Karen Thomas's letter........January 2005.......Our nightmare begins.........


Corrupt planning led to changes in our lives - forever.

When we had bought this pretty holding in Carmarthenshire one year ago, we didn't have any idea of the relationship, that was to become apparent, between our neighbours and the local authority's planning department.  This relationship was to bestow upon us years of untold stress, worry and heartache, the like of which that we'd never experienced before in our lifetime.

I'd had no cross words with the Thomases in the one year I had lived here alone, even though they had made my life intolerable.  Whenever our paths crossed, I had always maintained a friendly persona.  I would see them regularly on their yard as I went out, as their daily chores began with their lorry drivers arriving at around 6.0 a.m.  As their office was situated on their yard area, (a portacabin) their day revolved around the office - the haulage business - the stables and the horses. 

Karen Thomas's letter arrived through the post, and I knew immediately when I opened it, it was from her as it was on headed paper.  (See previous post).  I could only bear to scan it as I knew it was going to be deeply unpleasant and disturbing, as it followed on from my rubbish bags being cut, my post mysteriously scattered on the ground and the barbed wire appearing.  The letter sent shivers through me, as was intended.  I felt sick to the pit of my stomach.  I knew instantly that we were going to suffer an even more miserable existence than the year we had already gone through.   Her inexorable changes to our right of way were going to be devastating.  It was obvious from this sarcastic and intimidating letter, life as I had planned was over.  I wanted to pack our belongings and leave, but we had nowhere to go and how would we survive.  How could I continue living here on my own.  Eddie was going to have to give up his business in Sussex much sooner than we had planned, and how was this going to affect our future plans.

I remembered Mr. Ls. letter to the council, notifying them that the hauliers had threatened to alter the right of way if he didn't stop complaining about their operations.  Mr. L. had lived here for twenty six years, but had been lucky enough to sell and move before they'd had the opportunity to fulfil their threats.  Because I had made my concerns known to Carmarthen Council's Enforcement Manager Mr. Brian Canning, we were going to experience this threat being put into practice.  We were not going to be able to move as these reconstructions were imminent.  If this was an attempt to drive us out, it wasn't going to achieve that aim.  In reality these changes to our once pretty right of way were going to prevent any chance of us being able to sell, and were going to trap us here.

Right of Way Summer 2004

 

The Right of Way was approximately twenty meters in length.  Not very long, but very steep.  It was a tarmacadam drive,  approximately fifteen feet wide, with grass verges and grass down the centre. It was the continuation of our private driveway which led directly onto the highway.   It had a hedgerow on one side and post and rail fencing on the other.  Daffodils grew in the verges.  There was a gate either side of the right of way which pulled across making a safe crossing for horses from the neighbours paddock on one side to the large field on the other.  The majority of the horses numbering approximately thirty, lived out in the large field and in the year I had lived here had never seen horses being moved in this way.

Field on right hand side of Right of Way

If two extra gates were going to be put across the Right of Way, and horses left to roam around, how on earth were we going to be able to come and go.  It was going to be impossible.  I couldn't imagine trying to drive through three gates, having to unlock and then lock two of them, whilst manoeuvring several horses out of the way.  Coming home would be every much of a nightmare as going out would be.  Imagining this scenario, I realised I couldn't possibly negotiate such an obstacle course.  It was a hopeless situation something we had no control over.  We most certainly could not sell up and go now. 

Throughout the following week as I went out,  I at first noticed a few Motorway Crash Barriers lying on the verge at the top of the driveway which then grew into piles as the week went on. There also appeared a line of orange paint along the driveway's grass verge which I was later to discover were markers pinpointing water pipes.  The neighbours had it all planned but we just didn't know when!

I was feeling extremely anxious and fearful of what was about to happen, and knew I wouldn't be able to face whatever they had planned, on my own.  For that last week in January I couldn't sleep, dreading what the neighbours had in store and what they were going to do to our only way in and out.

Each and every morning of that last week of January, before the reconstructions began, Andrew Thomas deliberately woke me at around 6.00a.m. by driving his tractor up and down his paddock, each time coming within a couple of meters of my window. He would then attack our right of way in the same manner.  This time of the morning and still being dark made it all the more alarming. The noise was inescapable and was contrived.  The feeling of being totally alone and isolated became overwhelming.   I had to ask Eddie to come up to Wales as this behaviour was putting such fear into me.  I wasn't sleeping, spending the night anticipating what each day was going to bring.  I knew there was no prospect in the local police helping as WPC McWilliams had already told me that if I chose to live next to a farm then I should expect tractor noises. 
If the neighbours intended to make me afraid of them they were succeeding.  It was both depressing and very frightening.  The response from the police made matters worse - psychologically.

The week before!

 Sunday 30th. January - 8.00a.m.    

We had no idea of when the neighbours were going to carry out their threat.   However, on this day, a gang of men headed by Andrew and Karen Thomas entered our R.O.W. with a very large tractor which completely blocked the driveway - the bucket on the front was loaded with huge sturdy posts.   Being on our own - two pensioners - looking up towards this spectacle from our small cottage, felt very threatening.  We obviously couldn't go out now even if  we wanted to or needed to, as the entire driveway was blocked with men and equipment to reconstruct the drive.  They began dismantling the old post and rail fence.

This was to be the Thomas's revenge against my telephone calls to Brian Canning - our pathetic attempt in asking Carmarthen Council why they were allowing this industrial business to operate without planning, and alerting them to the hugely damaging effect it was having upon our lives.  This was to be the consequence!!

I felt sick to my stomach.  I had never experienced such an overwhelming feeling of intimidation and threat as I was feeling now.  I felt so helpless and vulnerable against this obvious vendetta. We were defenceless. All we could do was watch this malicious vandalism taking place throughout the entire day, as the gang of individuals hammered in vast numbers of posts down each side of the driveway, and erected onto the posts crash barriers, two high.  The centre grass and verges had vanished under the huge tyres of the tractor used for the changes to our entrance.    I was distraught and inconsolable, and altho I couldn't eat a thing, felt sick to the pit of my stomach nonetheless.  My eyes were swollen with crying and Eddie was extremely concerned at my mental state.  We were totally on our own, feeling imprisoned in our little cottage with no-one to help us.

Reconstruction to our Right Of Way 2005

By the time they had finished, the pretty driveway was no more.  They had transformed it into an ugly tunnel of metal. There was no grass left, only mud. They had narrowed the drive from fifteen feet wide to just nine feet.  They had run down each side many exceedingly sturdy posts, and attached to them two rows high motorway crash barriers. The two gates that had been threatened in the letter had not been erected yet.  How could two people carry out such vicious acts to people who they'd  already made victims of, to their own anti social behaviour. This was the beginning of a reign of intimidation and and threatening activity that was to last for years.
Andrew Thomas would call this our 'metal enclosure'. 

