The Garden - Your Views Please!

We have been approached by the new owner of Ebor Cottage (situated on the immediate left of the Adam and Eve as you look at it from the street) who has planning permission to demolish the existing building and replace it with a new modern house of a similar size to the existing one.

He has asked us to consider his proposal to 're-plan' the gardens of the two properties. As you will probably know if you have ever been to the Adam and Eve, the pub's garden stretches across the back of the house next door. The neighbour's garden is then situated to the rear of this (as seen in the first of the two plans I have posted here).

The neighbour would like to reconfigure these gardens to produce a layout similar to that in the second of the two plans posted here.

I would be very grateful if you could let me have your views on such a change, as I am well aware that the Adam and Eve garden is a well known feature of the pub. Issues to consider might be: the new view of the fields at the rear that the change might create, increased privacy for the neighbour, possible access to this field at the rear. However, our main concern is centred around the amount of sunlight that the pub garden currently benefits from as opposed to the relative gloom of the piece of land that we would be given.

The only way of relieving these shadows would be for the neighbour to remove three trees completely, and severly lop upto four others prior to giving us this land. I am aware that we are within a Conservation area and on Greenbelt, and so this may not be possible at all. The trees in question are marked by the green dots on the second plan.

Again I would be very grateful for all views on the neighbour's proposals especally in light of the work required to the trees. Please feel free to vote in the poll on this issue on the right.

Many thanks.

*** UPDATE ***
Thank you to all those that took the time to vote on the neighbour's proposals for the garden. The results indicated overwhelmingly in favour of retaining the Adam and Eve's garden as it is (89% of vote), and in the form that so many people know and have become fond of. Thanks again for your help on this.