Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

10 metre long garden? And north facing?

37 replies

YellowEllis · 27/10/2020 10:24

We have been to our site visit today as our house has had its foundations laid and we could get more of a feel for it. We were a bit concerned as we'd made our peace with the north facing garden as the plans showed it was double the length of the house, and a bit extra. It doesn't look it in person, whatsoever. We couldn't get that close, and there was a lot of mud and fencing etc but it looked small. I wasn't sure it would even be longer than the house. The site manager measured up and said it's around 10/11 metres long. It's really wide, about 30 metres so I'm not concerned about lack of space I'm concerned about lack of sun.

I knew it being north facing wouldn't be a sun trap, but I thought it was long enough that there will always be some sunshine. Even if it's just at the bottom of the garden. This was fine for me as meant kids can play in the shade but there will still be sunny spots.

10m long, behind a 110m2 house? Is it just going to be gloomy and dark and boggy Sad

OP posts:
Original poster
YellowEllis · 27/10/2020 12:43

Bumping Smile

OP posts:
Midnightbuffet · 27/10/2020 12:56

Hi and congratulations with your new house Smile
It is an exciting process and many many thoughts and second guessing is yet to come, but hopefully in the end it will be your dream house Flowers
We have just been though the building process ourselves and a North facing garden can have some sun.
Is is a one floor/ is there a high roof as this will also impact how much shade there will be. Are there many trees around? As that can also impact on how much sun can pass during the day.
You say the site is 30 meters wide so if the house and trees are not blocking it out, I would assume the sun will still find its way to some your garden Smile
Best of luck!

Dozer · 27/10/2020 12:57

Dislike north facing gardens, personally, but the decision’s made, right? So nothing you can do at this point until you move in.

user1471530109 · 27/10/2020 13:03

OP my garden is north facing. We are lucky as we do have a very long garden. But it's only the first 5ish meters close to the house that spend most of the day in shade. The rest is very sunny. Just a normal 2 story semi. There are bungalows nextdoor though. But we have a long thin garden so haven't got the width you have. I'm assuming yours is detached with that width?

KrakowDawn · 27/10/2020 13:04

Put in a swimming pool! Grin perfect dimensions. (Sorry!)

Greektome · 27/10/2020 13:08

We have similar, but with less width. I quite like it, because our patio is mostly in shade, which is really nice in the summer. The grassy bit after the patio is mostly in sun. It does make it a bit tricky growing plants. I've chosen shade loving plants for the patio.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 27/10/2020 13:11

I think you just need to make the best of it. Choose shade loving plants for nearer the house and try to create a sitting area at the back of the garden.

Our front garden is about 12 long and faces north east. Bits of the garden get sun for most of the day in summer, but come autumn it's quite gloomy.

WiseUpJanetWeiss · 27/10/2020 13:14

My garden is more or less North facing and is 10m long, and only about 2m wider than my house, which is 3 storey. It gets sun on the bottom half pretty much all summer but gets very little sun in the spring and autumn, and the part closest to the house is always shady.

I have no grass (I hate grass!) but lots of plants, including sun loving ones.

VenusClapTrap · 27/10/2020 13:22

It would be a deal breaker for me, but plenty of people are perfectly happy with shady gardens, so you just need to work out if it’s right for you personally. There are always compromises when you buy a house, some are worth it and others are not. Draw up a list of pros and cons and remind yourself why you chose this house over others you looked at.

Original poster
YellowEllis · 27/10/2020 13:23

Thanks all! We haven't exchanged so we aren't totally tied in yet, we have another week if we are really unsure on the plot. We picked this plot as on the plans it had the biggest garden in that price bracket, it's detached and isn't overlooked. All the other plots gardens back onto other gardens, whereas our plot backs on to a park. There are trees at the bottom of the garden, but it's a north facing garden and they are at the bottom so I don't think they'd cause shade? I don't want a south facing garden I like a bit of shade I'm just worried it's not long enough to get anything other than shade!

Some reassuring comments here though, it's just so hard buying off plan.

OP posts:
Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow · 27/10/2020 13:29

Are you in the south of the UK? So a bit warmer generally? Are you a lover of heat/sun? Or do you not really like a roasting hot back garden?

I’m a sun lover in scotland so this would be a dealbreaker for me. But less so if in the south of England and needing shade

InOtterNews · 27/10/2020 13:33

I have north facing garden of the same length. The bottom half gets the sun nearly all day (neighbours tree blocks it late afternoon). The patio nearest the house gets the sun late afternoon. I still manage to sit in the sun and also grow veg - no problem.

