A truism if ever there was one is the adage “Good fences make good neighbours”. Its obvious benefits are, of course, safety, privacy and curb appeal. But in our case, no fencing affected easy accessibility and vulnerability of boundary invasion on several fronts, specifically:
Bamboo Pilfering
The abundance of bamboo bordering our frontage was a free-for-all to cut and it would seem, a regular haunt for bamboo supplies long before purchasing the property. Approaching a culprit chopping down our bamboo, he quickly said “I’m building in Patience Hill, thanks” and continued chopping. A total disregard of us and the fact he was not only trespassing but thieving. Bamboo has the strength of tensile steel and is a staple used in the Caribbean for construction, as my husband and I found out.
Hunting for Agoutis
During hunting season October – March, our locale is prime, with plenty of the favoured hunted animal Agoutis (a rodent that looks a bit like a large guinea pig), for its meat, referred to as ‘wild meat’. During the chase, the dogs relentlessly chasing their prey and hunters following the dogs, our property would disregardfully be entered.
Roaming Untethered Animals
Roaming sheep eat the plants from my garden. On one occasion, one chose its final resting place to die, near my kitchen garden (made a pyre and burnt it). Cows too have wandered in to eat the grass.
Fruit Pickers
Astonishing, is the audaciousness of strangers helping themselves to mangoes (the trees visible from the road). One day hearing voices, we looked out to see a family, grandmother, mother and children sitting on the driveway curb, happily chatting and eating the fallen mangoes, with the house a mere 50 yards away, clearly visible.
Curiosity Folks
On one occasion, two horse riders assumed being on a hill there would be a good view and rode up to check. This was their retort to enquiring how we can help them. Another assumed the driveway (at the time unpaved), was a road and simply walked up to see where it lead.
The area initially on our arrival was sparsely populated and assigned predominantly as farmland. With a set of neighbours 400-500 yards away and another, half a mile away, we loved not living ‘cheek by jowl’ with neighbours, referring to our peaceful two and a half acre idyll as ‘Far from the maddening crowd’. Although, quite wooded and merely a 10-15-minute car ride to the capital Scarborough/port and a 20-25 minute drive to the airport. The area is now growing fast with several additional neighbours, with more coming on board, some in various stages of building.
Time to install those good fences.
