Fences

[Cloudbringer]

Hullo everyone! I've got a question for you all. I was driving home from church with my fiance who is from the Pacific Northwest part of the US (Idaho) and he made an observation I found interesting. Seems back where he came from the vast majority of houses have fenced in yards and he found it odd to see so many adjoining properties without fences as we drove through an older neighborhood near mine. (My own yard is fenced in, btw.)

So tell me, are fences more the norm or the exception in your neighborhoods. I'm curious about the rest of the US and especially interested in how prevalent they are in other countries.

Cloudy

[adam warlock]

fences makes the best neighbors

[Mojo]

Looking out of my window, I can see that every house on my street that I can see has either a fence or a hedge. The house across the road has a wall...

[johnny]

In Holland everything is fenced, you don't want the neighbours to sit in your backyard and drink your beer, do you ?

[Cloudbringer]

Whoo.. answers so soon! Thank you! Hmm johnny, there's a thought I'd missed.. LOL, do you keep your beer in your yard?

Seriously, this is very interesting.

[Wilbur]

Hmmm... when i lived in california everyone had a fence. But now only people who want to let their dogs loose in the yard have them.

[Cloudbringer]

Wilbur, do you mean that in Ohio (are you there now?) there are fewer fenced yards (unless you have a dog! ) ? Or that in CA the trend is reversing?

[Epona]

Practically EVERYONE in the UK with a garden has either hedge, fence or wall around it. A large proportion of arguments with neighbours are border disputes. It is almost second nature to us to stick a fence round anything that's 'ours' as a demarkation line. Dunno what that's about!

[Serykar]

There's almost no fences in my neighborhood, except for us. (I'm in Michigan)

[Cloudbringer]

Originally posted by Epona: Practically EVERYONE in the UK with a garden has either hedge, fence or wall around it. A large proportion of arguments with neighbours are border disputes. It is almost second nature to us to stick a fence round anything that's 'ours' as a demarkation line. Dunno what that's about!

LOL, but that's exactly the kind of thing that interests me here!

I'm wondering if it's the older neighborhoods (like in the UK, where property must be at a premium!) that fences/hedges etc are a must or considered the norm rather than a 'luxury' or something one does if a whim strikes. Or is it some other cultural thing that drives the urge to demarcate property? LOL.. oooookay... Cloudy's being sociologially thoughtful this morning!

Is it the way property is viewed? Cost factors? Do you fence/hedge just because the neighbor did? In my own neighborhood several people got fences just like or very similar to mine within a month or so of my putting up the one on my property. They liked the idea once they saw it in person.