They had only just begun.............

January 05 - Mr. Bowen on the defensive............?




Mr. Bowens response to my M.P.s letter was hugely defensive of my neighbours and their activities.  A site visit would be carried out but it was obvious Mr. Bowen did not appreciate my M.P. asking questions about my contention that unauthorised activities were taking place at the neighbouring holding, and suggested in his response he was upset at the 'tone' of the letter.  I and others found this to be absurd given the letter was a perfectly legitimate, polite letter, simply putting concerns to him, from a constituent.   Eifion Bowen's response to this letter was confirmation to me that both he and Brian Canning were going to continue their defence of the Thomases and their businesses, no matter how many people complained about them and no matter how visually obvious it all was. 

I felt more uneasy now than before, as the neighbours would officially know that I was feeling very unhappy with how their businesses were affecting our lives, and had sought outside assistance.  I didn't know what to expect, given how others had been intimidated before us because they had complained.  As far as I was concerned I wasn't being given any choice, as I certainly couldn't cope any longer with the disruption to my life.  I wasn't alone in this as the two former owners had very quickly sold up due their many activities which had affected them in the same way. 

Head of Planning Eifion Bowen said "it was difficult to gather evidence because the lorry movements took place outside normal working hours".

Our post box was situated at the top of our drive next to our five bar gate.  Monday morning I went up to retrieve my post only to find my letters scattered on the ground the other side of my gate.  It made my stomach churn, but I wanted to believe the postman had been careless and hadn't put the mail in the tube properly.   Over the course of the next two weeks, I found my post several times again, lying on the ground on the other side of my gate, sometimes soaking wet.  This was something new and had never happened before in the one year I had lived here, therefore it was natural to suspect my neighbours.  In light of the letter from Adam Price my M.P. which had appeared to prompt the shredding of my rubbish bags a few weeks earlier, I had also endured days of quarrying over the Xmas and their dogs were keeping me awake at night too.   As my councillor had now contacted us via our M.P. I alerted him to what had happened, and as I was now a member of the Country Landowners Association I had also made contact with my local representative.  Living alone in an isolated location, completely out of sight of other people, my only neighbours being the Thomases, left me feeling particularly vulnerable and I felt I needed some support.  I told Eddie that I believed our neighbours were doing this to intimidate, but we could solve the problem of them interfering with our mail by purchasing a mail box with a lock.  

During these two weeks I was now being woken up as early as 5.30p.m. from the high revving of Andrew Thomas's tractor, which he would then park on the bank opposite my bedroom window with  it's engine running.  This had to be deliberately contrived to be upsetting, as I couldn't fathom any reason why the tractor, which had always been parked in their top yard, was now being left with it's engine running directly opposite my bedroom window.  It was also a regular occurrence to be woken up during the night by the Thomases guard dogs barking.  Was this the beginning of something I had dreaded.
 
5.50a.m. 15th. January - there was a noise so loud it made me jump out of bed. My bedroom was illuminated from bright lights outside.  I was horrified, as directly facing my bedroom window was Andrew Thomas sitting in his tractor, the row of lights across the cab ablaze, deliberately crashing the huge scoop (which is attached to the tractor arm), up against the lower arm of the machine, not once, but again and again.  This was metal against metal and so loud, I felt sick and very scared. This type of behaviour was completely alien to me and something I had never encountered before.  I had the telephone in my hand ready to call the police, if they came onto my property.

 
The following morning again at 5.45a.m. Andrew Thomas was opposite my bedroom window crashing the tractor scoop against the arm of the tractor, only this time Karen Thomas had joined him and they both had flash lights which they were shining into my bedroom and across my ceiling.  It was very frightening, and went on for about ten minutes.  Again, I wanted to call the police but didn't.

Two days later - 5.30a.m. the Thomases were outside my bedroom again, shining their flash lights into my room and crashing the scoop on the tractor.  Friends were telling me I should be calling the police.   As frightened as I was of the Thomases behaviour I was also frightened it would make them worse, and I was hoping that having vented their feelings towards me that would be the end of it.  I was wrong because two days later it was happening again.  This time I did ring the police as the message from my neighbours was a very threatening one.  What was I supposed to do??

WPC McWilliams rang me from Llandeilo police station and I explained to her the situation with regard to everything that had taken place thus far and why I thought the Thomases were doing this to me.  Her response was quite shocking and pretty much ridiculed my complaint.   She told me that as I had chosen to live adjacent to a farm,  I should expect to hear tractors starting up in the early hours of the morning!!!  When I tried to tell her about the torches being shone into my bedroom, and the crashing of metal against metal, she told me tractors do have lights on them and tractors make a noise.  PC McWilliams defence of the Thomases obvious intimidation, signalled to me that for some inexplicable reason, I was not going to get any support from the local police.  I was devastated especially as the neighbours had a history of bullying and intimidation towards others who had lived here, and two other local residents had also been assaulted. This left me totally exposed and unprotected.  If I had learned in the short while I had lived here that my neighbour had a history of violent behaviour, surely the local police must be aware of it too.

My son was worried about my safety and had come to stay for a few days, and we spoke about getting some security installed.   We went off to Swansea to look at what was available and on our return, we faced a completely different looking driveway from the one we had driven out from.  The driveway was covered in mud!  My neighbour had been up and down it several times with his tractor, making sure there was no grass left on the verges, and the centre which had also been grass was now a muddy mess.  What next was to come?

It seemed the Thomases only needed an excuse to threaten and intimidate, and my contact with my M.P. followed by his letter had given it to them.  I couldn't understand why this highly visible and obvious haulage business was being denied by this council's officers. Why were they turning a blind eye to it and why weren't they listening to local people. What's more, why weren't they concerned about the intimidation to so many people who had voiced their concerns, and surely it was now obvious to them that we were going to be next!!

More barbed wire appeared along our boundary on the day my representative from the CLA visited.  We walked round to where the trees were and I showed her the barbed wire that had been nailed onto more trees along our boundary and asked if she would feel this was intimidation.  She had no hesitation in saying she would feel exactly the way I did.  During our conversation regarding our growing problems, I was able to tell her that Blaenpant had been visited by the Traffic Commission, who had confirmed in a report that the neighbours were indeed running an unauthorised haulage business from their property, however she had been advised that no business rates were being paid.
I had guessed this anyway, because were business rates being paid, Eifion Bowen and Brian Canning would be not be denying this business was operating from next door. 

During this period my councillor informed me the neighbours were going to appeal against the refusal of their shed, but I wasn't to worry as he was confident along with the planning officer they wouldn't get permission as they clearly were not agricultural.  That was pleasing to hear as I didn't want to put in an official objection - life was bad enough.

25th. January - I received a letter from Karen Thomas.  It was telling me that she was going to alter our right of way, and install gates with locks!  This was the worst news possible.  How were we going to go ahead now with our plans.

