Odd neighbour behaviour, how to deal with it practically
Hi, I have a potential problem brewing and I'm not sure how to deal with it.
Our neighbour has started making a lot of comments about our garden choices.
It's become a bit like they have to find something to say every time I see them and I think on one occasion they may have been waiting for me to come out to jump in with a complaint.
In a nutshell, we have a garden that is planted up and designed to attract birds, bees etc. They have a garden that is basically a paved area. They want everything to look extremely manicured and tidy, and I don't go in for that. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a Mr Trebus garden, we even have a gardener come and do bits each week on top of what we do. It just isn't clinical.
They have made a few passive aggressive comments about when bushes are going to be cut into shape, a plant leaf touching their fence, they don't like birds (except one type), I could go on but it's basically all along these lines.
I'm just worried it's ramping up rather than down. I think they don't go far and maybe this has become a bit of an obsession for them that might get worse as time goes on.
I just don't know where this is headed or how to deal with it. To this point I've just gone with 'smile and nod' and go along with whatever they are saying, but I'm not sure if that will make things better or worse. I'd genuinely rather get on with people, I can't be arsed to argue if I'm honest, but if my lack of setting boundaries is going to lead to them feeling they can say more and more, I don't think that's the way.
Has anyone dealt with this and what's the best approach here?