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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Alexander Smail

Scottish mum 'taken aback' after neighbour tries to force rules for her garden

A mum has revealed she was left "really annoyed" after being told by her neighbours to stop exercising in her garden.

The woman, who recently gave birth, revealed on parenting forum Mumsnet that she has started doing high intensity interval training (HIIT) outside to "shift the baby weight".

One morning, after a workout, her neighbour came to her door to ask if she could instead exercise indoors. He stated that the noise was disturbing them while they tried to "watch their fish".

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Taking to Mumsnet, the woman said: "I had a baby a few months ago and trying to shift the baby weight which I have gained. The last few mornings around 10.30am I have been going into our back garden to do a workout on Apple Fitness+.

"I have been wearing my headphones as quite frankly my neighbours don't need to hear the cheesy "come on, push it harder" motivation chat from the fitness instructor. This morning after my workout (I do HIIT - 20 minutes), the neighbour next door came to the door and asked if I could work out inside as they are trying to relax in their back garden in peace and watch their fish.

"I was a bit taken aback. My DH (dear husband) heard this and came to the door and politely said that I'm not making lots of noise, it's day light and we are entitled to work out in our garden. He pointed out what will they think when our daughter is older and playing in the garden?"

She continued: "The neighbour responded 'that's different' and apparently my panting noises are a bit 'erotic sounding'. At this point we said to the neighbour that again, I'm not making excessive noise and that I'm simply working out. His response? 'Well join a gym then.'

"I'm actually really annoyed. We have CCTV outside the property so I checked to hear how loud I am when working out and honestly hardly any noise, mostly just heavy breathing which the camera struggled to pick up. It's not like I'm making noises like Monica from Friends when she gets her massage.

"I also have a gym in the garage so why would I join a gym? We live in a detached house so no risk of noise to adjoining walls etc. there's not that much floor space to do the workouts inside the garage. Before baby I didn't do the HIIT."

She added: "The reason for me working out in the back garden is my DH is working from home and my baby is napping so I don't want to be creating noise inside to wake up baby or disturb DH working. If baby wakes up the monitor pings a notification to my phone so I will know if she is awake and will stop workout to tend to baby.

"Neighbour only moved in about 6 months ago and never had any issues since. Who is BU (being unreasonable)? Me or the neighbour?"

Before long, the post had received dozens of responses from fellow users. The majority were in agreement that the neighbour was being "ridiculous".

One said: "You are definitely not being unreasonable. I want to say keep doing it but I know if it was me I would feel massively self conscious working out again so it's p****d me off on your behalf."

A second wrote: "It's your garden, you aren't being unreasonable to work out in it at all. They can't hear what you're listening too. If it bothers them so much, they can wander inside for the time you're doing it."

A third posted: "Your neighbours are being ridiculous. They are essentially complaining about you breathing in your garden for 20 minutes."

A fourth agreed: "Your neighbour is bonkers. You are perfectly entitled to exercise in your own garden for as long as you like."

Meanwhile, a fifth echoed: "Neighbour is being unreasonable. You had your headphones on. I’d understand if you were blaring it out of a speaker but them complaining about a bit of exercise noise is nonsensical."

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