New property - north east facing garden - would I get any sun?

[Tryanythingonce16]

I have been to view a lovely brand new build but looking at the site plan I can see the garden is north east facing. The kitchen is just right and French doors lead out to the garden (very small) but is it going to be freezing all year round? No point having doors leading out to the garden if you can't sit in it. There is no front garden at all.

Also I am a sun worshipper so would like to be able to sit out at some point in the day.

[bonzo77]

Ours is ENE facing (just checked with a compass). We get good light in the morning, but are in almost complete shade by mid afternoon, shade cast by the fence and property to the right (as you look at the garden from the back door). There's a patch at the far end of the garden (60ft) that stays in full sun a bit later in summer.

[Tryanythingonce16]

It wouldn't get even a patch I don't think as the garden is tiny.

Does it affect the temperature at the back of the house? The kitchen, main bedroom and living room are all at the back.

[GrumpyDullard]

Sorry to say this, but that's really the worst aspect for a small garden. You can do exciting things with shade-loving plants, if you're a gardener, but sunbathing? Not really.

[Tryanythingonce16]

I'm glad you said that. I'm gutted as it is just right apart from that.

[JoJoSM2]

Yeah, perhaps a bit of light first thing but dark and dingy even on a sunny day after that. We love sunny gardens and only looked at properties with S or W aspect.

[choystory]

I have a tiny NE facing garden. It gets sun until 3pm in summer. I think that's because the houses have very deep side returns though. Flowerbeds on left hand side and back do very well.

[Haggisfish]

I underestimated how sad it would make me to have a dark garden after enjoying a sw faving garden in old house. We just don't use the garden at all now.

[Tryanythingonce16]

Ok thanks everyone that's helpful. It's a townhouse so tall which probably makes it even worse.

[Tryanythingonce16]

I could probably cope with a dark back garden if there was somewhere to sit at the front but it's literally front door on to the road.

[TheBathroomSink]

Mine faces NE and we get decent light in the garden (which is wide but not massively long throughout the summer, but this might be because we are quite high up, and don't have any taller buildings to cast shadows over the garden on the sunny days (when we get them). It is definitely dingy in the middle of winter and snow sticks around a good few days longer than at the front of the house.

It is a bit cooler at the back in the summer, which is nice - the kitchen doesn't get really hot even in the summer so the tiled floor is great for cooling you down. I think I would actually prefer the main bedroom on the cooler side - DS's room is at the back and it does stay a bit cooler in the very hot months than mine or DD's.

It can be really hard to tell from a site plan how other buildings will affect you, especially if you don't know or can't tell what the elevations changes are going to be like. I got someone to mock me up an animation of how the shadows in the garden would fall, given the co-ordinates of the plot and the mapping data from Ordinance Survey and sun position/sunrise/sunset times. I don't know how they did it (I just asked if such a thing were possible and it turned out it was), but it is really very close to what we actually get here.

[TheBathroomSink]

Sorry, I was typing while you posted. Yes, a townhouse will make it worse, because it will cast a longer shadow so it will very much reduce the light you get.

[choystory]

Back rooms are very cold and prone to damp though!

[CauliflowerSqueeze]

Don't do it. My friend has a NE facing garden. Zero sun for months and months.

[Tryanythingonce16]

Oh you've decided me now.

Least I know and I will check that out before viewing.

[tropicalfish]

also, cold winds blow from the north east. And warm wind blows from the south west.
Something else to consider is the level changes. Would you be at the top of the hill.

[Tryanythingonce16]

Funnily enough it is on a hill hence the three storey layout. You enter at mid-level.

[firstforst]

Have had this garden aspect and agree you will get sun in the morning but from early afternoon will be in complete shade. Remember you can change almost anything about a house, but not its position. If lying out in the sun in your garden is important to you, then you need to take that into account when viewing houses and only consider those with south/west facing gardens.

[tropicalfish]

So that means that the part of the garden that would theoretically get the most sun would be lower down?
This means that it is even less likely to get sun.

[Tryanythingonce16]

Good point tropical. Yes there is the kitchen leading out to the garden on the lower ground floor.

I have been trying to convince myself that I could put up with the garden because everything else is right but I am such a cold person all year round so if the back of the house (living room and main bedroom) are cold I will be miserable.

[tropicalfish]

The garden is the most important room and its not in the house.
The best aspect is West facing - Southwest facing.

Also is it really ideal that you would have no front garden.
There must be other houses that fulfill the criteria you are looking for.
Also in particular, I would hate to have to climb down stairs to the kitchen. Carrying food shopping downstairs would be a pain. Why would you want that.

[didireallysaythat]

Walk away

I grew up in a town house terrace with a NE facing garden. I have absolutely no memories of playing out in the garden. We went to the park a lot.

[FlamingoSnuffle]

My house is on a north west/south east axis. My back garden is the north west and I get plenty of sun even in the afternoon.

It all depends on the position of other houses and how wide your garden is because of the shadow cast by the fence.

I really wish people wouldn't write it off and now is the best time to view it with a low sun.

Personally I love having a cool part of the house to retreat to whether front or back plus my parents had a full south facing back garden and we could not see the tv always had the curtains drawn.

[shovetheholly]

I have a north-east facing garden in the north of England! Here's a picture of it from about 2 years ago. As you can see, there is plenty of stuff you can grow.

In an average plot, you'll get morning sun hitting the left-hand side for a few hours, but the right-hand side will be darker and cooler.

Every plot is different. The answer to your question depends a great deal on the detail of your site: are there trees that shade it? Buildings around you, or anything else that will cast a shadow? Is gradient in play? Is the garden long enough that you can escape the shadow of the house at the end?

Also, don't forget nearly every house with a north-facing back garden will have a south-facing front. And every south-facing back garden has a north-facing front.

[shovetheholly]

Ooops, posted too soon - meant to say that even if you don't have a south-facing garden on the front, you'll get the solar gain on that side (again, subject to shading, buildings around you etc).

In my garden the lawn you can just see at the end is far enough down and away from the house that it's quite sunny in summer. (When we get sun, that is!)