October 04 .......  Off to Oz.

Oh how I had been looking forward to this holiday to visit my son and his wife on the Gold Coast. This was the break I desperately needed.  The stress of worrying about our future here and whether or not we would be forced into selling up, was taking up all my thoughts.  This holiday would be just the therapy I needed.  A whole month of not having to worry, just enjoying myself.  My sister and I had the most wonderful holiday.  I loved Australia and didn't want to come back.  I certainly understood why my son loved it so much.

 November 04

I came back to cold miserable weather and nothing had changed next door.  The haulage yard was still operating and I was still being woken up at 6.00a.m. from the noise of drivers arriving, car doors being slammed, followed by lorries being driven out. My first weekend back was spent listening to welding, maintenance on HGVs, generators in use, cutting of scrap, a JCB creating a din in the quarry, just business as usual next door.  If I had wanted to listen to industrial noises each and every day I wouldn't have bought this pretty cottage in the countryside!  If someone wanted to make their neighbours unhappy and to ultimately drive them out then this would be the way to do it. I was unhappy to be back to this.

The bank the Thomases were building adjacent to us was getting higher and higher.  Were they hiding something, it seemed such an odd thing to do.  It was a year ago that Andrew Thomas had apologised to me for the noise he was making in creating it, saying it was to stop horses escaping!!

However, great news - the plans for the cattery had been given approval!  I'd also accepted the quote from a person who was going to plant hedgerows for me as I wanted to create four paddocks and to encourage wildlife, something important to me.  I was having doubts about the conversion to the barn due to the goings on next door though.   During another visit from Ceri Davies I voiced my concerns again about the neighbours businesses and that it was worrying due to the money we were about to sink in to the barn conversion..  He told me that Karen Thomas had wanted to put in objections to our plans for the cattery but he had advised her not to, as they weren't valid.  This was a real shock as a cattery wasn't going to create any disturbance and wouldn't even be visible, and she hadn't given me any inkling that she wasn't happy about it when I had told her what we wanted to do.

Knowing now that Karen Thomas had not wanted us to have the cattery, plus having to put up with the noise from lorries, the constant quarrying, worrying about whether or not to carry on with our plans for the barn conversion, it was difficult to stay positive.   It really was decision time.  Do we try to sell up and move, or do we now write to the council and attempt to get something done about our terrible situation.  We knew it would be very difficult to sell as the history of the problems here were already on record.  I decided to meet again with my M.P. and he suggested he write to the council in the hope that with his involvement the council would help.   Now it was official that we had complained.  Up to now I had only spoken to the council's Enforcement Manager Brian Canning, on the telephone.  What will the neighbours do.  Hopefully they would see it as our legitimate right to make our concerns known, as their activities were heavily impacting upon every aspect of our lives.  Surely they would understand, as they knew two families had already been very upset with them and moved because of their activities, which would surely help them accept that they were creating problems for anyone living in our small cottage.  It wasn't unreasonable, or so I thought.   The letter was sent to Mr. Eifion Bowen, who was Head of Planning.  I felt confident that as he was already aware of the many complaints about this haulage business, the quarrying, the maintenance on HGVs, and the obvious violent nature of the Thomases, that he would put a stop to all of it.  After all, four local people had been seriously threatened by these hauliers and the council wouldn't allow this to happen to anyone else.

December 04

Since moving into this cottage, we had always put our four rubbish bags on the grass verge at the top of our driveway, for the bin men to collect, as it was easier to do that, than expect them to come down the long driveway and carry them back up.  I had a hospital appointment this particularly cold and wintry day.   (A carpenter had been fitting a wardrobe for me and I'd managed to fill three bags with paper and wood shavings left over from the work he had finished).  I put these three bags plus my rubbish bag in the boot of my car and dropped them off at the top of my drive as usual.  Upon returning from the hospital, driving down the road toward my home, I noticed that all around the top of my drive, rubbish, strewn everywhere.  I was quite taken aback and wondered how this had happened as it had never happened before.  The rubbish littered the entire length of my driveway.  I immediately knew that my neighbour had done this.  There couldn't be any other explanation.  It certainly wasn't birds, as the rubbish that was inside the bags, mainly consisted of paper and wood shavings. The entire contents of all four bags was strewn around the roadside verge where I had left them, down our Right of Way, and the bags themselves had been thrown over my gate, leaving more debris to be blown around on the inside of my gate and onto my garden area.  My stomach churned, and I felt sick.  I was horrified, as I immediately knew this was a message, a message that my complaint via my M.P. had kick started, possible intimidation.  With the knowledge I had of my neighbours intimidation and threats to others, I felt scared.

I rang a friend straight away, and told her what had happened.  With Eddie still working in Sussex, I felt afraid and completely vulnerable. I didn't have any security cameras nor special security locks, unlike the neighbours who apparently, according to Karen Thomas, had £6.000 of security installed at Blaenpant!   I had no such things.  My friend advised me to log this with the police.  Although I couldn't prove it was my neighbour, it was pretty obvious to me it was, given the history of the bullying of the previous two owners by them. The last thing I wanted was to involve the police.  Having discussed it at length with my friend, and given that I was living here on my own, together with the fact that the neighbours didn't think twice about walking onto my property uninvited, as they had done several times already to round up their escaping horses, I decided I should ring the police.  I explained to the officer the knowledge I had acquired over the year we had lived here.   I explained that my M.P. had recently written to the council, and that I believed it was my neighbours reaction to this letter.  The officer asked me if I would like him to pay them a visit. I told him I didn't wish for this to go any further, I just wanted it logged in case of any further repercussions.  I told him we had not had any arguments thus far with our neighbours, as I didn't see very much of them, only when I was coming and going.   I said they were always very busy with their lorry business, with their horses, or in their office.  I only ever saw them if they were working around their stables or on their yard.  I rang Eddie and told him what had happened, and that I was now feeling very nervous and vulnerable. It was unnerving to say the least, living here on my own.  What a terrible thing to do to someone. I could understand annoyance, but to physically take action against someone, sent fear through me.

Xmas

As well as the terrible worry of this incident, the noise and disturbance from the neighbours operations was getting even worse.  The quarrying was almost daily.  A few hours one day and a few hours another. As well as the dragging down of boulders, the loading of the rock onto lorries was exceedingly noisy.  Mr. L who had previously lived here had reported this activity to the council, as well as another local resident Mr. B.   Mr. Bowen Head of Planning was clearly aware this was a regular activity but had done nothing about it.  We had a short break from it Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but the following day it was hell.  They were quarrying again.  Bearing in mind the quarry was just fifty meters from our small cottage and us being at a lower level, the sound of jack hammers into rock doesn't need any explanation.  It was horrendous.  I just cried.   One whole year of nothing but worry and now a feeling of being under threat.  What a horrid Christmas.