OnlyJudyCanJudgeMee · 27/10/2020 13:50

If it's 10m long, but 30m wide, why are you worried about lack of sun? Is your house 30m wide? Sorry, struggling to understand the measurements.

EmbarrassedUser · 27/10/2020 13:55

Ours is North West facing and it’s a real sun trap across the main part of it. It’s just one part that is a bit gloomy but we put the shed there so who cares? You’ll be fine.

Jakey056 · 27/10/2020 14:04

I'm a Garden Designer.
I really think it will be OK. Shade and less watering are the two big considerations gong forward - climate change etc. Shade will be very valuable and less watering also.
This will be fine. You can grow so many good trees and plants and yes most will be shady but there are lots that will grow in North facing. I really would not worry.

If you want a lot of sun/ like sunbathing then definitely choose a better plot. You can make a great garden in North facing space.

ipswichwitch · 27/10/2020 14:09

Ours is north facing, and probably the length out our house plus a little. We get sun first thing in the summer, then from mid afternoon onwards, and in fact the bottom of the garden is a bit of a sun trap, so we built a bench seat in that corner. The decking next to the house is almost always in the shade but I quite like that in the summer anyway. We aren’t overlooked, and have a ton of trees separating our garden from the park which don’t impact on the sunlight we get at all. Like a pp, we have a shed in the shadiest corner, and found a ton of plants that like shade. The grass can get a little boggy in winter and we get the odd mushroom, but conversely we don’t have issues with it drying out in summer. Personally I’d take a north facing garden before an overlooked one.

willitbetonight · 27/10/2020 15:04

Literally no shade apart from the first meter next to our house during summer in our north facing garden. Sun is low right now so what you have now is not what you will get for most of year. Rooms at back are dark though.

Shellingbynight · 27/10/2020 15:20

I had a north facing garden years ago. I had a two storey Victorian House, and the garden was just a courtyard really, probably 15ft long (and the same width as the house). Garden was completely in shade in winter, but almost completely in sun in summer. I can't remember at what point in the year we lost the sun. But even with that small a garden lack of sun wasn't a problem, because at the time of year when you wanted to sit out in sun, you could - even if only at the far end. I think your house/garden sounds fine.

StatisticallyChallenged · 27/10/2020 15:20

30m is surely a lot wider than your house, so you should be getting sun down the sides? That seems very wide for a new estate plot tbh

PerfidiousAlbion · 27/10/2020 15:27

It’ll be lovely.

Have a look at North facing gardens on Pinterest.

It’ll be sunny apart from the first three meters or so, so have some indian stone laid there and make a shaded patio. Then have sun traps built in the North East/North West corners and maybe consider faux grass to avoid the soggy lawn issue. If you dont fancy that, then use gravel paths which wind between heavily planted borders and hedges.

Also consider a ‘white garden’ to give it more light in lower lighting.

You’ll be so glad of that shade in the summer.

MacbookHo · 27/10/2020 15:41

We have a small north-facing garden abd it’s lovely! The first 2m are always shady, but the rest gets loads of sun. Close to the house I planted shade-loving plants like camellias, bluebells and a shade-loving climbing rose.

DefinitelyPossiblyMaybe · 27/10/2020 15:47

Our old house had a lovely North facing garden which was about the same size as yours, apart from the deck we put in that extended out a bit further over a stream. It was very sunny apart from the patio, but that was good as it meant the conservatory didn't get too hot and was useable in the summer.

10 metre long garden? And north facing?
WhatamessIgotinto · 27/10/2020 15:52

Our garden is mostly north facing so we get lots of shade in the summer (good when the children were younger, the dogs and me because I hate strong sunshine) but there's about a quarter of it is like the surface of the bloody sun when it's hot. The size would bother me more than it being north facing.

fussychica · 27/10/2020 15:58

That's a very wide plot for a new build. If that's correct you're very lucky and should have no problems with lack of sun as the garden must be much wider than your house. Unless there's a possibility of the park area being built on I certainly wouldn't change it to a plot with houses behind.

Original poster
YellowEllis · 27/10/2020 16:05

Getting measurements all wrong. This is the plan we bought off, for our plot. When we viewed today it looked way smaller, builder said he thinks it's 10 metres long. DH said he said 30 metres wide but that can't be right as it doesn't match up with pics. We just rang site manager who said he's going to measure it exactly and get back to us.

This picture, to us, looked a really good size. It just didn't look that big in person but we were looking from fairly far away and there was diggers and fences and huge heaps of mud. Maybe it just looked deceiving. I'm worried though Sad

10 metre long garden? And north facing?
OP posts:
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread