How important is a garden to you?

[Nosleepforthismum]

Speaking with my BIL recently who is planning to substantially extend his three bed property into his garden which (I think) is quite small anyway leaving enough room for a table, 6 chairs, a shed and a small square of grass and nothing else. I said I’d be careful of extending too much as the garden will then be too small for the size of the house and his response was that most people don’t like gardens as they were too much work and they’d rather have a big house instead.

I’m wondering how many of you agree with this statement? I’m on the opposite end as I adore having a garden and my dream would be a house with a couple of acres of land. Maybe a stream and a huge tree for the kids to build dams and treehouses. A vegetable plot and posh greenhouse to grow our own fruit and veg. Space for a chicken coop and a field big enough to flick a ball for the dog without worrying about it going over the neighbours fence … but maybe I am in the minority! So, how important is a garden to you? Would you sacrifice space outside for space inside?

We choose our house for its big garden
love my garden

Garden more important for me.

Very important. I wouldn’t move somewhere without a decent sized garden. We practically lived in our garden during covid lockdowns.

No, I just need an outside space. My flat doesn't have one, and I miss it desperately. I only need an 'outdoors' that I can wander in & out of, though, and can grow some plants to nurture.

I tend to agree with BIL that gardens are a hassle for most people. As long as you've got somewhere to sit outside - and enough of a grassy area for kids if it's a family house - it suffices. More important to have plenty of indoor space for entertaining, kids' playroom, whatever is important to you. This is the UK, it rains a lot!

Garden 1st!!!!

My 3 bed house is a bit small for me and 4 teens, but there was no way I could stretch to anymore bedroom's on a single income.

But the garden is massive, giving us space for greenhouse, lots of fruit plants, big pool, we spend time in it in winter too fire pit, making s'mores watching for shooting stars

Very important, it's always what I rush to look at on Rightmove first.

Large houses with tiny gardens are very difficult to sell. No-one is going to buy a 700k house with an itty bitty garden.

This is a 'stage of life' thing.
20+ years ago when we were looking for our current house, a large garden was a real asset.
Now no-one has played in the garden for about 10 years, it is definitely something that I don't want in my next house.
Yes, I want a garden, but no I don't want 50m of garden.

I do agree with @Saschka that people on this thread are probably imagining quite different sizes of garden when they say "big" or "tiny".

I think planning will deal with this issue. I seem to remember a 50% of the land can be built on and there are distances to boundaries rules. It's been a few years since we did any building though, so that might not be so strict now.

My house is a reno project. We bought it because it has 2 acres a view. Can change the house, can’t change the land. I’d absolutely never consider a tiny garden. Garden and land is very important to us. We loved 100s of miles to get it

Gardening itself isnt really a love of mine but peace and privacy is, so a small house on a big plot is the dream for me. Id love to be able to buy the house I currently rent, its ideal, living with neighbours on top of me would be awful

Everyone is different some people hate gardening for the sake of the 1 nice weekend you get a year

I think it depends on your stage of life and interests.

If you have boisterous kids who want to kick a ball around all day you'll prefer a larger garden and perhaps compromise on the house.

If you like gardening, you may want a bigger garden (but you might want a smaller garden because it's more manageable).

If you need a home office, you may well prioritise that over garden space.

I am not into gardening and so if I lived on my own I would have as little garden as possible eg a terraced house with a back yard. Fortunately I have DH to do the gardening :)

Any house will have features that put off some buyers but not others so I wouldn't worry about that - and there are plenty of non-gardeners out there.

Well they do, because most new builds are on tiny plots and they can sell for way over £700K!

I wouldn't buy a house with a tiny garden. I hate those huge extensions into the garden, they're popular round here and it writes off so many previously lovely houses.

It's weird isn't it how people apply different standards to established houses and new builds?

So a family house has to have a family sized garden.

But a new build four bed "executive home" can have a postage stamp garden and will still sell for silly money.

Wouldn't be without one. It doesn't have to be huge, but enough room for shade, sitting area and kids to play.

I've always been like this but lockdown reinforced it. My own green space that I can't be prevented from accessing feels essential.

Here's an excellent example of an 'executive' new build with a teeny garden:

https://www.branocsestates.co.uk/property/31842476-chignal-road-chelmsford/

It's utterly ridiculous - there are three similar houses on this plot of land, all megabucks with barely any garden. They could easily have fit a small street of terraces with a decent long garden in the space.

There’s some lovely houses in Chelmsford, let alone for that budget. There’s no way I’d spend a million on that garden

but I guess someone will. Each to their own other than the excessive flood risk and lack of wildlife

Before I had kids I wouldn’t of wanted a garden. I never had one as always lived in a city so very little outdoor space but now that I’ve got town kids I’d love to have a garden but it doesn’t need to be huge. Just big enough so the kids can play in it

We bought a new build and our garden is tiny. Our house is worth £1m. However nowadays I would prefer a bigger garden so need to find a bigger house

I would love to have a garden. I miss my garden from my old house. I now live in a flat with no garden or balcony. I try not to dwell on it. I have a home.

Again, this isn't a question of having a garden or not, it is about whether most people would prefer a smaller garden and more house, or less indie space but a larger garden.

Of course 'smaller' and 'larger' are very much relative terms.

We've owned larger houses with small gardens (the biggest discrepancy was a 3500 sq ft, 6 bed house with a 65 x 35' garden) and currently own a smaller house (1400 sq ft, 2 beds) with a 0.5 acre garden.

Gardens are very important to us, but personally I actually miss the larger house (2000 sq ft, 4 beds) with a 80 x 50' garden we sold to move here five years ago.

At the time we both believed a larger garden was more important than house size and we particularly wanted somewhere we could create a large garden from scratch. As we don't have DC living at home, it was more about an interesting outside space with loads of plants than a huge lawn for ball games/trampoline etc.

Five years on from buying somewhere that we thought had sufficient inside space (it doesn't) and a completely blank canvas garden-wise where the previous owners hadn't bothered to cultivate much except weeds, we've barely planted up two thirds and despite me previously absolutely loving gardening, I'm now finding it totally overwhelming. In part that's because of the challenging weather where we are - we've lost thousands of £££ worth of plants which is deeply disappointing and soul destroying. I appreciate it's a first world problem and we're extremely lucky to have what we do, but it makes me so sad to think of what we've spent hours working on, only to lose so much each year.

Part of the garden to our very old, rural property is a high-walled courtyard leading off to one side of the house. When we first bought the house it was a bare, ugly decked area with no plants whatsoever, but we transformed it into a little oasis with veg beds and lots of pretty climbers as well as somewhere that's roofed for an outside sofa. It's about 25 x 15' and I now actually spend more of my time there than in the 'main' garden. It's very private, not only because of the walls but because it's gated so it's safe for our DDog too. When I'm out there I try to pretend the rest of our garden doesn't exist.

It has made me realise that when we move (looking to sell soon, hurrah!), I'd be happy with a considerably smaller garden as long as the house is a bit bigger.

I love my garden! I lived for years in flats and places with no greenery outdoors. I always dreamed of having a garden one day. Finally I have one but sadly poor health has meant I can't do much there now, even so I adore just sitting out in it or looking at various insects and plants over the seasons. So, no to the garden sacrifice!