This was to be our retirement home.  The plans we had of a cattery to give us a small income, to keep us active and interested in life were ebbing away.  Mr. Bowen's response to my M.P. was as defensive of my neighbours, as was that of Brian Cannings.   I was quite shocked, as so many others had told him about Blaenpant's activities, as had two previous owners of our property. I could not understand this defence of something that was plain for all to see.  It was worryingly obvious now that the council had no intention whatsoever of doing anything about these unauthorised businesses, and weren't at all concerned about our lives and the effect all this was having upon us, nor the value or saleability of our lovely cottage.  I knew something was terribly wrong, and had a strong feeling of foreboding.  I knew now that we'd made a big mistake in buying this pretty place.

August 04.....and.....Andrew comes off his quad bike

One more attempt to get Brian Canning to accept that the Thomases were operating haulage, and that their other very noisy activities were seriously impacting upon our quality of life.  I recall telephoning him on this day whilst standing in my small paddock which is on high ground, looking across to the area directly opposite our small cottage where the lorries were parked.  There were at least eight.  Brian Canning as usual began by saying he wasn't prepared to monitor Blaenpant as KBHS had an operating centre in Tumble and the lorries were probably only parked at Blaenpant temporarily - and - some of these lorries had probably been delivering feed etc. These absurd excuses kept coming.  The fact that the hauliers were not operating from their official site didn't appear to be of any consequence to Brian Canning.  I informed him that I was standing opposite the parking area and that I was looking across at the numbers of lorries parked there.  I described the scene for him.  There were at least eight lorries.  Five with KBHS livery - a green Kevin Cahill - Doyle was another - and another silver in colour with a green visor.  These lorries were all in regular use.  There was also a huge scrap lorry and at least two flat-beds.  There were also several pieces of plant machinery, and as always a huge pile of tyres ready for burning, containers galore, scrap lying around etc.

I was beginning to feel emotionally upset now as it was abundantly clear that Mr. Canning knew what was taking place, he knew this wasn't a farm,  and he was not going to budge on this protection of my neighbours.  The denial of something so blatantly clear, was deeply hurtful because someone was lying about this business, it obviously wasn't me, but by not accepting what I was saying, implied it was. It left me wondering if Mr. Canning was connected to them in some way.  Why wouldn't I think that.   The council's stance that this was not taking place meant to all the world that  I was lying.  Who was going to believe me if the council maintained this haulage/scrap business was not operating from Blaenpant.  His denials that this haulage business was not operating from Blaenpant angered me somewhat, and left me saying to him "you are lying to me and what makes that worse is that you know, that I know, you are lying to me".  He just laughed and I cried.

We had been living here for eight months and my life was miserable.   Several friends who visited would comment on the noise and tell me that I should be complaining to the council.      The Thomases had plans for Blaenpant, that was obvious.  The continual quarrying away of rock was to create space, but for what. What were the plans for Blaenpant.  It certainly wasn't for farming.   Every day I worried  as I listened to more and more noise that was related to these developments.   I didn't know how their plans were going to affect my life our plans and our home.  As the council were in denial of the haulage business what else would they deny, even though it might impact upon us.  If Brian Canning was comfortable in being dishonest were other officers going to to be as well.   I was now feeling more fearful of the council than the Thomases as I needed help from them not dishonesty.   Although Karen Thomas was still friendly to me, Andrew on the other hand was appearing to be a little hostile, which could suggest that they were being told about my phone calls. As Brian Canning was clearly pro Blaenpant for whatever reason, it was reasonable to assume he may be talking to them about my calls to him.

I decided it was time to ask for help from another source, as the council were not going to change their minds about my concerns.

I met with my M.P. Adam Price in August 2004.

I explained how vulnerable I felt living next door to the Thomases, given the knowledge I now had of them, and for obvious reasons would not want any form of confrontation with them.    It would be obvious that I couldn't approach them.  Others had, and had suffered some pretty malicious intimidation from them.  I explained that had we known about the type of business being conducted from the farm we would never have bought this property.  As our searches hadn't provided evidence of a haulage business at Blaenpant, I was relying on the local authority to help us but it was clear they weren't going to.    My M.P. was very sympathetic and agreed it was totally unacceptable that these unauthorised activities were being allowed to continue.  He thought it was a disgrace that the authority hadn't done anything to help.  He said he would write to the council on my behalf.   I felt quite relieved that at last someone was believing me.  I felt confident now that something would be done and I wouldn't have to suffer the wrath of my neighbours as the authority would have to take full responsibility.  Surely they would now finally accept that this haulage business should not be operating without rightful planning permissions, and proper procedures would be followed.   I felt that now my M.P. was involved, the council would do the right thing.   Brian Canning's protection of my neighbours left me no other choice but to seek help, and although it was still troubling me that the Thomases would be angry, I believed that due to the history of intimidation and threats to others, the council would not allow that to happen again. 

As I was going away for a month in October, I suggested that my M.P. hold off on the letter to the council until my return in November.   It might even be the case that matters would have improved by that time.

September 04


Wonderful news, the massive shed that was so worrying to us had been refused!  It would seem our worries were in part over.  We still had the disturbance of living next to a haulage yard, and all the awfulness of that, but maybe, just maybe the local authority would now deal with that and put a stop to it.

It was a beautiful day and the day I had been informed the neighbours shed had been refused.  I was in our paddock playing with our dogs. We hadn't long had our lovely puppy Bedlington Terrier, Josh.  He was a joy and having a lovely time playing with our two other dogs Millie and Teddy. 

As our paddock is on on higher ground I have a view of Blaenpant, from the house situated at the top end, to the area of the quarry directly opposite our cottage at the other.  All of a sudden there was a great roar of an engine coming from the neighbours yard. A lot of high revving continued and I saw a quad bike being driven hell for leather down from the neighbours top yard, near the house, down toward the old quarry area where the lorries are parked.  It was travelling at high speed.  As the vehicle flew round the corner into the open quarry, I could hear that the quad bikes engine had stopped racing and saw what I believed to be Andrew Thomas fly through the air!  All I could actually see was a flash of yellow.  This would be his high visibility yellow jacket that he wore every day.  He must have overturned the quad bike and had been thrown from it.  I took the dogs inside and tried ringing Karen Thomas as she mightn't have seen this happening.  I was concerned that Andrew Thomas could be seriously hurt.  As I couldn't get a reply, I decided I must go over to Blaenpant to see if everything was O.K.   I  couldn't see anyone up by the house so continued down towards the quarry area where I could see A. Thomas attempting to stand up. The quad bike was still on it's side and Karen was now with him and said he'd been rendered unconscious.  I suggested he should go to hospital and be checked over.   Andrew Thomas was raging.  He was behaving like a madman. He was swearing  f.......ing and blinding that she should right the quad bike.  She was trying to calm him down but he was having none of it.   He was completely enraged and behaving like a madman.  He was outwardly hostile towards me even though I had shown concern for his welfare. I didn't know what to say and felt very uncomfortable in their presence.  Karen Thomas tried to make excuses for his shocking behaviour.  He was still swearing at her as I walked away.  I was to find out later that this was the day he had been informed their planning application for the massive shed had been refused.  He was probably thinking that I was in some way to blame, even though I had not put in an objection.

