To consider a north-facing garden

[wink1970]

I have seen 2 houses, both perfect, but with north-facing gardens. I keep being told they will never be warm, but does anyone have a different viewpoint? Surely they get sun rising to the right and setting to the left?

I think I'm trying to talk myself into it!

Mine faces NNW and is long - 15 fence panels and we get sun in it all day, in different parts as the sun moves round. I love it! We have bifold doors and the sun never shines directly in them so the room stays cool and we can see the TV, but there's always sun in the garden and in the evening it's on the patio which is lovely.

But if it's a small garden or heavily overlooked then it might be dark and damp - you should be able to tell by what's growing in it. We looked at a beautiful house when we were buying but the garden faced North, had large conifers across the back, and was small. The lawn was just damp moss and it was so gloomy when we went to view. It was a big reason we decided against it.

Personally I'd rather have a south facing garden with a Too Much Sun problem, as you can solve that easily by planting trees, erecting parasols or awning, pergolas with plants trained over the top, anything like that. Not enough sun is not something you can fix! But it does depend on whether you intend to use the garden as much as possible, and how big the garden is, so the shade/sunny ratio.

It works for some people, you just have to weigh up whether it matters to you or not.

The north facing garden I had was a terrace so the width was not great, and the shaded area by the house was always cold. The front of the house was drenched in sun so the bedrooms at the front got stinky hot while the rear garden that we wanted to use remained cold, except for the far end which was a border. It did get sun at the bottom, but it wasn't enough for me as I need the heat more (cold makes my bones and joints ache).

A big garden without shading from neighbouring houses will probably still get a lot of sun in summer.

Ignore the dumbfuck comments about no nice weather in the UK, unless you live in some trendy spot in a high rain area in which case more fool you. All about space and shadows. A new build with a tiny north facing garden, no chance.

no, they'll be no sun in the garden and no sun in your windows at the back

We have a north facing, very shady, garden. If I could have a south (or east or west!) facing garden I would prefer it but it wasn’t enough to put me off the house. Downsides - in the winter it gets pretty boggy, and the borders don’t get much sun so I can’t have my lovely English country garden that I would like, I’m limited to shrubs, basically. But flowers do OK in pots at the top of the garden. It does get some sun but it moves about a bit. In the summer it is actually lovely and shady, and an oasis, where our front garden is like a furnace.

Not a problem if the garden is long enough. You can put the terrace at the sunny end and you can control what’s in between the house and the sitting out area so you get the amount of sun/shade you desire. I’m SW facing and can get shadows from trees at the end of neighbouring gardens.

I’d be more concerned about the house. Figure out which rooms will be the dark rooms and then think about how you would live in them. If the rooms you will use the most are the darkest, reconsider!

We have got a small, north-facing garden. It’s obviously not ideal, but neither of us are keen gardeners, so that’s not an issue. In every other way, the house was perfect. A lovely barn-conversion on the edge of one of the nicest villages in the county. The garden was the only significant downside, so we decided to compromise, and used it to negotiate on the asking price. No regrets.

We have a north to north east facing garden and it’s fine. The patio area nearest the house gets morning sun, then the rest of the garden later in the day. We don’t have houses behind us but do beside us. The only thing it has changed is that our outside table is slightly up the garden as that is the best sun spot. Our kitchen as others say stays nice and cook despite large french windows.

Friends over the road often have to move their table into the shade as it is too hot being south facing in the height of summer.

Our last house had a north facing garden. We built a sun terrace a little away from the house which was great. Also, not getting the sun on the back from midday meant the conservatory was actually useable rather than suffocatingly hot. It wouldn't put me off buying a property.

We have a North facing garden and the patio at the end is lovely and sunny in the summer afternoons and evenings. We also have a small seating area outside the back door which is never/hardly ever sunny but when it's really hot its actually nice to sit there in the shade.

Our old house was South facing but the garden was small and the walls were high so it wasn't very sunny either.

My parents are obsessed with the issue of which way a garden faces and they'd never buy a house with a North facing garden. To be honest, I'm not that bothered. In non covid times particularly, if the weather is nice we tend too go out instead of sitting around at home.

North facing is great for kids as they are somewhat sheltered from the midday sun. Probably not great if you want to sun worship out there and are an avid gardener.

