AIBU to want a garden

[sushidave]

We're currently looking to buy our first house (first baby on the way) and wondering what needs to give on our wish list - I realise compromise is the name of the game when you're giving your 'dream house' ideas a reality check. We've seen a gorgeous place today with everything we want, nice location etc, but has just a small back yard. My question to you guys is how important is having a garden when you've got a wee one? It seems that many people move house when their kids get to be 3/4 so they get that all-important garden, but I'd rather not move and move again. DH reckons the small yard is fine for what we'd need with a baby/ small child, but I'm not so sure..

i think you're in a great position being first time buyers, to maybe get a slightly bigger/better house for a better price. people love first time buyers because you have no chain behind you.
friends of mine recently bought a house and were not the highest offer, but the people selling liked them as they were planning their first baby and wanted a nice family home and because of the fact they were 1st time buyers

so i would take your time and look around. DO think about schools even though you're only just pregnant.
it's easy to think "oh we'll move in a few years"... i thought that and we're still stuck here 6 years later so i am glad that we chose a house with a bit of a garden, and close to decent schools.

i do agree that a certain amount of compromise is needed, but you have time on your side and you can spend a while waiting for the right place to come up.

fwiw mine have all loved playing outside from a very young age, i wouldn't have wnated to be without a garden when mine were 18months upwards because they all love playing out there in any weather

I have a back yard and am desperate to move to a house with a decent garden. It's just not big enough and would be my no.1 priority when choosing a house.

Yyy to getting stuck: we put our house on the market two years ago. DS was not meant to have spent three summers here. I really wish we could move next week, but we will be here for at least another two months, I should think, and may get some of August in the new place if we're ever so lucky.

If you can get somewhere that has a garden but other things that you don't like but could alter later on, I'd go for the garden.

We compromised on a few too many things when we bought our house - small overlooked backyard, no hallway (freezes the whole house when lugging the buggy in), downstairs bathroom, galley kitchen, no built in storage - but we just adapted, it's home now, even tho DH reckons we'll prob move in 5 years.
DS is one now, and I do wish we had a bigger garden, with grass. Instead he spends the whole time outside trying to eat the gravel, and pulling over plant pots.
It's fine now we've got used to it, but if we'd had more choice we'd have hung out for a bigger garden and I know I'd have enjoyed it more.

From your OP, it sounds like the house is great for you bar the garden, so I'd go for it - one compromise is better than my five! A small garden will be fine, as long as the interior space is what you need.

Our garden has come into its own now we have DC. It's just a lawn really but friends always comment on how lucky we are because it's perfect for the children to play in. The back door is always open and they play on bikes, with water pistols, chalk, paddling pool, the tent, ball games, just running around, whatever. Having a garden, in particular one that is secure and easily accessible, and visible from the kitchen, is a huge asset IMO.

I want something with a back yard thats all cement, and stone walls, I hate gardening with a passion, Dh can have some tubs of flowers if he wants.
We have too much here and when we move back to UK we'll be in my mothers, too much there too, she has terraces and grass and a veggie patch. Oh the weeds I'll be told to pull I can hear it now. I'd rather scrub toilets!

I would not compromise on a garden. I've lived in a terraced house that had a yard, then moved to a semi which has a garden big enough but not too big.

There's a patio area for the bbq, table and chairs and small sized shed, then a lawned area with a few plants in the borders.

The kids love it - I have 3 under 8's. They can spend HOURS out there. All this weekend was spent with them popping in and out, playing games. You've got the convenience of being at home so if you need something, it's right to hand.

Mowing the lawn is a pain but I have a brother who is a gardener

I would not compromise on a garden, as others have said the children can be out in most weather, if it is secure then they can be out playing and you can get on with other things, you can't do that in a park. Also, they learn alot through outdoor play, mine are always digging things up with their little trowels, they find loads of mini beasts (a common school topic!) bits of bark & stone, and were even rewarded once with the ultimate of treasure- some marbles, buried in the ground, probably by the (now grown-up) children of the previous owners. You can't go around digging for treasure in a public park.

You can change the interior of a house to suit your taste, but you can't change the amount of land which comes with it. If you are already feeling doubts about the back yard (and you must be to be posting here) then there will be nothing you can do if you find out in a few years that you need more than a yard. Except an expensive move. It would be cheaper in the long run to buy a not so gorgeous house with a bigger garden, then renovate the house to make it just how you like it.

It sounds like a garden is high on your list of priorities, so why not hold out for that, rather than the rest of the house being pristine? You can always fit a new kitchen or bathroom - even knock down walls, but you can't increase the size of the plot.

I have never lived in a house with a garden, my kids obviously haven't either. In my part of London most of the homes are flats. We are very near some fantastic parks with paddling pools, so used to go there every day in summer, there was also a fantastic garden at the nursery.

I would hold out for garden, we only have a small yard, with 3 children, not too much of a big deal when they are small, but it is horrible now they are getting bigger, oldest is 8 he wants to be able to kick his football around, he can't, there isn't room with all of them out there, they can't go up and down on bikes or scooters, no trampoline, no tennis/badminton/cricket.

It makes school holidays a nightmare, they are stuck in, or I have to make a big effort to walk to the park in the heat - only about 7 minutes away but still an effort to carry all the bats and balls etc, I have to get us all looking vaugly respectable, I can't just open the door in my PJs and send them out, then there are no toilets, no easy food and drinks, if one of them gets fed up or too hot they can't just come in and watch tv or something else, youngest can't just go for a nap when tired etc, etc, etc.

If AT ALL possible stretch a bit further and get the garden , I really, really wish we had.

Kitchen and bathrooms, carpets, decoration can all be replaced slowly, over years if necessary, but if haven't got the garden space, you can't do anything to change that, I really wish someone had said that to me when we bought our house.

Oh and do consider school catchment, it will be here before you know it, and you will most likely still be in the same house.