June - 04......................Andrews 'toys'

The outside of the cottage is looking much prettier now than when we first moved here.  My sister and friends who come up regularly, love to help in the garden.  The vegetable garden was taking shape. Eddie was enjoying putting in the wooden frames creating raised beds and we used the cinders from the coal fire for the pathways in between.  

The only trouble is the noise we have to listen to when we are in our garden.  Sunday morning - a beautiful sunny day - time to enjoy a peaceful day in the garden.  Not so here.  The power hosing of lorries would start up and go on for hours. The incessant sounds of rock being quarried and loaded onto lorries was such an unpleasant, intrusive and overbearing noise.  Weekends were when Eddie and I would be together wanting to enjoy our new home, but always spoiled by the unrelenting activities next door.  The sounds were unfriendly and aggressive and so alien to the environment surrounding us.

The weekends were now becoming fraught as we tried to stay positive about our plans but the interference in our lives from the neighbours was not improving.  We have lived rurally for a number of years prior to purchasing here and know to expect the sounds of tractors coming and going, deliveries of feed and so on.  However the disturbances we were putting up with were not those of farming they were industrial and blighting our quality of life.  There seemed to be no consideration for us.   Ann Gifford had also, quite obviously, found this disturbance intolerable as she had only been able to suffer it for a few months before selling - to us!  The family before her had lasted only eighteen months before they too, moved out.  We'd been living here for six months and were feeling miserable.  We talked of the options we had, which were not good.  It would be difficult to sell given the history of this property.

The neighbours horses were continuing to somehow escape from an extremely well-fenced paddock area onto my land, and I continued to put up with my neighbour walking onto my property to retrieve them without by or leave.  

My phone calls to the council were proving to be more stressful than productive, as it was clear my concerns were falling on deaf ears.   

The excuses as to why the council's enforcement officers couldn't, hadn't or wouldn't, look into the lorry business and it's associated operations was something I had now come to expect from Mr. Canning.  Mr. Canning was quite clearly supporting my neighbours by his deliberate delaying tactics.  I couldn't understand why this would be, especially as several other local people had  complained before we came to live here.  It was quite clear that Blaenpant was being developed for the haulage business and something the council should be taking seriously.  

 July 04

My neighbour, Andrew Thomas, had now taken to driving his JCB, (which Karen Thomas referred to as his 'toy')  up and down the boundary line directly opposite my veranda.  This is where I would enjoy sitting in the sunshine in the early mornings, but not now.    

He would drive this machine up and down up and down the fence line for up to two hours at a time for seemingly no reason whatsoever at different times of the day.   I couldn't fathom this man out at all.  It seemed such a pointless exercise, unless it was to deliberately annoy.    I would be woken at the crack of dawn at the weekends by this same machine or sometimes their tractor,  being aimlessly driven around their yard areas, more it seemed, to create noise than for any purposeful reason.  On a few mornings the tractor would be dragging a slab of concrete up and down their roadway.  Bizarre behaviour indeed.   This, together with their horses regularly ending up on my land, led me to question if in fact my neighbours were being deliberately provocative.  Were they attempting to drive us out in the way they had driven others out before us.

On another occasion when my neighbour was using his 'toy' to uproot trees on his land, one fell across my fence.  I waited a while and when it became clear he wasn't going to remove it from my fence, I asked him politely if he would do so.  He became most unpleasant and shouted   "your side of the fence Trish, your problem".   I told him 'I wouldn't be able to move it and would have to ask someone to do it for me',  and  'as he had pushed the tree over would he please remove it from my fence'.  He did eventually remove the fallen tree, but there was no apology for the damage to my fence.  We now had two large areas of damaged fence which the Thomases were responsible for, but no apology forthcoming.   He mumbled and swore but did remove it. I was determined not to get into any confrontation with them even though it was beginning to feel as though this was something they had planned and very much wanted.   All I wanted was a peaceful existence, to enjoy my home and to be on good terms with my neighbours. which our conveyance should have ensured.

The prospect of a huge shed dwarfing us was also playing on my mind and making me feel low in spirits.   Do we sell. Do we move.  How were we going to sell now.  I was feeling desperately low and worried about our future here.

I couldn't bear the noise any more.  The council clearly were not going to help, and I was feeling under a great deal of pressure. The dream cottage and our plans were disappearing from sight.  Our retirement plans were not going to happen.  I was also feeling very intimidated by the neighbours, especially knowing how they had threatened people and would obviously threaten us if they found out that we too had spoken to the council.   This put me in a state of permanent worry and stress, and I wasn't sleeping well any more. The horses coming onto our land was still a problem, and my fears that they were doing this on purpose were increasing.  They were clearly not neighbours the average person would choose to live next to. 

I'd been away for a few days visiting a friend in Bournemouth, and on my return discovered a huge muck heap had been created within meters of my bedroom window, which was then added to each day with more stable manure being thrown down onto it.  Old feed bags would also be tipped there.  This was going to become a nuisance during the hot weather as it was going to encourage flies and I would no longer be able to open my bedroom window.  Were they doing this on purpose too.   Burning tyres at night was becoming common place and on a couple of occasions I had to rescue my horse from her stable as it filled with acrid smoke.   The shed used as a workshop seemed to be in operation every weekend and was being used by welders now.  Maybe they were hiring it out?  I began to feel now that they were actually intentionally trying to drive us out as they had with the previous owners.   

Karen Thomas had remained perfectly friendly but not so, Andrew Thomas
I was beginning to suspect that Mr. Canning or someone from the council, was telling them that I had been in contact with them.

Walking around the back of our barn one sunny morning, and up towards our top field, my heart sank as I couldn't help but notice that the row of trees at the bottom of the very steep bank bordering part of our land with the neighbours had had rows of barbed wire wrapped around each and every one.  The mere sight of it was aggressive and left me feeling quite sick, wondering if this was a message to me in the same way as the Thomases had intimidated Ann Gifford by tying scrap into the trees near the stables, and had erected fencing around the cottage to intimidate Mr. and Mrs. L.   I do believe the neighbours must know that I have been speaking to the council about them.

Mr. Canning was proving to be difficult to communicate with and had made it perfectly obvious he was not taking my concerns seriously and wasn't going to investigate the neighbours activities.  I didn't know what to do.  It was not an option for me to speak to the neighbours, nor was their unauthorised business my responsibility.  There was only one thing I could do now, and that was to meet with my M.P.




