North facing garden in London?

[GrowingRoses]

We are looking at putting an offer in on a house with a north facing garden in Wimbledon. We are worried nothing will grow and it will be hard to laze around in the sun, but at same time when we visited a place around 1pm it seemed plenty sunny. Never had a garden so would really love your perspectives! The house is perfect in every other respect, so we are very tempted.

We have a North facing garden, but it is only the area closest to the house that loses the sun early. We have our patio here as we can choose to move out of the sun from the middle of the day. Our garden has a wall around it and the wall at the back is south facing so gets really warm and all day sun. Fruit trees do especially well. If you're happy with the light inside the house and think about where you place patios/ flower beds you'll be fine.

You'll get people saying it's a total deal breaker. I didn't even factor it in to buying our house, it seems so minor to me. We have grass and flowers and (occasional) British sun just like any other house! Maybe a bit less coverage than the other side of the street but not a big deal.

It depends on how big the garden is and the height of surrounding buildings and trees. If it's North facing it will still have a South, East and West facing side.

In our last house our garden was North facing. We still had plenty of sun, just at the end of the garden so that's where we built our patio.

it’s fine if it’s long enough.

ours is north facing and still gets too much sun in spots…

I have always had north facing gardens in London. I don't know why but it's just ended up that way. There is an app called Sun Path or Sun's Path where you pinpoint the house and it will show the location of the sun in the sky over different times of the year (peak summer/peak winter etc.).

The key thing with a north facing garden is how high the sun has to get to reach your garden (or in other words, how high are the buildings that block it).

e.g. in our garden now, the only buildings blocking the sun are the row of terraces we are in (so our house and the houses next to it). We back onto the railway track (railway track is north) so we have nothing to the west or east of the garden blocking the sun. That means all of the summer, most of the garden is in the sun (with only a tiny bit right next to the house in the shade). In the winter, there are probably 6 weeks where the back garden gets very little sun at all apart from the very end of the garden but that's about it. It's never been an issue and we grow loads of things perfectly fine.

We have a south facing garden in London and it is absolutely boiling in the summer. The outdoor thermometer broke last year as it got too hot. Saying that, I don’t think I’d consider a north facing garden. We spend so much time outside I’d really miss the heat and the sun. Our neighbours opposite have little sun and their grass is always muddy.

If you are in London there will be plenty of days in the summer when it is too hot to sit out in the sun so a north facing garden is good.

My north facing garden is great... Lots of things grow and get sun from about April onwards. We don't have much right next to the house, though, nothing by the back door since it's almost always shaded. The patio is down the far end but it's lovely.

One nice thing about north facing gardens is that all the flowers swivel towards the sun, which means towards the house - so you get a perfect view of them from your back window or glass door.

We had a house with a north facing garden and really struggled to sell it. Patio was the other end and we made it as pretty as we could but the grass was always muddy and miserable, and except on days over 30c it felt chilly. It was also the main negative feedback from buyers when selling - that there was another similar house on x road near by but garden sunnier and warmer even if smaller.

it boils down to how much time you spend outside yourself really.

We're north facing and we get plenty of sun and shade.

My north facing garden. Absolute sun trap in the summer-I’m very grateful for a shady patio when it’s boiling hot!
I have a good selection of flowers that come up every year and my lawn is lovely (even with 2 dogs!)
We had a south facing garden previously. I prefer my garden now.

I'm in London and have a mid terraced with north facing garden. Didn't even come up on my radar which direction the garden faced. My garden is 5m wide x 8m long.

I have plenty of flowers and colourful plants which have grown well including hydrangea, camellia, rhododendron & a gorgeous lilac tree.

We had a north facing garden when we lived in London. The shade was a godsend when I had a small kid during the insane heat a few years ago. It was a bit boggy during the Winter, though.

Have a huge West facing garden now, and have to stay that it's great!

We’ve got a north facing garden in London, but are end of terrace so not overlooked on one side and that makes a big difference I think. Garden gets loads of sun and I appreciate the shade near the kitchen.

I hated my N facing (very small) garden. It was always freezing/not enough sun. Nothing grew and only got sun in the summer. Therefore no sun into the kitchen either.

I love beong hot so it was a real issue for me! I havr E Facing now but dream of S facing!

(In london)

Ours is west-facing and on hot days I yearn for shade. Plants frazzle to death. Sometimes it is unbearable out there, and it heats up the back wall of the house as well, so indoors is roasting too.

I'm a keen gardener and I'd love a north-facing garden.

So grateful for all the messages, this is really helpful. On balance given its all getting hotter and we are hoping to have little ones, we are thinking north should be okay. Greatly appreciate the wisdom of Mumsnet.

That's a beautiful garden @MaisyMary77 – stunning!