A north-east couple who have been plagued by drivers ploughing through their garden have come up with a bright idea to curb the problem: Christmas lights.
Jill and Mike Chandler moved into their Lonmay home in 2011 and since then have had to deal with vehicles leaving behind a trail of destruction around their property.
Where a hedge once marked the boundary of their home, only the tattered planks of a fence remain.
Tucked away between winding roads, unsuspecting motorists can find themselves caught out by the sudden appearance of their house.
But now the couple have taken unusual steps to make their property stand out a little more.
“We had seen people put stones on their verges, but apparently that can be dangerous,” Mrs Chandler said.
“We really couldn’t think of any way to tell people that this was our boundary and they should stop running into it, so that’s where the lights have come in.
“And it might be working – no one has hit the fence yet.”
Mr Chandler has initially covered just one section of the fence with the lights, but now intends to create a string of them around the home.
Mrs Chandler added that they were a cheaper alternative to replacing the fence every time it was smashed.
“They’ve only been up a couple of days, so neighbours haven’t said anything yet. But then again we don’t really have anyone nearby out here,” she said.
“The whole thing started with people crashing through our hedging, so we had that taken out and replaced with a fence.
“Then they crashed through that.
“Obviously, I don’t think we’d get the insurance money to replace it – and I’m not paying for a fence to be put back – so we thought about what we could do.
“I don’t know if anything could be done to improve the road itself.”