DEIRDRE Lewis's garden used to be a peaceful, private haven – but now it has been turned in to a public gallery.She has been left distraught and with no privacy at all after residents in a neighbouring block of flats tore down a close-boarded wooden fence and replaced it with a 1.

DEIRDRE Lewis's garden used to be a peaceful, private haven - but now it has been turned in to a public gallery.

She has been left distraught and with no privacy at all after residents in a neighbouring block of flats tore down a close-boarded wooden fence and replaced it with a 1.8m high see-through chain link one.

Now everyone can see straight in to her garden, kitchen and dining room.

To make matters worse, some people in the flats and others around the area are trying to have a disused century-old right of way re-opened - which would allow them to walk straight through her garden.

Mrs Lewis of Berners Road, Felixstowe said: "It's an absolute nightmare.

"All I want to do is to live here quietly with my dog.

"I have been here 23 years and have got on well with all the neighbours and never had any problems - until now."

Mrs Lewis received a letter from Jane Good Ltd, acting for the owners of Beach Court, eight flats in Beach Road East, whose car park backs on to her garden.

The letter said the flat owners - Beach Court Management (Felixstowe) Ltd - were concerned at the condition of the fence and wanted one easier to maintain and weed. No plants would be allowed to grow up it.

Around the same time Mrs Lewis received notice from the Land Registry that there had been 15 objections to her move to remove the right of way through her property which no-one has used for more than 20 years.

She said: "The combination of both things is just awful. The fence was taken down last Monday and now I cannot use my courtyard garden at all - I just have no privacy. The people in the flats can see straight in to the garden and also my dining room and kitchen, and I have to keep my curtains closed.

"I cannot understand why they would want a chain link fence because it means they have lost privacy as well.

"My son said my peaceful haven had been turned in to a public gallery."

The right of way row is just as baffling. Mrs Lewis closed it with gates and incorporated it in to her garden when her children were toddlers 20 years ago - no one objected or tried to use it.

She said: "It's just as easy for people to use the pavements on Berners Road and Beach Road East - there is no need for anyone to use it at all."

Jane Good, secretary and spokeswoman for the Beach Court owners, said the fence was dilapidated and "looked a mess". The owners met and voted to replace it with a chain link fence.

She said: "I wrote to Mrs Lewis to let her know the work would be done a month before and it would not be on her land - it may be less private but she could put a bit of fence up on her boundary on the other side of the right of way."

n. What do you think of Mrs Lewis's predicament? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk