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I guess that for most people in this part of the world "the house is their castle". They can't understand why you have to have open gardens, allowing the entry of dogs, thiefs, children, cats and old ladies trying to steal your flowers and plants.
I had an open entry with a little garden until 3 months ago, I closed it with a wall and a door with interphoe.
I was tired of:
Dogs pissing and defecating in the garden, homeless slepping in the patio, thiefs, drunks pissing on the entry...etc.
I guess that single homes with no walls and fences are for countries were people have a sense of civility, not here.
Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
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I *grew up* in Europe, so I am used to hedges/fences/gates, or whatever.
Then in the USA, I first lived in *apartment complexes*, and hated it with a passion.
Got married, and *bought* a single family home (WITH a fence in the back yard, but no fence or gate in the front.) Loved that !
My *in-laws* however, lived in an area that had fairly large properties (compared to the *regular* sized single family homes). They were about an acre each, and at first had no hedges/fences/gates, in front or back ... Seemed like they were living in a Park-like setting. Really nice !
But ... , they were also living next to a *State Park* !
So we just helped mowing the lawn, and since the back and the side yard was next to the State Park, we just kept mowing further and further into the State park, where there was NO fence ! Everybody else who had the same situation, was doing the same thing !
Then all of a sudden, the State decide to fence off their Property !
Looked really ugly also ! The State never mows the weeds so it looks really horrible !
The strangest thing that then happened was that all the other *private property* owners also installed fences in their back and side yards !
My in-laws never had to do anything because their neighbours installed the fence on one side of the yard.
We never understood why they started to build fences AFTER the State put in the fence !!
Somebody mentioned dogs doing their thing on other people's property !
We (today) have that *problem* !
So we have a nice white *farm style* picket fence between our property and the neighbours with their dogs, but it is also secured with Chicken wire (almost invisible) to keep the dogs out of our yard.
With our grand kids constantly visiting us - our front yard (about 1/4 acre big) looks like a play yard in a local community park - you do not want nasty dog stuff in your yard, or ?
So ... , maybe it is a normal human thing after all ?
I like the hedges and fences because they usually look neater and they provide a sense of privacy. I don't like look of sprawling American suburbia with the the view of endless concrete.
We have plenty of houses around here that have privacy hedges and fences. That's opposed to gated communities which we do not have and which exist, I think, to keep thieves out. Those places are down right unfriendly looking.
I'll take a neatly trimmed hedge anyway (I even enjoy doing the trimming) although fence painting becomes a pain and fences are very expensive. I don't like the trend (probably due to price) of white plastic fences.
This is just a beautiful house that I like but it has a FENCE. With the house so close to the road, you would need something even if it doesn't do any real good. It just feels better to at least have a little sense of division between the house and the rest of the world. Sort of like privacy.
This is a typical scene in Finland. Two-family houses (to save on construction/maintenance) with an open front yard, but hedges on the peoples' backyards http://goo.gl/maps/DUKQr
I like this style of grouping: http://goo.gl/maps/EBzCx
common inner yard with the parking lots and a small "square" and private backyards
This is quite a normal view. Various houses, various solutions, but all have hedges: http://goo.gl/maps/ld94t
Another modern solution with a parking lot square and houses around it: http://goo.gl/maps/e6hrT
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