Am I being silly?

**keri** · 25-07-2012, 04:10 PM

We are in a rented house about 3 miles away from my kids school, which is an inconvenience for me and also for potential parents wanting to use me as I can not drop off and collect from the local school. Anyways to cut a long story short we have decided that moving to the village that the school is in will work better all round.

The village is very popular and in the 8 months we have lived in our current house this is the first property that has come up that we have even remotely thought suitable..........apart from the garden

(see the attached picture). It looks like it could be quite dangerous for youngsters. My husband is a builder but I really don't want to spend too much money out on building walls etc. and not sure the landlord would approve.

Do you think that I am being silly at potentially not going for this house because of the garden or would you try and work round it?

Sorry for the lengthy post

**RainbowMum** · 25-07-2012, 04:16 PM

Rubber mats for the steps, a cheap and cheerfull fence and you're away I would say! Children need different levels etc to learn from. Doesn't look that bad to me

**Bridey** · 25-07-2012, 04:19 PM

If your husband is a builder or handy with his hands then he could make a wooden trellis fence that ran round the patio where the drops are. I had a similar situation in my old house and that is what we did. However we had to make the trellis gaps too small for a child to get their foot in so they couldn't climb it!

Uh-oh ... is that a pond in the right hand corner?

**AliceK** · 25-07-2012, 04:24 PM

TBH although the garden is a consideration I feel the house is more important. I would not let it put me off if I really loved the house. You can work around it and it needn't cost much. We have expandable trellis linked together accross our garden with 1 part which opens up, this separates the dogs area from the childrens area. The children know the rules about it eg if they come through it they must close it behind them. I'm usually supervising them in the garden anyway. Children have to learn. How can they do that if they never have the chance to experience things.
Go for it

xxxx

**nikki thomson** · 25-07-2012, 04:27 PM

I think it could work, if you get some fence panels across the top and put a gate in where the steps are I think you'd be fine. X

**Boris** · 25-07-2012, 04:59 PM

I have steps in my garden. They go up from the patio to the grass. I have a gate at the top so that when they are running about on the grass they can't run down the steps. I see them up and down and keep the gate shut. I think it looks fine.

**keri** · 25-07-2012, 05:55 PM

I'm not sure if it is a pond, we are going to see it on Saturday so we will now for sure how suitable the house is. It is walking distance to the school and I am swayed by this picture as it would make an awesome playroom

Thanks for all your suggestions I'm going to talk to DH tonight to see what he thinks he can do at minimal cost.

**Two Princesses** · 25-07-2012, 06:53 PM

The 'playroom' looks fab! If it helps, my garden is 2 different levels with a small block paved patio then steps leading up to another patio and a large grass area. Both my DD's have negotiated the steps without a problem and I supervise the mindees when they're out there. I wouldn't let it put you off the house if everything else is perfect. As everyone says, you can defo do something about the things you're not comfortable with.
Good Luck

**BlondeMoment** · 25-07-2012, 07:09 PM

I think it'd be fine. Just show you've risk assessed it and make sure you're always out with them to supervise the steps etc. Some people don't even have a garden and just use a local play area for outdoor play

**smurfette** · 25-07-2012, 07:22 PM

Such a pretty garden and lovely playroom! See if dh can do something, you are lucky if he is able to do it shouldn't cost too much, main consideration I can see is the drop off the top of the patio steps .. My parents in law garden is like this and I worried sick about the steps when ours were little but they have put lots of sturdy plant pots at the top so kids cant just step off and we just supervised them up and down until they could do it safely. Dont forget if you are doing school runs it will be bigger kids with hopefully a bit more common sense!! Good luck and let us know!!

**samb** · 25-07-2012, 09:45 PM

I'd go for it! I'm sure you can work around putting fences up rather than building walls. If you want to build walls then could you propose something fantastic to the owner and as your oh would be doing the work it would benefit his investment in the long term too?

**The Juggler** · 26-07-2012, 07:22 AM

i'd say it'd be fine. put a railing up around the high bit (where the drop is) and down the steps. Maybe change the steps to a ramp ? otherwise its lovely to have different level gardens.

**loocyloo** · 26-07-2012, 07:57 AM

i have a raised patio and lots of plant pots along the edge! Lo quickly learn how to safely negotiate the steps.

looks fab, go for it!

**mandy moo** · 27-07-2012, 07:23 AM

Go for it..

We live on a hill, our garden has 3 tiers.

Patio/decking from the house, gate from steps to grass/2nd tier, this teir has only a foot high railing all round and approx a 4 drop on to patio, Ofsted had no problems with this at all, wasnt even mentioned.
There are steps and gate to 3rd tier where there is a 3foot wall.

We've never had any problems, as somebody above said how will they learn to negotiate steps etc, and learn about potential dangers if they not allowed to explore.