AN angry Kings Road couple could hardly believe their eyes recently when two complete strangers turned up "out of the blue" and proceeded to survey their garden.

When challenged, the unlikely duo explained that this and the neighbouring property were due to be demolished to make way for a housing estate and they were there to survey the site.

So incensed were John and Herta Deverill by this unannounced and totally unsolicited intrusion that they not only demanded an apology but a £200 donation to a local charity - and they got it.

According to Wng Cmdr Deverill, he and wife Herta were washing up after breakfast when a white van drew up in the drive outside the kitchen window and two men jumped out.

One disappeared behind the house while the other rang the doorbell and began to unload cases from the back of the vehicle.

"Our immediate fear was that this could be a distraction robbery," said Mr Deverill.

On challenging the two men, however, he found that they were from CH Design Partnership, a firm of architects based in Winchester who were working for a Reading housing association.

One of the men then produced a letter from the architects which stated that, completely unbeknown to the Deverills, the James Butcher Housing Association would be purchasing theirs and the adjoining house and demolishing them to make way for an estate of some 20 new dwellings.

The 'surveyors' were there, it seemed, to plot services above and below ground, the levels of the land, any trees over 150mm in girth and to produce a plan showing the positioning of existing building around the site.

Having copied some of the documentation, John Deverill sent the men packing. On leaving the drive they parked in Kings Road where one of them spent time on a mobile phone before driving away.

Meanwhile, Mr Deverill was alerting the neighbours who were equally alarmed by the uninvited survey.

He then telephoned East Hampshire planners who confirmed that there had been no application for housing on this scale in Kings Road.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the distraught householder proceeded to ring the James Butcher Housing Association to vent his anger on director of development services, Tim Hammond.

As Mr Hammond was out of the office, Mr Deverill wrote a stiff letter expressing the shock and anger felt by himself, his wife and neighbours over the fact that no one had bothered to contact them, as owners of the properties concerned, either about the proposals themselves or the survey.

Furthermore, he suggested that, in view of the aggravation caused and as a gesture of goodwill, the James Butcher Housing Association should make a donation of £200 to the Alton Community Centre.

In reply, Mr Hammond explained that he had been passed details of the two Kings Road houses by his predecessor who had been informed by an agent that, subject to agreeing a price, the owners would be willing vendors. Clearly, he confessed, this was not the case.

He explained that the James Butcher Housing Association was a well-respected "not-for- profit" organisation established some 36 years ago to provide accommodation and related services to meet the needs of people from all sectors of the community, such as single persons, families, those requiring sheltered care and the homeless.

In offering his abject apologies for any distress caused, Mr Hammond said he was arranging for a £200 cheque to be drawn up which, according to Mr Deverill, Alton Community Centre has now received.

Mr Deverill has since confirmed with an architect friend that, unbelievable as it may seem, it is not uncommon for would-be developers to obtain satellite photographs of properties with large gardens, plan to develop them and approach the relevant planning authority to ascertain if such a development would have a good chance of approval before making contact with the owner.

"The trick is to approach the property owner, offering more than he might expect, but less than the true market value with planning permission," explained Mr Deverill.

He said he dreaded to think what might have happened if he and his wife had been away on holiday when the 'surveyors' arrived and began plotting prior to demolition of their home to make way for an estate they knew nothing about.