Experience with artificial grass esp if have children

[RealOrFake]

I have a North facing garden with a nice lawn but only mid-summer when we’ve spend hours removing moss and feeding etc etc. Right now it’s patchy mud and squidgy even after few dry days here. Rest of garden is paved. I’m seriously considering putting artificial grass down having previously been very against it so would appreciated any thoughts from anyone has experience of it.

I’m not especially looking for the environmental side as I’m aware it’s bad for wildlife/insects etc compared to real grass and it does look a bit fake too etc etc. It’s more practical experience I’m looking for. Eg: my children often paint outside in summer although they’d put a mat down it’s inevitable paint gets on the grass which never bothered us - would this ruin artificial grass? Paddling pools go on grass in summer - does artificial cope with this? Does it get hot in warm weather like paving stones might? My kids have camped on our lawn before - I assume they can’t do this with pegs etc or artificial grass? Does it smell or is it chemically? Is it nice to sit in and picnic and would it cope with food and drink spills?

I can’t “feel” any right now with covid restrictions so trying to build up fair picture of what it’s actually like. In my head it will be like my lawn when it’s lovely and proper grass rather than patch moss/mud except we will be able to use it all year around rather than just a few weeks in summer.

Thanks

We've had it for about 5 years and never had any issues.

It gets warm in summer, but not hot, just pleasently warm. We've never had issues with pools of water on it. We put a 10ft pool out for weeks at a time in summer and had no issues. It is usable much quicker than real grass after it rains.

It does get weeds, but they come up easily (possibly our fitters didn't do a good job of the layer below though?). We don't put pegs or anything through it and wouldn't want to.

Perhaps I need to reinvestigate the actual real turf and get a professional in. I think it probably needs aerated as it feels more compact that before and parts look sunk.

I think whether you have plastic or real grass you're going to need to spend some time and money consulting how to do it. So if your preference is real grass, may as well go that way, surely?

I can't imagine having to wash/hoover the grass. Tbh the whole idea of astroturf makes me feel sweaty and depressed, though.

@SylHellais

If you get good quality fake grass and have it installed properly with drainage, you shouldn’t have any issues with pools of water or it getting hot in summer. We have a north facing garden and gave up on real grass after several years of a boggy, muddy lawn which was impossible to cut and never dried out properly. We’re really pleased with the look of the grass we got.

Completely agree and ours was done 3 years ago and my children love it

Proper grass if at all possible I suggest. The suggestion of someone who can advise about real grass is a good one. Perhaps accept re-turfing every few years may be required. Your DC won't be young for ever either.

Thanks for all the info. I’ve got a lawn care company coming in to give me some advice then I’ll do bit more research into it and hopefully make a decision then. Appreciate all opinions shared.