Hilary Clinton’s now-famous quote — “I believe in a zone of privacy” — made at a press conference to promote her 2003 memoir, Living History, referred to the media’s exposure of public figures.

But in the country, privacy is about your neighbors. Our nearest visible neighbor is across a field about 150 yards from our house. We lost a couple of trees in Hurricane Juan (2004) and I’m still anxious to plant some sight-line barriers on that side of the house. On the other side, the neighbors are slightly closer but there’s a 40 foot wide strip of woodland between us so the side yard is very private.

The thing that really worried us, though, was the 70 acre parcel (mostly hayfield, some woodland) behind us that was held by the previous owners of our property. The access from the road is actually the land where that lovely privacy barrier stand of trees is. For now, our second driveway gives access to our side yard and then up into the field.

When we bought this house on 2.5 acres, we asked for first right of refusal on the 70 acre property, knowing that they would sell when they neared retirement. That call came a couple of months ago, but we weren’t in a position financially to purchase.

So the “For Sale” sign went up on the lot last Friday. And the “Sold” sign went up on Saturday.

The fretting began. Who would buy so quickly if it wasn’t developers? The multi-million dollar oceanfront condos & golf course project just a couple of miles down the road is well under way so we know developers are in the area. But why would they want to build condos in “our” hay field?

On a weekend drive, we stopped at the windmill a few miles down the road and thought “Maybe it’ll be a wind farm!” It really is a perfect spot for it and Nova Scotia is proactively developing alternate energy sources. That would be ideal, we thought.

I know a lot of people are opposed to wind farms near their homes but it’s sort of like hanging out clothes – it’s one of those things that doesn’t bother me. Good grief – in the city, houses were next door to electrical towers. And we mused that maybe we might get free “electricity for life” for our support of the windmills being in our backyard. Our imaginations were running wild.

So when we saw a truck parked in our other driveway & a group of people walking back from the field yesterday, we jumped at the chance to find out what was going on.

It turns out that our new neighbors aren’t really new at all. They live about half a mile away on a side road near the aforementioned condo development. They have a horse farm, complete with paddock and arena, and they want to move the entire operation (including their living quarters) to their new property – “our” hay field over the next couple of years.

It was a delight to meet them. They told us we were welcome to walk our dogs in the field anytime. We told them they could use our yard to access the property by truck until they had cleared their own entrance. They told us that their house would likely be built at the far back of the property, where the best views of the Cobequid Hills are found. We told them we were glad to have them as neighbors!

So, although we’ll still have to pay for electricity, we’ll have good neighbors. Imagine looking out your back window and seeing horses in the field! And maybe when Marcus & Krissy clear the trees for their driveway, they’ll leave some on either side to preserve our privacy.

Never assume when you buy country property that the surrounding open fields & woodlands will always remain the same. If you feel as Marlon Brandon did when he said: “Privacy is not something that I’m entitled to, it’s an absolute prerequisite”, you’d better be sure to buy the surrounding property too.

[tags]a Zone of Privacy, Hilary Clinton, Marlon Brando, Privacy is a prerequisite, neighbors, wind farms, windmills[tags]