   

May 04.......... Conveyance and Mr. Canning


In the very short time we had been living here, as opposed to feeling happy with our new home, I was feeling unsettled and troubled over the revelations regarding my neighbours and their operations at Blaenpant.  Evenings and weekends were particularly bad having to listen to power hosing, maintenance, changing wheels and tyres.  Saturdays and Sundays were just another work day as far as our neighbours were concerned.

The noise from quarrying was particularly awful.  It seemed that the quarrying was to make room for the shed the Thomases wanted.   As Ann Gifford had said this site was SSSI, surely this shouldn't have been allowed anyway, without permissions from Countryside Council for Wales. ( then became Natural Resources Wales).   Ceri Davies and my local councillor Rhys Davies were reassuring me that this shed was going to be refused, because it was applied for as an 'agricultural shed' and the Thomases were 'not farming'.

I was also being advised that the equine business, being commercial, required planning permissions and  'change of use' as well as the haulage business, but the horses were no problem at all and were the least of our worries.

With our property being so close to theirs the disturbances from these industrial activities were very distressing, and it was also obvious there was going to be no consideration with regard to our quality of life.  Having already spoken to Mr. Brian Canning Enforcement Manager a couple of times, I was hoping things would have gone a bit quieter, but no such luck.    I rang Mr. Canning again.  He said they were entitled to keep one HGV but no more, but that monitoring hadn't been carried out yet due to lack of manpower. I explained that the numbers of lorries could be viewed evenings and at the weekends, from the road, all one had to do was to drive down the road to see them.  An officer could do that on his way home from work - maybe?  The same would apply with regard to the maintenance and other activities that were taking place evenings and weekends,  as it was all highly visible.  It was clear to see.   Mr. Canning said officers did not work outside normal working hours, therefore that would be difficult.  'How difficult would that have been'?  This didn't make any sense to me as we were clearly suffering, and we desperately needed the council's assistance.  I confessed to him that it was very difficult for me being here on my own for much of the time, and I wanted to stay on friendly terms with my neighbours for obvious reasons, but life was becoming intolerable.  I was feeling a little let down as clearly Mr. Canning was aware of the history here. I confided in him that as well as having to put up with noise during the day, the Thomases dogs (three rotties) barked on and off thru the night, disturbing my sleep, which only added to my unease about them, as it appeared unneighbourly. They might be used as guard dogs, but if they disturbed neighbours this was unacceptable.   Below is our conveyance - the same conveyance for our neighbours property - it reads.....................................'not to use the property hereby conveyed or any part thereof for any purpose which may be or grow to be a nuisance or annoyance or obnoxious to the owners or occupiers of the said adjoining properties'.

Conveyance for both holdings.

It appeared the council had still not investigated nor had they attempted to view the neighbours activities from the road, because had they done so I would not still be listening to lorries going out at six in the morning.  I rang Mr. Canning again.  He reiterated they did not have the resources at the moment to carry out a site visit and also informed me that 'Karen Bowen Haulage Services' had an operating centre at Tumble and this where they were working from. This wasn't true and was some revelation!  I reminded him that I was looking out onto a lorry park every day.  To be questioning my honesty at this stage, when the council were ware of the history here, raised huge question marks.  It sounded as though Mr. Canning was merely making excuses instead of dealing with what appeared to me, to be abuses of the system and indeed us.   I advised him of our conveyance which should have protected us - or so I thought.  I began to believe that Mr. Canning was fobbing me off.

The noise from machinery, cutting up metal, loading materials onto lorries, maintenance being carried out from the shed, carried on and the quarrying was a regular activity.   This was awful.  Noise noise noise every day of the week.  What were we living next door to?  I kept telling myself that the local authority would put a stop to it eventually.  The earth bank that Andrew Thomas was building, right opposite our bedroom window, the subject of the apology at Christmas time, was getting ever higher. I noticed concrete mixing lorries entering this area, presumably to lay areas for the parking of more lorries. 

We were continuing with our plans for a cattery and to have the barn converted into holiday accommodation, altho by now I had serious doubts over the holiday accommodation.  We'd had the plans drawn up for the cattery, and had meetings with the tourist board who were going to allow us a grant toward the conversion of our barn.

The maintenance on vehicles continued over entire weekends.  My concerns that the council did not seem to be investigating didn't go away.  They also did not appear to be taking into account how this business impacted upon us.  I didn't know what to do.  I couldn't understand how the neighbours were being allowed to continue when the council were aware of this business.  A JCB constantly rumbling around within meters of us, actually caused reverberations in our cottage, due to us being at a lower level.   My heart would sink most mornings when I heard the lorries start up, as I knew the noise wouldn't stop until evening.  The pleasure of implementing our plans was replaced by worry about our quality of life here.  If our searches had exposed an industrial business at Blaenpant we would never have bought this property. They were clearly developing Blaenpant, but into what?

Eddie suggested that we might speak to the neighbours as he felt they mightn't understand just how disturbing it was for us.  I reminded him of the conversation we'd had with them and their hatred of Ann Gifford and the family before her.  I reminded him what they had done to them because they had complained.  This was not a good idea.  The message they conveyed to us was perfectly clear. They were not people to cross.

We even began thinking about selling, but how difficult would that be and what excuse would we give to potential buyers as to the reasons we too were selling so soon after having bought this very pretty place.   I didn't know what to do.  We did try to carry on with our plans and had a firm to replace the rotting fencing, and employed a contractor to clear the old fruit garden and to arrange tiered areas in readiness for a vegetable plot.

Potential vegetable garden

 F.O.I.


A friend had been advised that under Freedom of Information, which was a pretty new thing, I would be entitled to view the local authorities file on the neighbouring farm.  Having made my request, and having been given an appointment, we went to the council offices where we were shown into a room and a file was duly produced for our perusal.

We were stunned, as on file were many complaints from various local people including the Community Council about our neighbours and their activities.  There were photographs of lorries.  There were internal emails from one officer to another.  There were logs of lorry movements.  Logs of quarrying and power hosing.  Letters about maintenance on vehicles - in fact all the disturbances I had conveyed to Brian Canning, others had already informed the council of.  There were letters from the family who had lived here for twenty six years, who had sold to Ann Gifford, letters from Mr. B a retired engineer, and from Mrs. R.  and Mr. M/ R  and a local councillor.    The letters from Mr. L were particularly worrying, as he wrote informing the council about some very serious threats made to him.  That he'd been approached very aggressively and  threatened, that the Thomases had also said they would change his right of way to make life very difficult if he didn't stop with his complaints to the council.   This all fitted in with why Ann Gifford was in such a hurry to sell and move.  Why then were the council not addressing my concerns as they clearly already knew the farm was being used for haulage and were aware of threats and intimidation.  What's more, why were they seemingly denying that my concerns were not warranted, nor in fact even true.

