We reveal nightmares at the bottom of the garden from Adam Lallana’s basketball court to rubbish dumps and slate mines
David Elliott reveals how his life had been left 'in shreds' after a cricket club built nets behind his Darlington home
HAVING one noisy neighbour can make life hell.
So imagine having a bunch of loud, sweaty sportsmen yards from your back door.
Last week, resident David Elliott said his life had been left “in shreds” after a cricket club built nets behind his Darlington home.
The 60-year-old is sick of the sound of “grunting” players and balls hitting wood.
But it’s not just cricket that’s giving folk garden grief.
Here we reveal other nightmares in our leafy suburbs.
BASKETBALL COURT
Adam Lallana’s neighbours were far from cock-a-hoop when the England ace erected a £40,000 basketball court and football pitch outside his £1.5million Hampshire home in 2014.
Brian Riley, who lived next door with wife Constance, said: “We saw a sports pitch being built and couldn’t believe it.”
They appealed to the council but Lallana was told he could keep it.
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FOOTBALL PITCH
Niggled residents complained to the council last year when Arsenal and England’s Jack Wilshere erected an 18-foot fence in the garden of his mansion to stop footballs flying over from a pitch.
Next-door neighbours claimed the wire net which runs along the length of their fence “ruined the view” from their home in Harpenden, Herts.
They said: “It also makes an annoying noise.”
GOLF CLUB
Imagine regularly having smashed windows and dents in your cars from wayward golf balls.
That’s the reality for hacked-off homeowners who live close to the George Washington Golf Course in Newcastle.
Up to 600 balls a year from sliced shots whizz into gardens, forcing folk to dodge to avoid injury.
Fuming local Rozalind Coulter said: “I won’t let my daughter out into the garden without a helmet on.”
RUBBISH DUMP
The smell of rotting rubbish and a plague of rats have been keeping residents awake at night in Cotgrave, Notts.
The field near their back gardens has been transformed into a huge tip, as big as a footie pitch.
Homeowner David Wayman, 37, reckons his street now looks like a “slum”.
He said: “It’s a breeding ground for rats and the area smells like a dump.”
SLATE MINE
The owners of a house with a slate mine in the back garden had to put it up for sale last year after being unsettled by a rumbling noise late at night.
The house, near Wrexham, North Wales, had a quarry and mineshaft out the back.
Handy if you need a few tiles for your roof, but the house appears to have several “structural issues”.
FESTIVAL
Loud gangster rap hardly makes for a relaxing listen as you chill in your back garden.
But those were the sounds on the breeze for residents of a once-sleepy Sussex village, when Snoop Dogg was booked to play a festival yards from their homes in 2015.
The US rapper — known for outrageous lyrics — played sold-out Mutiny festival in Fontwell, much to the annoyance of nearby homeowners.
Accountant Keith Hood, 57, blasted: “This is not Glastonbury. Parents with young children don’t want to hear expletives belted around the village.”