A ditch separating the back garden and the house.

doingitanyway

Viewed a house that I like but I am worried about a ditch separating the back garden and the house. Vendor has lived there for 30 years and it has always been like that. 
There is just dirt there.
Owner says it has never caused an issue.
I have never seem this before and feel nervous about it.
Anyone seen this before? Am I right to be concerned.

Thank you.

Norman_Castle

I would want to know why it was there. Does it extend over other properties?

On a private row behind my property a ditch was dug because of a natural spring which flows intermittently. They're often marked on OS maps.

doingitanyway

Thank you @Norman_Castle. It s a small detached cottage (former coach house) I will ask why it is there.

Section62

doingitanyway said:

Thank you @Norman_Castle. It s a small detached cottage (former coach house) I will ask why it is there.

On older properties it isn't uncommon for a ditch to be used as a boundary feature as much as for drainage.  E.g. the combination of a ditch and a hedge is difficult for livestock to get through.

Could it be possible the back garden has been extended in size, leaving the ditch running through the middle of it.

doingitanyway

Thanks @Section62 I am probably explaining it poorly and I don't have photos. Not really rural as such and the garden is higgledy-piggedly and on different levels. I can see the dirt where the foundation of the house is at the back of the cottage. it is a sort of gulley. I don't understand why. It looks like the foundation has been dug and left. I don't see any pipework down there...

MovingForwards

DIA, have you been on Google earth to trace the dirt path and see if it sheds any light along the route?

Bendy_House

Could you provide a link to the listing, if you don't have a pic?

twopenny

How deep is this ditch?

I think the question about whether it goes through all gardens there is a good one.

I'd be concerned that it was to take flood water at some time.

And why someone would leave it unfilled if it didn't have a purpose.

theoretica

How does it compare to the land height at the front of the house?  It is definitely a ditch and not the land being levelled for the house and the back garden higher?

Woolsery

It's very common where there's a change of level, but without photos we're just guessing. If it's truly concerning, put some pictures up or accept that we can't tell you anything very useful.

In the old days a coach house wouldn't have had a garden and no one would have spent good labour on landscaping the area behind it, unless it impacted the major property in some way.

Bendy_House

Do SIPs include Q's on things like flood risk? 
I'd like the vendor's verbal assurance that there never has been an issue backed up in an more concrete format.
Of course, we don't even know if it IS a 'ditch' at the moment. Could be an excavation site. (Soz - just been introduced to the utterly engaging 'Detectorists' :-).  )