate with the majority(?) of the garden at the front and side is not the most obvious option - even with screening the garden will still be overlooked from close on 360 degrees.  Are you sure this is the right one for you?

Also, if you haven't already done it, you need to make sure the conservatory is Ok planning-wise.

Section62

gozaimasu said:

Is there anything that would stop you from putting a screen inside the wall? The wall itself would still be boundary between your property and the pavement. I've seen a few places that have erected a couple of posts on either side of the wall and then put up some battens to make a slatted screen. It's well above 1m and backs onto the pavement/main road.

Something like this:

It's a wall/fence well above 1m high adjacent to a highway and therefore would need planning consent.

Davesnave

There's already a whitebeam and something like a Photina inside the garden wall that appear well above 2m and there's some planting outwith the boundary beyond those, so the existence of plants here seems not to have been challenged. It would be easy enough to fill in with evergreens or semi-evergreens. The whitebeam alone could reach 10m in time.

I don't see the visibility at the junction as an issue with about 2m of clear pavement to view along. Get your solicitor to do the checks suggested and follow the general rules relating to boundary walls, but don't get too hung up on stuff others might like to impose on you!

Norman_Castle

I'd start by separating the front and rear gardens. A fence in line with the front of the property would do this and leave a shorter length of wall which needs its height extending. This would also give you privacy in the exposed conservatory.

twopenny

Fencing can be climbed, either direction, shrubs can't.
Both would be ideal. 
Roses are good protection and give colour, fragrance and cut flowers. If the fence turns out to be a problem a rose hedge is a good answer. 
Rugosa are very low maintenance or fast growing climbers trained horizontally.

goldfinches

As you've got children my vote is for edible hedging like this Edible Hedging Mix (18 plants) (pomonafruits.co.uk) and maybe add some thornless blackberry, raspberry canes, rugosa and crab apples to it as well.

Norman_Castle

The op clearly isn't interested in our thoughts on how to "privatise" their garden.