A homeowner has told how she has been driven to despair by invasive bamboo which is so fast-growing and hard to remove that it has now started sprouting inside her house.
Alice Isaac, 42, only bought her ‘forever home’ a year ago but her long-cherished property dream has now been turned into a nightmare because of the invasive plant coming from next door.
Financial analyst Alice paid £173,000 for the end-of-terraced property in rural Gloucestershire where she lives with her two-year-old whippet cross Gigi.
She had not even noticed the bamboo in her next door neighbour’s garden until the spring of this year when it started bursting through the garden fence onto her plot.
And she started worrying when she saw the shoots spreading across her garden towards her house, which was built in 1909.
Alice Isaac bought her ‘forever home’ a year ago but her long-cherished property dream has turned into a nightmare because of the bamboo (ringed) coming from the garden next door
Pictures show Alice with a patch she cleared and bamboo growing over the fence next door
Alice brought in a tree surgeon who advised her that the bamboo needs killing from the roots up – but by that time her neighbour Brian Griffin had used a chainsaw to chop the canes down
Since she first noticed it the problem has accelerated dramatically and this month she has even found shoots appearing inside her house – in her downstairs toilet
Now she fears the plant is affecting the foundations of her home and could render it uninhabitable.
She is now locked in a war of words with the owner of the property next door where the invasion stemmed from – and is contemplating legal action.
Alice said: ‘The bamboo tendrils are growing at a rate of five inches a day.
‘Bamboo really is the new Japanese knotweed. The stress of my situation is making me ill.’
Alice has no gripe with the couple living next door in the village of Littledean in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
But she is at war with their landlord who she claims has failed to take the problem seriously and so allowed its spread to continue at a terrifyingly rapid rate.
Alice fears the destructive plant is affecting the foundations of her home and could render it uninhabitable (pictured, bamboo stalks burst into Alice’s garden)
Bamboo has exploded through the fence of Alice’s next-door neighbour in Gloucestershire
Bamboo roots can be seen coming through Ms Isaac’s pathway from her neighbour’s home
The bamboo (pictured) is growing five inches a day, according to Alice who is exasperated
He is planning and countryside consultant Brian Griffin, 68.
Alice said: ‘I’ve tried to engage with the man whose bamboo has crept onto my property but he’s not treating it seriously.
‘I’m five foot nothing, if I was married to a burly wrestler he wouldn’t be behaving like this. He’s taking advantage of a single woman living on her own.’
Alice said: ‘I told Brian and he turned up with a shovel and chopped through some of the roots but just left them on the path.
‘So muggins here had to go to the tip to get rid of them.
‘If he’s a countryside consultant he should know that the roots will just keep growing and that’s what’s happened.
‘I’ve sent him photographs of the bamboo growing and damaging my home. My garden wall is crumbling – I’ve sent him the screenshots.’
Alice brought in a tree surgeon who advised her that the bamboo needs killing from the roots up – but by that time Mr Griffin had used a chainsaw to chop the canes down.
Alice says the problem has got so bad she dreads going out into her garden and has even resorted to bringing in a solicitor.
She added: ‘I’ve done so much research and the law is on my side if plants come onto your land and do damage.
‘I hope to sort this out amicably, I didn’t want to go down the legal route but I have no choice.
Alice (right) has gone to war with her neighbour Brian Griffin (left) over the bamboo sprouting from his garden. He has told her to be patient – but she says her patience has run out
In an attempt to quell the issue, Alice has cleared a patch of land where her garden meets that of her neighbour – but she has not been able to get rid of the plant
Alice says the problem has got so bad she dreads going out into her garden and has even resorted to bringing in a solicitor (pictured, stalks sprouting through her garden fence)
Alice shows scratches on her arm as a result of the invasive bamboo that has plagued her since buying her dream home
‘We need a professional to come in, not some man in his sixties who is trying to save money.
‘Brian has told me to be patient but I’ve run out of patience. I’ve spent a lot of time prettying up the garden and it’s lovely now.
‘But I hate going outside now, it’s really making me ill.’
Mr Griffin told MailOnline: ‘We have had discussion with her and set out what we can do. It’s not got into her downstairs toilet as far as I’m aware.
‘But I don’t really have any comment to make.’