[YorkshireLass]

I'm fairly new, and only have a little cottage garden, but most of the long-time residents seem happy/bemused. Various comments about it's nice to see it being tidied up but haven't I got a long way to go 
Immediate neighbours...well, let's just say we say hello when our paths cross, and the walls are rather thin, but they are certainly not interested in gardening/crafty/countrysidey stuff.

[in the hills]

We live in a scattered, rural hamlet. We call ouselves neighbours even though some of us may live 2 miles away from each other. As incomers, I think some were a bit suspicious of us at first but we have been told that we fit in ..... just perfect. Phew! Nearly everyone farms or has a smallholding of some description. We all look after each other really. In the previous bad winters, if anyone managed to get out, they would ring to find out who needed what, collect post, etc. We look after each others animals if problems occur and help each other when we can. 

We have some new neighbours now .... from London. They did ask me what was making the awful howling sound the other day and mentioned they had thought it sounded like wolves. .......... a cow  Asked me what they would see if there were bats flying around and were shocked to find out that, yes, we get midges here!!!!! Hoping they will be good neighbours and understand that our hens,quail, sheep and cockerels do make a noise sometimes. Seemed to think that the countryside was silent. We are far from anywhere and there is no background noise but there is working country noise. Mmmmm ...... we shall see.

[Small Farmer]

We depend on our neighbours for our land. They've all got a house with a paddock and we get to use the land because not one of them has the first faintest idea of rural living.

The partner in a City law firm.  Absolutely charming, completely uninterested.

The former neighbour who retained a hectare when he moved away. He visits 2 or 3 times a year.

The high-frequency trader wants to do something on his land and is putting in a gate  so his kids can get into it - an improvement from his precedessor who'd fenced it to be inaccessible from the garden.  He actually likes gardening which is as well cos he has a hectare of nettles, dock and ragwort.

The headhunter couple are so Margo and Jerry.

The GP and advertising exec are one of our best friends and our boys are mowing their garden. But they both work, she's one week short of giving birth amd the have a toddler.

They all get meat and preserves, but No actual help

[jaykay]

Does anyone believe in Karma?   I'm not sure.  I was brought up to believe that if someone is nasty to me that you don't know what is going on in their lives to make them like that - pain, no money, lost jobs, lost family etc, and in your neighbour's case. holz, abuse, but sometimes it's difficult  to keep on believing that.

I think people behave badly because they're unhappy or damaged for whatever reason. All the grief in the world, large and small, is caused by unhappy people. A good reason to work at being as happy as possible 

And I think the karma is now, here in this life. As in people who are unpleasant - well that's the best they get from life, that low level, grubby and grim satisfaction, not real joy or true happiness. So actually, they get their comeuppance like that.

[Rosemary]

Does anyone believe in Karma?   I'm not sure.  I was brought up to believe that if someone is nasty to me that you don't know what is going on in their lives to make them like that - pain, no money, lost jobs, lost family etc, and in your neighbour's case. holz, abuse, but sometimes it's difficult  to keep on believing that.

I think people behave badly because they're unhappy or damaged for whatever reason. All the grief in the world, large and small, is caused by unhappy people. A good reason to work at being as happy as possible 

And I think the karma is now, here in this life. As in people who are unpleasant - well that's the best they get from life, that low level, grubby and grim satisfaction, not real joy or true happiness. So actually, they get their comeuppance like that.

I agree with both of you. And with holz that the best way to deal with it is to keep your good karma and be nice.

We luckily have good neighbours.

Maybe those with bad neighbours should send them a few episodes of "My name is Earl" 

[bigchicken]

Well I am very lucky  all my neighbours are great and one of them looks after my animals when I need them to, They all are very interested in my enterprises and I could not ask for better people. I supply them with some lamb and eggs free because they are so nice.

[tizaala]

We are very lucky with ours, Three neighbouring farmers that always help you out when needed without being in your face all the time,  one of them scans our goats for free and I feed his pigs when he wants a weekend away, another one lends me his stock trailer when I want it and helps me out with the odd bale of straw. the third comes and empties our slurry pit and fixes tractors they only have to lift the phone if they want me. so a good bit of backscratching goes on.

