OV9

Looks lovely. I like the direct access from the garden to the church grounds too.

That’s a nice useable outdoor space - beer for me please.

Gorgeous

Dave£

Very nice

Have you tried cleaning the slabs with a pressure washer Alex? Mine come up well from a similar state every year. If the mould's stubborn, use Spray and Leave.

I'm sure we had the same slabs at our previous house which had not been cleaned since being put down in the late 70s or early 80s. Pressure washer cleaned them up nicely, though I preferred them looking a bit dirty to be honest. It's worth using a patio cleaner attachment on your pressure washer because it isn't as messy a job and doesn't leave streaks.

That looks lovely @Alex88, utterly idyllic.

@Alex88, nice. Although I think I'd be worried about a nosey congregation looking in on my garden... but do people actually go to church these days?!

duncs500 wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 9:45 am @Alex88, nice. Although I think I'd be worried about a nosey congregation looking in on my garden... but do people actually go to church these days?!

They definitely do over here and they are very nosey.

Nosey neighbours rock.

Dave!

Thanks everyone!

It was a great little project with huge bang for your buck. Only cost £300 or so but has completely changed the outlook. Had lots of positive comments on it.

It took the whole day in the end, but we had to contend with quite a lot of old concrete left in the ground from previous fences and posts..

As per Jobbo's previous place, we suspect these slabs were also laid in the 70s/80's. However, a pressure washer doesn't do much to them. Another issue I have is that the patio area is quite sunken down compared to the rest of garden that wraps around the side of the house. Heavy rainfall can funnel water to the patio area and it doesn't have anywhere to go except into the flower beds/in-between the gaps in the slabs. So it can get overwhelmed and subsequently very grubby.

I could just replace the slabs with something that could be swept clean-ish with a stiff brush, or go the whole hog and investigate french drains, etc. But I can't justify the latter at this point, so may go for newer slabs. I also need to level that little courtyard bit as it's all over the place

Re. The privacy, that was my only concern.. but fortunately there's very little activity in the churchyard as people tend to walk around it instead of walk through. And if they do walk through they almost always stick to the gravel path next to the church. They sometimes have events on the grassy area but it's pretty infrequent. My neighbour also has a lower 'fence' but hers is made up entirely of old headstones!

Alex88 wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 10:25 am
Re. The privacy, that was my only concern.. but fortunately there's very little activity in the churchyard as people tend to walk around it instead of walk through. And if they do walk through they almost always stick to the gravel path next to the church. They sometimes have events on the grassy area but it's pretty infrequent. My neighbour also has a lower 'fence' but hers is made up entirely of old headstones!

Also it would be easy to check the church notice board before oiling up the gimp suit.

Dave!

V8Granite wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 10:28 am

Alex88 wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 10:25 am
Re. The privacy, that was my only concern.. but fortunately there's very little activity in the churchyard as people tend to walk around it instead of walk through. And if they do walk through they almost always stick to the gravel path next to the church. They sometimes have events on the grassy area but it's pretty infrequent. My neighbour also has a lower 'fence' but hers is made up entirely of old headstones!

Also it would be easy to check the church notice board before oiling up the gimp suit.

Dave!

Well, in my efforts to scare the Jackdaws away to keep them off the thatch (which has worked), I've been in the garden making loud banging noises/clapping hands together and shoo-ing them off. Sometimes I have gotten quite animated. Hopefully they've worked out what I'm doing!

That looks great Alex.

I'm a big advocate of lower fences anyway - depending on the state of your neighbours' gardens (and your neighbours themselves) you get more "garden" if you don't stick 6-7ft closeboarded panels up.

Might be worth trying some Wet and Forget on your slabs. Looking at the pics it’s round circle like dark patterns which indicates biofilm/mould of some sort rather than just dirt.

Cheers Merv. That was precisely the objective here - create a bigger visual garden by eliminating the barrier and installing something of a simple boundary line instead. We specifically wanted a picket and not a lower height solid fence to be able to see as much of the view as possible. Couple that with the access into the church grounds, its fab and worked out exactly as planned.

Re. The slabs, I'll definitely grab a bottle of treatment that you guys mention and give it go. Can't hurt and seems straightforward enough!

Our garden backs on to the rest of our little cul-de-sac so we're quite overlooked. We're constantly trying to make our garden more private, acoustically as much as visually. We have great neighbours but I don't want them to hear our every conversation when we're in the garden.

With the pergola with screens and the fence, I think it's probably about as good as it can be.

That sounds like the best you can do tbf. It can be tricky when you back on to people's gardens.

My last place was very difficult for privacy. Mid terrace Victorian, with long gardens but no width (12ft). If you were outside on the patio, you could hear every single word that your neighbours were saying. No privacy outside at all!

There's an unfinished garage across the our house which had a few courses of bricks laid about 30 years ago and then left so we've decided we'll finish it and use it for storage. The floor is being poured next week and then we'll get the rest finished, but I'm now starting to think it's a waste of a view!

Maybe I need to add a door and make a deck out the back of it.

The door doesn't seem wide enough to fit a Can am?

Yeah, needs a wider door and a deck on the back of it.

Tear it down immediately! It is a criminal waste of a stunning view.

Convert it into a bar with a big up and over window to keep the rain off and enjoy your new man cave!