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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
PlasticineKing · 26/09/2023 21:40

My back garden in N facing. It’s lovely thanks. Not much sun in the winter, but I’m not out there in the winter.

Granted a small garden that’s N facing would be rubbish. But thankfully we have a good sized space.

Grass is a bit mossy, but I can deal with that under the guise of biodiversity. Plenty of fruit and veg and flowers growing!

Lostinbrum · 26/09/2023 21:40

The direction the garden faced was never a consideration for us It never entered my head. Just looked at a map and our garden faces south east. The front of our house gets blasted wih sun in summer afternoons and gets very hot I'd have preferred it the other way

IMustDoMoreExercise · 26/09/2023 21:41

Slaterz · 26/09/2023 18:56

It was all I could afford at the time and the house itself is great.

Yes. they tend to be cheaper as some people will dismiss the house based on the garden.

Muchtoomuchtodo · 26/09/2023 21:42

Because it gets us a sea view! If I wanted a sea view and a south facing garden I’d have to move 5 hours away or to a different country (England!)

HappyPurrrsday · 26/09/2023 21:43

Our garden is North facing & gets plenty of sun throughout the day too.

User19537876 · 26/09/2023 21:44

If you have a conservatory that you want to use in the summer it is better to face north

VeloVixen · 26/09/2023 21:47

My house faces west and I hate it. Too much sun in the front windows in the afternoon, evening. I keep my living room curtains shut after lunch.

not sure if a south facing house would be as bad with too much Sun.

if I could have a house which faced north in every direction including the back and garden I’d be delighted.

FancyFanny · 26/09/2023 21:57

North facing is fine if it's big enough, ie. it needs to be longer than the shadow the house casts over it. Mine is North facing and for most of the day the bit directly outside is isn shade from the house's shadow, but the rest is in direct sun all day. It gets morning and evening sun in the summer.

Willa6 · 26/09/2023 21:59

Think of the ageing that the north-facing garden owner will be spared, being protected from the sun. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Original poster
chillidoritto · 26/09/2023 22:03

One of my very good friends is pasty and proud. She describes herself as pasty! Still not sure why it’s sneering! It wasn’t meant to be as awful as some people have taken it!

Current house is east facing. Lovely all day but it does lose the sun in the evening!

OP posts:
Creepedmeout · 26/09/2023 22:05

We’re in our third successive house with NF garden. This one’s true north and a real Jekyll and Hyde: It gets loads of sun right to within 3ft of the back door for all the summer months, and loads of evening sun still in September. But is only 30ft long and no sun all winter, pretty cold.

The surroundings do have a big part in our enjoyment. We’re lucky the houses to the west are set back so far that we can enjoy sunny evenings outside Apr-Sep and I love how the light streams into the conservatory until late. Our previous house had 40ft trees to the west and we got no sun after 3pm, ever.

There were limited houses for sale when we moved and ultimately we had to compromise on something. A great house 10min walk from a great school with a NF garden is preferable to a meh house with a SF garden.

RudsyFarmer · 26/09/2023 22:05

We have a north facing back garden and it works really well for the kids in the summer. The full face front garden is ludicrously hot. So for us this works better and I’m not stressing about sun cream constantly.

fyn · 26/09/2023 22:10

The definition of pasty is pale and unhealthy looking. Synonyms include sickly and pallid. An odd and quite rude thing to call children, surely by now everybody knows it is not appropriate to negatively comment on anybody’s skin colour.

Faceplantagain · 26/09/2023 22:13

If you want to sit in your garden, there's a really good argument that something west-facing - or with west-facing spots within it, is much better. That way you'll get the evening sun, which is - for most of the time - when you're at home and wanting to sit outside. I've got a south facing garden at one side of my house and a north facing yard at the other, and I can honestly say I sit out in the north facing yard more in the evening as part of it catches the evening sun, so I've put a nice bench there. And, as other people have said, it depends on the length of your garden and what is around it, how much sun different bits of the garden get. And finally, if you have indoor plants many of them will be much happier on northern facing windowsills and be burnt to a frazzle on southern facing ones!

Original poster
chillidoritto · 26/09/2023 22:19

fyn · 26/09/2023 22:10

The definition of pasty is pale and unhealthy looking. Synonyms include sickly and pallid. An odd and quite rude thing to call children, surely by now everybody knows it is not appropriate to negatively comment on anybody’s skin colour.

They are pale though. At what point did I say this was a bad thing?

OP posts:
RitaFires · 26/09/2023 22:20

I have a North facing garden and I love it, I have lots of plants and I use the garden all year round. I live on a hill so the garden looks spectacular in the morning when it's lit up from the East. It gets light in different parts at different times of the day.

My front garden faces South and a lot of my plants get scorched from the sun. The house is really bright inside with the most light in the living room which is my preference as I prefer the kitchen to be cooler.

It's all to do with what you want, but some people act like North facing gardens are cursed with unending darkness or are somehow unusable which is silly.

TheShellBeach · 26/09/2023 22:21

I don't actually know which way our garden faces, and I don't care.

Original poster
chillidoritto · 26/09/2023 22:21

I think a lot of you live in a part of the country that sees a lot more sun than where I live!

OP posts:
TheShellBeach · 26/09/2023 22:23

One of my very good friends is pasty and proud. She describes herself as pasty! Still not sure why it’s sneering! It wasn’t meant to be as awful as some people have taken

So why did you mention it?

TheShellBeach · 26/09/2023 22:25

chillidoritto · 26/09/2023 22:21

I think a lot of you live in a part of the country that sees a lot more sun than where I live!

I live in the West Coast of Scotland and it's never sunny here till 3 pm.
In summer, it's still sunny at 11 pm.

tillyandmilly · 26/09/2023 22:26

I would hate south facing - we are not all sun lovers ! Would buy a house but not south facing - we all want different things!

Original poster
chillidoritto · 26/09/2023 22:35

TheShellBeach · 26/09/2023 22:23

One of my very good friends is pasty and proud. She describes herself as pasty! Still not sure why it’s sneering! It wasn’t meant to be as awful as some people have taken

So why did you mention it?

Well if she has very pasty kids she probably doesn’t want to sun to get to them as they will burn too quickly.

I don’t sunbathe all day but I do like to sit out for an hour or two here and there.

My kids are not pasty. They wear sunscreen but they don’t burn the instant they go outside so I don’t have to be as worried as she does.

OP posts:
fyn · 26/09/2023 22:39

The definition isn’t just pale, it’s pale and unhealthy. To be honest lots of people have told you it’s an offensive thing to say, maybe take that on board?

Ponderence · 26/09/2023 22:40

NW facing garden here. It’s shady at certain times of the day but still pleasant on the hottest of days. Bought it because we like the house, area and it’s within budget. That’s it simple as.

KnittedCardi · 26/09/2023 22:42

I love my NE facing garden. As the sunovrs round during the day I have full sun and full shade somewhere. I do have a big garden though, and no neigh ours!

My front, therefore is SW facing. Had to plant ruddy big tree for shade, have shutters on the front windows, but conversrly don't need heating in the lounge on a sunny winters day.

Win/win.