An even more disturbing e.mail we discovered was from my neighbour Karen Thomas to one of the enforcement officers.   She was informing him that she had rung Lewes District Council (dept. that licenced taxis) and had told them that Eddie was using his taxi in Carmarthen??  This was dated April 2004, very recent.  A outlandish lie. This was unbelievable and so shocking.  Why would my neighbour who was being so friendly to me lie about Eddie to another authority?  Why? Surely Mr. Canning hadn't told her about my phone calls to him!  This was exceedingly disturbing!

I asked for a copy of this file and the council obliged.  I decided to contact the people who had written these letters.  When I rang Mrs. L she told me they had lived here for twenty six years, happily, but since the hauliers had bought Blaenpant, their lives had been ruined.  They'd had many rows with them over their activities.  She said that they allowed their dogs to bark throughout the night, that the council were being obstructive, and their  lives had been made hell by these people. They sold to Ann Gifford, and had been honest in telling her that the neighbours had a few lorries.  I then rang Mr. B another concerned resident, who lived nearby.  He told me that our neighbours were dreadful people, ( something I was now aware of ) that they were bullies, that they had driven others out, and even more frightening, that he had also been seriously threatened by our neighbours over his complaints, when he was approached by them on a petrol forecourt.  Andrew Thomas had pushed his face up to his and told him to stop making complaints or else......... He told me they would park their vehicle at the top of his drive and stare down at their home to intimidate!  This was horrifying news, especially as I was living here on my own. There was a clear pattern of intimidating behaviour emerging,  and were we to be next?

Threats and intimidation seemed to be the accepted practice of the Thomases when neighbours complained to the council about their activities - the same activities the council were fully aware of.  The same activities that were causing misery and distress to others who were unfortunate to be neighbours. The same activities they clearly shouldn't have been conducting from a 'farm' without planning permissions.

When I had been putting my concerns to Brian Canning about the problems I was facing, little did I know then that I had not been the first, and that he was already aware of the many other complaints from previous owners. 

Why wasn't Mr. Canning taking my concerns seriously - why wasn't he addressing the obvious haulage business and the many other activities associated with it? As we had to apply for planning permission for our cattery, why weren't the council requesting planning permissions for the two businesses at Blaenpant.

April/May 04..............Contacting the Council



Being on my own with Eddie working and living in Sussex, plus the constant noise from Blaenpant's haulage business activities, I was left feeling a little vulnerable.  The daily commotion emanating from next door was beginning to affect my desire to spend time outside. I have always been a person who preferred being outside more than in, and I had many tasks that needed tending to. I have always loved gardening and with the weather improving I was looking forward to creating an area for growing vegetables.  I was feeling very let down by Ms. Gifford, as she clearly knew the very reasons which had forced her to sell up were going to affect us in the same way.  I knew by now that I (as others before me) would find this daily disturbance to my life intolerable if it was to become permanent.  If this particular industrial type of business was allowed to continue, this was going to affect every aspect of our daily lives and would be miserable.   We had bought a cottage in the countryside for peace and enjoyment - to enjoy - not to be listening to, and looking out onto, industrial operations.   Our pre-purchase searches showed Blaenpant to be a farm, there was no disclosure of an industrial business.  Our seller had told us the owners of Blaenpant did not farm but were horse breeders.  That was true at least, there was no sign of any farming, only an equine business and a haulage business!.   One would only expect this type of industrial activity on an industrial park. The noise from the neighbours would most certainly affect our plans for the barn conversion into two holiday lets.    As the days drew out, the noise went on for longer periods.

The neighbours horses, of which there were many, were somehow still managing to escape from their paddock onto my land time and again.  I felt this was odd as the paddock which separated our two properties was extremely well fenced with solid post and rail which looked to be new.  After it happening once, one would expect the broken fence or whatever the problem was, would be immediately rectified.  It clearly wasn't, and the Thomases, as I will now call them, would just walk onto my property to collect them, without knocking on my door or calling out to me!  This was an added worry, because having been around horses for a number of years, to allow horses to keep escaping is irresponsible and not the norm.  It also concerned me that the Thomases appeared to be taking advantage of someone living on their own by not addressing the problem with their fencing.  Something was telling me that this might be deliberate, but I couldn't fathom out why this would be.  I was beginning to feel a little paranoid regarding this, as to locate and repair an area of broken fence would be a simple excercise.  I remember one night in particular, it was late, I was in bed, alone in the cottage, when I heard voices outside.  It was the neighbours from next door, again, collecting their horses.  This was feeling pretty alarming now, especially as they knew I was on my own, and would know this would be scary for most people, hearing strange voices on their property, particularly at night.

Friends were keeping me company and helping with the outside chores which would have been far more enjoyable if it was minus the din from next door.  The old, supposed, disused quarry, now seemed to be the focus of the neighbours activities, with rock being cleared away in earnest.  A JCB with a pecker was being used at the weekends and the din was unbearable. Their lorries would be loaded up and driven away.

However, with friends and the council's own planning officer advising me to contact the local authority, I thought maybe it was time to speak to them.  I rang Brian Canning, the Enforcement Manager and asked if this could be off the record.   I informed him that I had been told by two officers, one from Carmarthen Council and another from Countryside Council for Wales, that due to this haulage business next door, two families had been forced to move away from here, and I didn't wish to be the third.   I explained that the impact from this business upon this property was impossible to live with, and it was not surprising problems had occurred here.  As there were at least eight lorries operating from the farm, and other activities associated with the haulage business, it was seriously impacting upon our quality of life too.  By this time I'd heard more about Blaenpant and that what they were doing was wrong. I'd also heard that if someone uses a farm for anything other than agriculture, they must apply for 'change of use'.   All of this was new to me.
I believed that as the council were aware of the history of the problems here, they would act upon this information.  Mr. Canning said they did not have permission to be running a haulage business, and that he would certainly look into it.  I felt relieved that I had passed on my concerns and I could relax in the knowledge the council would now deal with it.  It was out of my hands.  I did not want to make enemies of my neighbours, and I did not want to confront them, as the two previous owners of our cottage had done. I was on my own and aware of what they had suffered.   I believed the council would now take on the responsibility.   It was not for me to become embroiled in a neighbours unauthorised business, this was for the council to resolve.

 

A few weeks had passed, nothing had changed, and I'd heard nothing from the council.  I spoke to Brian Canning again, telling him I was concerned about my neighbour knowing I had complained, so I hoped my phone calls would be in the strictest confidence.  He said they would have to monitor Blaenpant but hadn't found the time as yet. I'm remembering our conversation with the Thomases and their subtle (or not so subtle) warnings about 'complaining' and my feeling of unease was growing.

