how to deal with nosy neighbours

​Everyone has neighbours.  Unfortunately we can’t live in a vacuum. We have to live next door to someone.  In a suburb like ours, people live on 1/5th acre sections.  Even if you live on a dairy farm, you still have neighbours, except they’re a lot further away.  Neighbours behave differently according to where they are located.  For example, relations between neighbours in France are different to relations between neighbours in New Zealand.  Even exclusive areas may contain a local busybody who asks lots of personal questions. 

If neighbours are spending all their time talking and thinking about other people in the neighbourhood, they are doing very little to develop their own lives and gardens.  The key is to develop the ability to filter out such negative energy.  Remember that it is none of their business and they should respect other people’s privacy.  Some people, such as retirees, do not work and they have nothing better to do than gossip about others or their gardens.  Our general impression is that neighbours have not been happy when wwoofers have stayed with us, nor have they liked us having such a large garden infront of our house.  We have been criticised for the amount of money we spend on the garden, yet it is none of their business.  We make sacrifices in other areas as we find gardening gratifying and are dedicated to preserving bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects.  We have also been told that we should put the garden back into lawn.
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There are several ways that prying neighbours can be handled but it depends on the circumstances.  I try to be polite but if people persist in asking personal questions, it is acceptable to tell them to mind their own business.