Topiary Of The Week

Trees add a bit of structure to a garden, but they can be a fruitful source of disputes between neighbours. You are entitled to cut back the branches of a tree that overhangs into your property, provided, of course, that it is not under a Preservation Order.

For 25 years or so a fir tree, now 16-feet tall, had been in Bharat Mistry’s front garden in Waterthorpe in Sheffield, although over time it had encroached over his neighbour’s property. Would you believe it, birds had the audacity to roost in it, making a noise and covering the ground with faeces.  

Relations between the two households splintered and unable to find a resolution to the dispute, Bharat’s neighbour called in a tree surgeon, who successfully chopped the tree in half, removing the half that was causing offence.  

The result does look a bit odd but will soon grow on you, even becoming a bit of a tourist attraction.