To think this garden will be ok?

[Marino]

Excuse the blurry pic, just to give a rough idea on sizes. It's a fairly small new build garden and unfortunately north facing! Ticked plot is ours.

We don't have the garage from the original plans, so my logic is it may be ok as with no garage there's room for sun to come in through there, we will get sun at bottom half of garden (atleast half, right?) and in the summer months when it's up high we'll have plenty.

Am I right, or am I daft?

If that was north facing I wouldn't be buying sorry. I like the sun too much.

Same size house south facing is £15k more! I do like the sun but have young kids so a bit of shade is needed too. I just don't know if it'll be ok or not!

It just seem long enough to get any real sun. I know that even a north facing one will get some sun but having lived with a north facing garden, it's really not as much as you'd image and the garden isn't very long meaning it probably won't be free of shade from the house. I think you'd be lucky to have any sun after about 3pm. I suppose it comes down to whether you want any sun after school or work.

@BunnyRuddington

It just seem long enough to get any real sun. I know that even a north facing one will get some sun but having lived with a north facing garden, it's really not as much as you'd image and the garden isn't very long meaning it probably won't be free of shade from the house. I think you'd be lucky to have any sun after about 3pm. I suppose it comes down to whether you want any sun after school or work.

No sun from 3pm? Even in summer?

No sun from 3pm? Even in summer.

I think you'd be lucky.

We're north facing, new build and during the summer we get the sun all day at the back. The corner where our furniture is turns in to a sun trap and we're happy out there all day - and this is in Scotland!! By comparison, the house beside us is in a cul-de-sac and has an east facing garden and they get no sun in the back garden in the afternoon which is rubbish if you've been at work all day.

I think it depends on what else is around you etc rather than just the direction as we're elevated so don't get shade from other houses.

Without knowing if it's due north or offset NNW as the diagram implies, how tall the local buildings are and if the ground slopes away or towards the house it's impossoble to be sure.

I certainly wouldn't expect very much sun, except possibly at the far end of the garden.

I wouldn’t buy if it didn’t face south. Even on the coldest of days so long as the sun’s out we don’t need any heating on.

I think it depends on what else is around you etc rather than just the direction as we're elevated so don't get shade from other houses

I think that's probably true Cross

The front of our house is north facing and in the summer we get sun in the late afternoon/early evening. To the point where I've considered putting a bench out there. Also the sun will be straight overhead for part of the day in the height of summer.

@FrankskinnerscRoc

I wouldn’t buy if it didn’t face south. Even on the coldest of days so long as the sun’s out we don’t need any heating on.

Well the garden is north facing, but the house is south facing into all the main rooms, kitchen/diner, lounge and master bed so I imagine we'll be ok from a cold house point of view.

Admittedly worrying about the garden now.

I wouldn’t buy a house with a small north facing garden. My parents is north facing and probably bigger than that, it gets very little sun tbh.

I have a small new build garden, but it faces south west, so gets plenty of sun. We discounted the houses on the other side of the road due to their gardens being north facing.

Admittedly worrying about the garden now

Have you bought the house? Could you afford the extra for one of the other houses? They may be easier to resell.

My garden faces north and we get the sun in 2/3rds of it all day , the part nearest the house is in shade some of the time which keeps the lounge cool.

We have a bungalow and the house covers the garden in shade

The top left corner gets the sun from over the garage - it’s a small corner we intend to make a patio

However we’ve put benches out the front for the warm afternoon sun tucked in by the garage but the back is too cold for a paddling pool

We haven't exchanged but have reserved etc. The £15k extra for south facing garden didn't seem worth it to us when it was a worse plot, the gardens were overlooked from all aspects whereas we have no houses behind us (and no chance of expansion), it was closer to the main road, we're tucked out the way etc. Husband also said it's a definite pro to have the front of the house south facing as the main rooms would benefit. I don't expect an all day sun trap but having sun in the summer months is a necessity or we'll be miserable.

Husband also said it's a definite pro to have the front of the house south facing as the main rooms would benefit.

If it were south facing the rooms at the back would benefit.

It's good that you're not overlooked, that might help you to resell the house but if not having sun will make you miserable, I'm not sure that's the house for you.

I would be happy with this. Wouldn’t bother me if sun was limited. You’ll get it when the sun is high and there will be sun spots regardless

We have a smaller then that garden. And will go against what people have said here.
It’s lovely in the summer especially with two kids. They are happy to play out and even in the summer it is warm. It’s nice to sit out in the evenings as it’s not cold. We get the sun till about 3ish as it moves round. We have the garden furniture in the sunniest bit as it goes down the side of the house.

It will make it harder to sell.

Ours is East facing, which has its bonus.

Our neighbours who are north facing in a town house have absolutely no sun. It's a dank miserable area that no one uses. It never appears dry:( or happy.

The other plus points would outweigh the sun aspect for me, especially not being overlooked.

I find being out in the sun quite annoying (my eyes and skin are quite sensitive to it!) although it’s nice to look out at a sunny garden.

You could maybe put some light green bushes in to catch the sunlight high up, so you would see the sunlight catching the leaves, even if there was no sunlight at ground or eye level iyswim.

I've a North facing back garden that's very long and it does take until about 3pm to see any real sun and for it to warm up. Luckily my front garden is south facing, and on sunny days is very warm from about 10/11. On really hot days the back garden isn't a problem because, as you say, is good for the kids to play in and gives us a reprieve from the heat (my front verses back is like 2 different climates some days). But to be honest there's not enough of those days for me to consider it as a benefit. If you don't have a usable south facing front garden as well, I personally wouldn't consider it.

Op do you have to buy this house

This picture shows it a bit more clearly, it has a compass too (red line showing where as I couldn't see it at first!)

I think it's fully north facing based off that. The front garden is south facing and once we've fenced it off would be usable but is small.

That is just about the same as mine, we get the morning sun at the back, it goes around to the front during the day and in the summer it comes through the gap between the houses so we get sun at the far end again in the late afternoon.
I don't think it's that bad, I'm glad of a bit of shade near the house in the summer.
The top right corner of your garden should get the sun until quite late in the evening.