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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder why anyone would choose to buy a house with a north facing garden?

373 replies

chillidoritto · 26/09/2023 18:50

Currently trying to find a new house and every time I think we’ve found one that ticks all the boxes, a quick look on street view shows it has a north facing garden!!

A woman at playgroup was going on about how lucky she was that she had a shady north facing garden! It’s dark, damp and nothing seems to grow there except moss! She does have very pasty kids mind.

Am I missing something? Are they so bad?

OP posts:

MummyToOneRainbowAndOneAngel · 02/10/2023 13:01

We are keen gardeners and have a south east facing garden. I wouldn’t completely dismiss a north facing garden though, unless it was very short. If it’s long enough it will get sun at the back end, the aspect is just reversed.

Whether it matters inside depends on how the rooms are laid out and your preferences for light. We still have north east facing rooms (the front rooms) even though we have a south west facing back garden. We have the kitchen-diner and family living area facing out the back to south west and the formal living room and dining room towards the front to north east. Sometimes in the summer in the kitchen I think I’d appreciate it being north facing instead!

noodlebugz · 02/10/2023 14:25

I’m a redhead, my children are super fair. If you want to swap for my too much sun totally south facing garden… we find we just don’t use the garden enough on hot days because it’s too much for us.

Thexwife · 02/10/2023 15:31

its really hard to find a south west garden. My old house was like this and not overlooked.My garden was always warm. Did mean I got all the kids playing in my garden - I didn’t really mind. My lg used to go and get changed when she went to a friends as she said their garden was freezing- north facing.I’ve also noticed that new houses they’ll build a house perpendicular to a house that’s south facing back garden- my friends is like this and it blocks the sun.

Pinkypup · 02/10/2023 19:22

We moved from a south facing garden to a north facing. It’s cooler than a S one, but it’s not cold and damp! It all depends on how much vegetation is around or buildings as to how shady it is. In summer it still gets very warm.
we haven’t tried to grow anything yet as the garden needs an overhaul but we have grass and trees and shrubs that are doing well!

For instance, this is at 12:30 last week, so not even height of summer.

To wonder why anyone would choose to buy a house with a north facing garden?

Mswest · 02/10/2023 20:25

I had one and it was long enough and surrounding buildings low enough to still have sun in most of the garden in summer. But I would never choose one over south facing and I've definitely never heard any describe themselves as lucky to have one.

PavPams · 02/10/2023 21:15

I was the same when we were buying our house, buuuut I honestly cannot love our north facing garden more! I have two small children and it has been a godsend over the hot summers. It’s warm and they play safely in a shade, yet we have enough sunshine at the back to warm up a paddling pool and enjoy the sunshine.

Saying that, I regret having a north facing garden for about a month in the spring, because it won’t catch the spring warmth. But that’s a small price to pay for the lovely shade you get in the summer.

if the house is perfect then don’t be afraid of the north facing garden.

newdiamondring · 31/03/2025 10:16

Jumping on this old thread as want to put a patio space at the back of my north facing garden to sit on in the mornings when the rest of the garden is still in shade.

Do any of you have a space for morning sun and if so what does it look like? Currently I have patio by the house and just grass.

Thanks.

Disturbia81 · 31/03/2025 10:43

Love mine, it gives respite in summer. South facing gardens are way too hot for me

5128gap · 31/03/2025 11:01

Ooh. That's a tough question for a Monday OP! Could it be that when looking for a family home in a good location, with a suitable square footage, room sizes and so on, the direction of the garden doesn't even make the priorities short list? My garden faces N/E. I got round the pasty kids issue by occasionally allowing them out of the confines of the garden and telling them to face South.

Paganpentacle · 31/03/2025 11:03

We have north, west and south facing gardens.
The north one is an absolute sun trap....