These are very helpful, thank you all.

It's not a large garden but it's also not overlooked. It's a new build and I cannot get onto the site properly to see how the size will make a difference or not, very frustrating. I suspect we would get sun everywhere but the first 3 or 4 metres from the back, which is the eating area.

I have a southeast garden now, and the sun is lost on the kitchen patio at 1pm, which means we never use it.

I would never have a north facing garden again, its dark, cold and we struggled to grow anything. Now we have a south facing garden, its brilliant. Its sunny, light and warm all day!

Not for me - sunny day disappears too early for my liking.

Ours is long enough to get sun. (I think the size of the garden is really important.)
Back of our house used to be cold (and dark), but we replaced the windows across the back and have put spots with dimmers everywhere and knocked windows / skylights through where possible to maximise the light, so it's fine. Guess that bit depends on the design of the house.

We have a north facing garden. We get sun all day and then we lose it at about 6/6.30. That’s the only downside - no evening sun.

Both times we have bought houses the compromise has been a north facing garden and both times we have been pleasantly surprised. Our first was a mid terrace with houses all around and v small yard to by rights should have had no sun but actually was lovely! May-Oct it was a real sun trap and guests and us often got caught in the sun and burnt it was crazy! Newer house is a bigger but wide garden and so far gets good sun 9-4ish but then the sun goes away. However I expect mid summer it will last longer. Plants trees and grass are all in really good condition no moss etc. so im hopeful it would be fine. The same houses south facing would have been £££ more so for us it was 100% worth it.

Unless you live in a north facing mid terrace back to back like we did years ago, surely the house has other sides that can be used?

We still got our washing dry but never tried to grow anything as we weren't interested.

Our back garden faces east and loses the sun mid afternoon, so for evening sun we just sit in the front garden.

Ours is north east ish and very sunny but there’s no neighbours houses casting shadows. We have a private South facing front garden too which gets very warm, too warm really.

Our garden is NNE, which is apparently the worst possible orientation. It is short but not overlooked at all and we love it. We are very much kitchen rather than ornamental gardeners and whilst we grow plenty at the back, anything that needs full sun (eg tomatoes, some herbs) we simply grow at the front. We get lovely morning sun, then we like the fact that in high summer the deck area is shaded for the children to play on in the middle of the day. We then get the sun back from the west in the mid-afternoon into the evening. We have an extension with a lot of glass at the back of the house which is beautifully cool in hot weather.

Orientation is very important to some people but it isn’t something for which I would personally pay a premium. I do wonder if the most desirable orientations will change as the climate changes over the coming years.

Think of the length of garden, in winter based on the house heights around you/your house would any of the garden get sunlight?

We have a long 25m NE facing garden but are on a hillside, so this means that there is barely any winter sun unless you’re right at the bottom. Most plants die off anyway because it’s cold but we’ve noticed algae growing on walls/paths which isn’t there in the summer.

North East facing short front garden. Lovely sun in the morning and a long edge of it gets the afternoon sun.

The back garden is short and south facing - and gets super hot from 10am to 7.30 pm in summer.

We have lots of houses round us though.

Long North facing garden wouldn't worry me. Whereas I'm not sure I'd look for a full south facing garden again...it cuts down what you can grow due to lots of watering and stuff just cooks!

My 50ft north facing garden has sun all day. We have a patio all along the back of the garden which has sun all day and also a patio just by the back door of the house that gets the sun early evening. We used to have a south facing garden and lost the sun a lot earlier than we do now.

We went from a south facing to a north facing house, the garden is 100ft, from about now it gets full sun apart from about the first 15 ft which is shaded, this makes a lovely area to sit in the summer if it's too hot, the back section gets sun till around 7.

Our back extension doesn't get sun which suits us as it's open plan kitchen/living so in summer is lovely and cool for cooking, our last house, the kitchen was stifling in summer. The front room and bedrooms get full sun all day so it's lovely and warm to sit in.

So no don't dismiss it.

It doesn't make much difference to the heat of the house, if one side is north facing the surely the other will face south?

In terms of the garden, it depends how large it is. Ours is west facing and it's lovely but there is always somewhere with sun as it's quite big.