Polish fences - complete anthology

Poles love fences. They use them to set borders for their properties. The property can be permanent or temporary, but the fence is a must!

When I drive and see a house which hasn`t been fenced yet, I am deeply shocked. What a breach of tradition!!!

Fences can be basic or sophisticated or extravagant. Look.

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We don't have a fence and interestingly, we infected with the lack of a fence everyone who built their houses on our estate after us. I love not having a fence.

That`s against Polish traditions!!!!

PS. Riddle - why do Poles love fences.?

Because you could dry laundry on the fences?

Wow, excellent answer. My neighbours regularly do it.

However, it is about 5% of fence usage reasons. What are the else?

Privacy (even though you can generally see through them) and a psychological feeling of safety, of protecting what's yours.

Not unlike the Polish habit in supermarkets of standing in front of the shelves/chiller cabinet while choosing something and blocking others from getting near or the habit of getting into long discusssions with salespeople in shops, ignoring the queue forming behind.

Physical separation from a neighbor you don't like very much.

Here in Poland people don't so much have neighbours as people who live too close.

Yes.
But there is still sth above it which combines the need for privacy and safety etc Don`t people in Germany, US or GB want privacy and a feeling of safety?? they don`t put up so many fences....

I meant the (in)famous Polish individualism. Poles prefer to be solitary islands - they didn`t read Donne!


Also. You let the dog loose within the fence and neighbours can go fly a kite.

I don't know about Germany or America so much but in the U.K., those two things were threatened less. Plus there was always more of a sense of community and less desire to erect barriers.


Big blocks of flats with a facade designed to look the way it did and one doilum in the middle of the block puts fancy windows in. That just looks like a gap tooth.

The US is a bit different isn't it? I mean those completely open plan gardens with no obvious boundaries at all. You don't see those so much in the UK - or Ireland, though many people in towns demolish the front garden wall to park their car more easily. The front gardens of houses in the British Isles are often about creating something beautiful to be admired and enjoyed by all who pass by. You want to share your lovely flowers and plants.


That's very true.

To keep the neighbors dogs out of your yard so when you went out to hang up laundry to dry you weren't stepping in their doo doo.

Yes, of course. It was sort of imposed on Brits coz there were many of them on a relatively limited area. They had to develop that sense in order to prevent tensions, leading to animosities or even civil wars.

While Poland had more territory and people lived far from each other - that influenced the character of Poles and shaped today`s individualism.


No, in Am suburbs those open plan gardens aren`t so big. Most gardens the size I am thinking about are usually fenced in Poland. Even bigger ones.

A high proportion of land, especially in the north or Scotland and awakes is marginal land that you can't grow much on so yes. Though that same sense of community is common to islands. Japan is a good example.


I've seen ones that are crazy big, though yes, most are small.

There's a small private road a bit like that near me in Warsaw. No individual fences and better for it.

Of course in England you also had the idea of common grazing lands, public rights of way through private land etc. which still exist today of course. In Scotland too there was a perception of the land as belonging to all.

Some certainly still do.

If you're not familiar with it, Google Wakefield Heath Common, sometimes called the "village of mansions". It wouldn't really suit Polish tastes however I've seen Poles there (and others) staring in wonderment.

Even now, it's common land with the eighteenth century mansions of millionaires rubbing shoulders with gypsies grazing their horses and hardly a fence or wall in sight.

youtu.be/9EDNdpBp9_8

I didn't know about it - thank you so much for that Jon :)

Here is a typical Polish village (not modern suburbs) in drive through view. 95% houses are fenced.

And most of the yards are very well kempt and some are quite nice to look at....

In socio-anthropological terms, I think a factor (a big difference between Poland and the British Isles) is something called Uncertainty Avoidance. British Isles are low in this and Poland is pretty high (Germany and the US are sort of inbetween the US closer to the BI and Germany closer to Poland).

The idea is people in high UA cultures (like Poland) don't like ambiguous uncertain situations. Fences help remind everybody what belongs to who and create a more structured environment while housing areas with a lack of clear boundaries incites low grade (mostly sub-conscious) anxiety.

Tresspassing private property was punished with imprisonment in England, then Great Britain. I still remember that British family series with a scene how a forester caught a group of kids walking in a private forest. It took place in 19th century. He wanted to take them to prison. They were terrified and I was shocked.

The same with the US. Trespassing may cost you life from a private gun.

So, people in those countries have learnt hot to behave.

And in Poland? What were the consequences of trespassing? Zero.... :):):)

In post one I mentioned 4 kinds of fence. Now one more has come to my mind - natural. But those decorative trees are seldom on their own, mostly are enhanced with a proper fence.

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Hedges are the hardest to maintain.

Sitting on a hegehog is even harder, you should know all about it.

Trespass is generally a civil matter. There are also rights of way (many of them) through private land and those can't be fenced off.


Probably fictional.


I remember a farmer I used to know down near Garwolin complaining that hunters had put a wooden tower on his land and he could do nothing to stop them.

I have been watching my neighbor's house across the street without a fence around. If it is not fenced, it means no one's property. Everyone who walks their dogs lets them defecate on such a the neighbor's lawn. Trees and bushes constantly watered by dogs look terrible. What to do with children throwing garbage while walking along the road, and not children only?

In such a situation, I would change my mind and put up a fence

In which country do people do such incredible things??

Poles love putting up fences even when they are temporarily out of house.

E.g, on the beach. Windbreakers are very popular at the Polish seaside due to chilly gales. But some people exaggerate and fence too big an area for their stay on the beach.

We voted for taking down this barrier in the referendum.

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This is NOT true!! I live in poland many years, I personally think the new uprise of the double-leaf swing gate 3.5 m, Belfast fence, is a breach of tradition!, I never want to see those horrible fences again

What exactly???


15 years is many, indeed, but some people here have lived in Poland four times as much and don`t brag about it. Ha!


That is a sly product placement!

The iconic drone image of a completely fenced beach:

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