Primrose579 · 31/03/2025 11:33

We have a south facing garden which is wonderful. Unfortunately it means our house faces north and is cold and damp.

mondaytosunday · 31/03/2025 12:10

I have one now and it’s great! It gets sun all day during the summer (right now half the garden is in sun) as it passes overhead east to west. I don’t get sun coming into the house from that side which allows me to have two big skylights and a wall of glass without baking in the summer or fading all my furniture. In the winter it’s true I don’t get sun in the garden but I’m not out there in winter anyway, and the glazing keeps it bright inside. I’ve got flowering clematis and daffodils now, tulips next and lots of plants thrive. I had a west facing garden before and couldn’t use the sun room as it would be too hot.

Zonder · 31/03/2025 12:13

Paganpentacle · 31/03/2025 11:03

We have north, west and south facing gardens.
The north one is an absolute sun trap....

This. Ours has so much sun in the afternoon. We have a huge parasol so we can have lunch outside.

MothersDayLieIn · 31/03/2025 12:22

I didn't look which way the garden faced when we bought the house! I don't care! I still dont know but I think it's east facing!! (I have just looked because of this thread! Lived here for 5 years!!)

Some people just don't care that much ! 😎

(Edited because I looked out the window again and I actually think it's east facing and south facing! I guess that's good!)

Corba · 31/03/2025 12:23

North facing gardens aren’t these weird sunlight excluded zones. Mine is NE and currently completely bathed in sunlight. My neighbours have a prize winning garden. Issues are what you make of them.

BlueandWhitePorcelain · 31/03/2025 12:41

When we bought this house, it was the best we could afford at the time. The orientation of the gardens was unimportant to us - much more important were the catchment area for the schools, off road parking and it had solid interior walls (not just plasterboard).

Every house is a compromise unless money is no object!

Floatlikeafeather2 · 31/03/2025 12:42

It depends on the things surrounding your garden and it's size as much as what orientation it has. Even a south facing garden won't get much sun if it has tall buildings on all sides. A long north facing garden with shorter or no surrounding buildings will get more sun in those circumstances. We have a very long south facing garden but, because of where our next door neighbours' house is, the back of the house and patio is out of the sun in the evening. No problem - we just built another patio where there is sunshine then. My other neighbour whose garden adjoins ours at the bottom of our gardens, and so faces north, always has lovely evening sun across the back of his house and patio.

emmyren4 · 31/03/2025 13:03

We fell in love with the house and didn't think twice about the orientation of the garden.

We have a large south facing garden in the front and a small north facing garden in the back. If it's at all sunny, the front is boiling. The plants love it but the people don't. We've done the small back with a big water feature and lots of ferns and shade loving plants, it gets east sun in the morning and west late afternoon, and in the middle of the day it's a lovely green, cool place to sit.

Bogginsthe3rd · 31/03/2025 13:05

We have a north facing garden but it's about 2.5 acres and also has a walled garden in it so we can just follow the sun around if needed. The sun at the minute is delightful and the walls of the garden trap heat also. It's a paradise really when spring turns to summer.

Comedycook · 31/03/2025 13:36

Bogginsthe3rd · 31/03/2025 13:05

Surely if your garden is that big, the aspect is barely worth noting unless you're surrounded by sky scrapers!

applegrumbling · 31/03/2025 13:41

Haven’t read the full thread but we bought our north facing house last year because it was this or nothing. We’d sold our house and were desperate to move to a particular area where we used to rent. There was nothing else in our budget.

I wish the house was warmer and got more natural light but we are so much happier in this area. And I don’t miss WFH in a south-facing room, I had to keep the curtains shut in summer as it got so hot.

Ilinaya · 01/04/2025 20:55

I think with the weather heating up and summers now becoming very hot in parts of the country north facing gardens are becoming more popular. I remember being desperate for some proper shade when living in London.
We now live by the coast and it never gets that hot.

Milly16 · 01/04/2025 21:18

Ours is north facing. We have a sunny patio at the back and plenty of plants and a nice lawn. It's lovely in summer - south facing gardens are absolutely unbearable.in summer I find, especially small ones.

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