Elderly couple sue wellness coach in fight to mow lawn

An elderly couple are suing their neighbour for blocking access to their front lawn.

- NEVILE AYLING

Longtime residents of Ditchling in East Sussex, Barry and Sarah Dean say they have for years used a right of way over part of their neighbours' land to bring their mower and wheelbarrows round so they can easily tend to their front lawn and keep it "looking smart". But they claim that all changed when their new neighbours – wellness coach and “energy healer” Claire White and her partner Bidjan Nathan – gated off the access, preventing the older couple from accessing their lawn.

Mr Nathan, 57, and Ms White, 49, claimed their neighbours had no right to cross the land attached to their £500,000 home, telling them instead to drag their mower through the house or down awkward garden steps on the Deans’ own property.

The case has now reached court, with retired financial adviser Mr Dean, 75, and his wife, 70, who is a pillar of the Ditchling Horticultural Society, suing their neighbours for blocking their right of way, demanding they be allowed through to mow the lawn. Giving evidence at Central London County Court, Mr Dean told Judge Mark Raeside KC that dragging the heavy mower down outside steps at his Sandpit Cottage home – valued online at about £900,000 – always left him with “a few bruises”.

The judge heard the Deans moved into their sprawling village home on High Street, Ditchling, nearly 40 years ago, while Ms White, an “empowerment and wellbeing coach” who also offers “energy healing”, moved into the £500,000 house next door with her partner in 2007. Ditchling, an affluent Sussex village nestled near the foot of the South Downs, has been labelled a “celebrity magnet”, with famous faces including Zoe Ball, The Snowman creator Raymond Briggs and Dame Vera Lynn having made it their home.