[Sudanpan]

We only have neighbours as such on one side - 100 yards away - and they are FAB. The 'same side of the lane' neighbours are the family farmers - they originally owned the field and tumbledown cottage that we now have. They got the planning permission for the cottage and then sold it and the field at auction and we then bought it a year later. They have been very helpful when we have needed advice but have not been 'hanging over the garden fence'.

The other 2 houses in our little group are made up of the farmer's son and daughter in law, and then a family who moved down from London 5 years before we did. The son and his wife again have been really great - same vein as the parents - but the other family are a bit more 'self contained' - there seems to have been some major bustup between them and the farmer family so no love lost between them, but we are on 'how do' terms.

We gave all our neighbours some joints from our first pigs - and we get jams and cakes at christmas from the farmer family.

Basically we couldn't ask for better neighbours 

[HappyHippy]

Oh, and my immediate neighbours are my in-laws  and they're a fricking nightmare.

Mine too 
My father has a hoarding habit and as soon as we clear a space (to make it look at least half tidy !) he fills it with some more rusty, rotten old junk, or 'bargain' ebay purchase 
My mother is just mental and as soon as we plan to do something - whether go out, head out logging, fencing etc, something more important of her's that needs done just happens to come up and it's demanded that Bruce and I help  That's fine and while it's inconvienient we can re-plan, but there's never any return offer of help or even a thanks 

[MikeM]

we live next door to the churchyard, so ours are mostly quiet.

[jaykay]

 

[Lesley Silvester]

we live next door to the churchyard, so ours are mostly quiet.

    Bit concerned about the ones who aren't quiet.   

We are in a slightly different position in that we live in a town but we do have good neighbours.  On one side is a lady in her late sixties who is not in the best of health.  She loves the goats but hates hens so we don't have any.  We do things for her like pick up prescriptions and I check her blood pressure regularly.  She will always take in parcels, rings up to let us know if anything is wrong (such as when the felt on the goat shed roof was flapping in the wind) and is happy for us to go into her garden to fix our stuff (such as goat shed roof).  The other side is a lady in her 80s with alzeimers and her son in his late forties who is her carer.  They have amanic dog who used to bark a lot becsue the older lady used to put him out for an hour or more, let him back in then five minutes later put him back out because she'd forgotten he'd just been out.  Since her son has given up work to look after her, the dog is much better.  We chat over the hedge about fruit and veg and he has given me one or two bits.  The other side of him are a lovely couple and grown up son who are always willing to help.  The husband has fed goats before now when we had no one else to ask and is always willing to help lift anything heavy.  He and his son helped carry my lovely Snowflake into her shed when she was dying as she had collapsed onto a broken bench.  No complaints about anyone else in the row either.  I often find bags of shredded paper on my doorstep.

[chrismahon]

We have one next door who we talk to and the rest are without doubt the most vile individuals we have ever had the misfortune to encounter. The old adage 'birds of a feather flock together' couln't be more true. We moved into a 'a nest of vipers' in this little isolated hamlet. Foolishly two ordinary unpretencious people bought the largest of the properties with the most land and were hated and despised for it. I could bore you all with tales of foul deeds we have endured over the last 12 years that would astound you. How could anyone possibly that evil, vindictive, devious, dishonest and manipulative you would ask? Easy, they think that is normal behavior because they have acted like it all their lives. Still, we are out of here as fast as we can get, which is certainly not fast enough for our liking!

[Hellybee]

we have two close neighbours, well two fields away anyway and they are good as gold    One is a fab artist the other is an acupunturist and a fab horsewoman ....handy

[Brijjy]

By and large our neighbours are fine. We are on speaking terms with all of them and pretty friendly with a few. However they don't all get on with each other and the gossip can be ferocious. There are 8 houses up our lane. They all seem quite pleased that the land is being made use of and they do get eggs from us at times. They all love my OH as he is a sparky by trade and everyone seems to have an electrical job they need doing. He has been round to our farmer neighbour on many occasions when his milking parlour has packed up. I was chatting to one of my neighbours this evening and he did make a pointed comment about the noisy cockerels. Mind you he was a bit pissed and he ended the conversation by kissing my hand! I did tell him that I had just been cleaning out chicken drinkers!!