Neighbours' plans pose threat to skinny-dippers (From Salisbury Journal)

Neighbours' plans pose threat to skinny-dippers

9:33am Thursday 8th February 2007 in News By Chris Hooper

A ROOM with a view is usually desirable, but if planning permission is granted to develop one particular cottage in Mere the view might be rather more than expected.

Partners John Gammie and Mary Harbert, of Vogue Cottage, Salisbury Street, are both naturists and they claim their right to be naked on their own property risks being infringed upon by proposed development work to a house backing on to their garden.

As it stands, their secluded garden is obscured from neighbours' view by vegetation, fences, and the way the surrounding properties are constructed.

However, after Boot Cottage, the property that backs on to the couple's garden, was sold last year, the new owners proposed installing two dormer windows into the roof of the Grade II-listed building - a move which would give them an unimpaired view of Mr Gammie's clothing-free garden.

Mr Gammie, a corporate events planner, said: "When we first moved into this house five years ago one of the things that attracted us to it was the seclusion of the garden because it was ideally suited to our lifestyle.

"Both Mary and I love to be naked - to sunbathe, to relax in the garden, or to soak in our outdoor hot tub - and the seclusion of the garden was perfect for that.

"Over the years we have built up this seclusion even more with fences and trees, because we understand that nudity is not something everybody is comfortable with.

"But the proposed developments to Boot Cottage would give whoever moved in there a clear view of our garden and that would be a massive infringement on our privacy."

And it is not just their own privacy that concerns the couple.

Mr Gammie said: "The development proposes turning a small cottage and adjoining shop into a four-bedroom house.

"This would make it an ideal house for a family to move into and that is only going to lead to trouble.

"I know families that will let their kids watch films with guns and explosions and people being blown up, but seeing two naked people is deemed too much for them to cope with and their parents would probably get the police round."

Boot Cottage's new owners, Jeremy and Janet Titely, have submitted plans to Salisbury district council to convert the premises into a residential house and the application is currently still in the committee phase.

Mr Titely, a doctor, said of the situation: "Mr Gammie has been nothing but a pest since we bought the cottage."