Can you cut grass on a Sunday?

Can you cut the grass on a sunday using a petrol driven lawn mower - one of my french neighbours has moaned to me about cutting grass on a sunday ?


Or does anyone know where I can find this information?


Many thanks


Phil Ross

Just thought it would be an appropriate time for an update!!

It's TT fortnight here on the Isle of Man. TT motorcycle races for those not in the know! Yesterday, Sunday, we had the sound of race bikes tearing round the TT road circuit, TV helicopters following them overhead, 10,000 bikers dashing about to various vantage points, someone drilling something down the road and, finally, someone or two, cutting their grass.

The French would have a canary fit at the thought - except for the many French bikers over here, simply enjoying the spectacle without a Commune directive in sight!!!

Aha, I think we could start a whole new blog on France and contradictions.

This may not be the case everywhere but last year the water restrictions imposed by the prefecture in Lozère said specifically that the restrictions did not apply to water collected in storage tanks. The year before, the ban had no exceptions so maybe someone actually listened to all of us who collect rainwater, and that's everybody in our village, asking what was the point of doing this if we couldn't use it during a dry spell.

They claxon at 3 in the morning, burn around all night on loud exhaust motorbikes, move house at night and we even had roadworks at 11.30pm on a weekday with a pneumatic drill outside our flat!!! In short, they can F off and please go ahead and mow the grass on a Sunday preferably with a megaphone attached at 7 in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're not allowed to (Gard region) but it really depends on your neighbours. In our village no one cares, so it's fine, but you only need one neighbour who decides to complain and... well, I don't know what actually! What *is* the penalty for mowing on a Sunday?!

As we found out (but ignore - ahem we rarely wash cars), even if you collect rainwater in one of the big cubes it is still not allowed. Apparently the rule was made without exception. Defeats all logic, but it does explain how so many French cars that should have fallen to pieces are still on the road - dirt holds them together ;-)

that sounds like a great excuse for Mr Fitz not to wash his car EVER! We brought a karcher over from the UK - it's been used - Once in 5 years!

Outside our Mairie is a note stipulating when you can make noise. From memory we can use a noisy machine between 10 and 12 on a Sunday, but communes differ. Of course, my farmer neighbour can make a noise when he wants......

it depends where you are, what your local "byelaws" are ;-)

I don't know the rules/law but all my neighbours are french and they use lawn mowers, rotavators, tractors etc on Sundays. I haven't as our garden isn't yet that developed.

These things are policed. I had a visit at work from the Prefecture de Police the other week. A bag of rubbish had been found in a street a few blocks away; they'd been through it and found some envelopes with our address on. It looked like our cleaner had decided to dump our binbag on her way to her metro instead of diverting to dispose of the rubbish correctly. This was somewhat surprising, given the state of the streets of Paris. (Stern words were had with the cleaner.) Anyway, the sanitiation officers (who come under the duristiction of the police) had come to serve a PV. If caught breaching any of these public nuisance matters, there will be a PV and a fine to pay. To be caught, either a policeman or gendarme would have to witness the offence or someone must make a plainte. I guess the more rural you are or the more accommodating your neighbours, the more you can disregard the rules without fear... What the eye doesn't see... The littering is entirely different of course. In no way do I condone that. It was just the example of the the way it's apparently policed that I wanted to point out. Bonfires, motor mowers, run off from washing the car are different and commonsense would suggest that we get to know our neighbours and treat one another with reasonable respect - do they want you to have an overgrown garden sending seeds from weeds over their property? There is a tendency in France to make a lot of rules which are often ignored but which will suddenly be enforced when you least expect it when someone complains.

Nice one Christophe, chuckle of the day!!

Bugger! I was thinking about 4:30ish. Oh well, it's back to the fatty duck and gizzards then :(

What about bonfires? In my commune they are forbidden.

However, I have just burned the branches from two large, recently felled trees & nobody seems to have complained, leastways, not to me. It may well be that the "Bonfire Police" are on their way but in the meantime I'll carry on with my fires like all the local farmers

vic

It's called 'fitting in' Glen. Our village wants it that way and IF that is what they want then I agree with them.

I am one of the villagers after all.

There is of course some flex in those rules but it is all about playing the game.

If I were building a wall all week and wanted to work on Sunday then that would be OK as a one-off BUT, if I were to make a racket EVERY sunday then that would be out of order.

To clarify a bit: I live in a very urban area, which is why it would be difficult to get away with breaking the restrictions. The carwashing ban is not restricted to drought periods, but really only applies if the water running off the car runs off into public drains. It's supposed to be an unti polution restriction, but I assume most of that polution also ends up in the gutters when it rains - unless it's the detergents they are worried about. This is why I think it's to protect the local car wash businesses. They do recycle their water, of course. We hardly have any garden to speak of, so we can manage our patch in 20 mins after work once a week. When I walk around the local streets I conclude that my fellow croissillons are either retired, so they have plenty of time other than Sundays to fire up their motor mowers, or they employ gardeners.

I got told off for for using a pressure washer yesterday.. So I went to the café.

Since when have rules applied to farmers? Maybe it's like the lorry rules, certain exceptions apply. Lorries are not allowed on the roads on Sundays - unless they are carrying perishable goods or livestock. When we lived in the Alps, this rules was also applied on Saturdays during the peak holiday weeks.

But if that is the case Tracy, how come farmers are allowed out with their tractors ?