Not a good outlook

To add to my worries the Thomases had put in their application for a shed, and when I looked at the plans it was directly opposite and within forty meters of our small cottage!  The size would be overbearing and would tower over us.  I contacted Ceri Davies regarding this application, to be advised again by him, 'not to worry', 'they will not get permission'.  He was the officer responsible for this area and he would most certainly not be recommending this for approval!  He went on to say that in his opinion, they were getting inside information as they had applied for the largest shed possible they would be entitled to, that is, if they were given permission. Mr. Davies was adamant they would not get permission as they were not agricultural, and this was an agricultural shed, that his appraisal had covered every aspect in it's refusal.  I expressed my deep concerns, and that I really didn't want to have to put in an objection.   He put my mind at rest when he added that 'even if they put a flock of sheep on their land it would not make any difference as the council knew what they were doing'.  Thank god!

The plans were now being drawn up for the cattery and we were pressing ahead with that side of things. Still trying to be positive believing that the council would in time resolve our seemingly  growing problem.  I also decided to contact my local councillor Mr. Rhys Davies for if nothing else, moral support.

Late March 04................Not again

We were having the plans drawn up for the cattery and had arranged meetings with Business Eye and Prime Cymru relative to a possible grant for the barn conversion.  I was feeling quite excited about our new projects.    I hadn't unpacked properly yet as I wanted to get our plans under way first, there would be plenty of time for that.

Eddie was coming back every second weekend, but the disturbances from our neighbours wasn't abating, and he could hear for himself the commotion. One particular weekend, upon returning home, the neighbours who were working around their stable area, waved us down.  We drove down onto their yard, and they took us into their portacabin which had been set up as an office, evident from the computer, desk, filing cabinets and much other office paraphernalia. This was clearly the office for their haulage and equine business with several lorries visible with KBHS livery plus others of a different description alongside them.  There were several horses in the stables, a converted agricultural building, and several more living out in their field across from us.

They introduced themselves as Karen and Andrew.  Karen came across as very friendly and confident. Karen told us that they ran a few lorries and that she used to drive one of their trucks when she first started her business  Andrew came across as quite an intimidating, angry and overpowering character with an obvious fiery temper.  Although it was a friendly exchange between us, it became obvious that the purpose of this introduction was to inform us of their thorough dislike of Ann Gifford and the former occupiers of our property.  The previous owner to Ms. Gifford had lived here for twenty six years.  Having said that they bred horses and that Andrews hobby was 'lorries', (were all these lorries Andrew's hobby I asked myself?)  the conversation quickly changed again to revolve around the dislike of both former owners of our property. There seemed to be a purpose in their need to make us aware of the problems they had had with them. Hardly a conversation on a first meeting with ones neighbours.   Ms. Gifford, (according to them) had been a 'complainer'.  'She had constantly complained about their lorries according to them, and the noise they were making'.  'She would drive in and out several times a day, and it aggravated Andrew' - to the point he began swearing when telling us about it. (She was a home visiting chiropodist).  I was shocked that these people would be that observant as to notice how many times their neighbour went out, and even more alarmed that it should make them so angry.  'What business was it of theirs how many times Anne Gifford went out' and how was it interfering with them'?  This was disconcerting! Andrew told us that he was furious with Ann Gifford on one particular  occasion when she asked him to please stop the noise as it was not only a Sunday but also 'Mother's Day'!. This apparently, really made him see red.  He described in very colourful language,  how he had told her in no uncertain terms to 'f......off, mind her own business, what he did on his own land was no business of hers, if she didn't like it to f....... move etc etc'.  (Oh God!)  Inwardly I was feeling very uncomfortable at listening to this and questioning in my mind just what had taken place here, and what was the real reason Ann Gifford had sold up so soon after having moved in?   It raced through my mind that she had sold up so quickly because of them, the neighbours! (Ann Gifford was here for eight months before putting this property back on the market)
I explained that Ann Gifford had told us that she had been forced to sell this cottage as she had broken up with her partner shortly after moving here and couldn't afford the upkeep on her own. They both laughed, and said that was not true, it was because she didn't like them and what they were doing!  According to them, she had moved here with her daughter. 

Latest view from my bedroom window - Andrews Hobbies?

They then got onto the subject of Mr. and Mrs. A who had lived here for twenty six years, who sold to Ann Gifford.   Apparently they complained as well.  They hated them as well.  There were many rows between the two couples as well.  It was pointed out to us by Karen Bowen that because of her hatred of them she had erected the 6ft. high fence around the cottage so as to not be able to see them or hear them!  By the time we left their office (portacabin) I was feeling exceedingly concerned at their attitude and intimidation of two families.  I felt this meeting was orchestrated to be a warning to us, to make us afraid of them.  I came away feeling just that - very wary of them. I believed they were sending us a very clear message, and we were left with the feeling that A.Thomas had the propensity to be an extremely nasty character who one would not want to cross!

Karen Bowen's high fence

One very early morning,  I looked out of the window as I heard a lot of whinnying, to discover horses running around on my land. Minnie was getting very upset at strange horses being in her space.  
The fencing where they had clearly entered through was completely flattened to the ground.  I rang my neighbour to ask if these were her horses.  She said they were and that she would come down straight away and collect them.  I asked her if they had escaped onto our property before. I was surprised when she simply answered nonchalantly, yes, with no apology for the lack of explanation at that time, nor any apology for the wrecked fencing. I remembered our conversation about the previous owners 'complaining' and the retaliation that followed, so felt it was best not to mention the damage to my fencing. 

Blaenpant Coloureds

We had to deal with the septic tank now as it was causing us major problems.  Karen had informed me that Ann Gifford knew the tank needed replacing as it was being emptied every month.  She had offered to write a letter saying as much, so that in the event of us having to pursue any legal actions over this matter, this might be helpful.

Having contacted Ann Gifford to explain the problems we were experiencing with the septic tank, I mentioned during this conversation how upset I was at the noise here, that a lorry business was operating from next door, and was not something I had been prepared for nor had she mentioned this to us.   Her only comment regarding this, was that 'they shouldn't be running lorries from there as the site was a SSSI site', which I later discovered to be a Site of Special Scientific Interest!

I had tried to put aside my worries and fears and get on with our plans for the cattery and barn conversion, when I had another visitor out of the blue.  This lady was a rep from  'The Country Landowners Association'. (CLA). She had called to ask if we would like to join her organisation as she had heard we had recently bought this holding.   I dithered a bit and said I would consider it.  She went on to say that it might be prudent if we did because of the problems the people next to us had been causing with previous owners!!.  It would seem that everyone and his dog knew of the troubles here except us!! What had we moved into???

I really didn't want to speak to the council, but obviously as they were aware of the problems that my neighbours had caused to others, and because they knew of the types of activities they were into, I felt they would be sympathetic and would help us with the situation we were facing.  I decided to take Mr. Davies's advice and sooner rather than later speak to Mr. Canning.......................