Will this garden get any sun?

[Autumndays24]

Hello, my husband and I have wanted to buy in this area for a really long time. This is the last house on the development and has become available last minute. The house has everything we want aside from a concern we have for the garden. The front of the houses faces South and the back garden has a NW orientation. The house (and our semi detached neighbours is 3 storey) Will the garden get sun? The prospect of a very shaded garden put’s me off.

The plot is 96, I’ve marked the house with a blue dash.

Thank you.

I can’t work out where the garden is on the map or how close other properties are but I have a NW facing garden and it’s glorious. I have sun in some part of the back garden all day long, it starts on the left, swinging across the patio which goes all around the back. and the last of the sun is on the back right corner of the house.

Yes, but not much. Some in the morning but I think it’ll be mostly shaded for a lot of the day. The curve of the houses SW couple mean you don’t see any evening sun. I’d avoid if you’re a gardener/like sitting in the sun.

Important to know
what does the garden back onto?
Is it 3-4 storey flats? a garage? Its not clear...

How long is the garden?

I actually live in a house with a NW facing garden. I had similar reservations its fine.

We have imo a smallish garden its about 90ft we have a 3 storey house and get loads of sun.
it is only the first 10m or so that is shadier in the AM. I say 60% or so has sun all day long

We have all the sun loving flowers in the middle / to the right and mostly nice flowering bushes and shade loving plants to the right.

Its perfect for us and kids can play on patio next to kitchen and i know they arent getting sunburned / are nicely shaded.

We have a 2nd patio with outdoor dining midway down (that doesnt really get used as MEGA sunny) and one at the back which is shadier in the afternoon and a sun trap in the morning.

Honestly there isnt much of a difference except i actually have some shade which is welcomed but if its built up all around i can see itighr be problematic

Sun sets in the west so, yes, you will get it in the evening.

As the sun rises in the east there will be quite a lot first thing and then maybe just half the garden during the daytime as the sun goes round the front (in the height of summer)

During the winter you won’t see much sun at all in the back garden during the day

Thanks for the replies. The building (same colour as the house) is our garage which is a standard single garage. Across the road at the rear of the garden is a bungalow.

We have a 7 month old so I wouldn’t be opposed to part of the garden being shaded for her benefit. I was worried about the house casting a huge shadow but hoped the fact that west and east aspects are open would bring in the light from the sides?

The lounge and kitchen are the width of the house and have windows facing South. Hopefully this would bring in some light to the house as a whole.

I had the same reservations about ours but it's fine. I love having a shaded patio next to the house during the hottest part of the day. We get the morning sun from the east. And sun all afternoon until it dips below the tree line to the west.

Does the south sun come over your house to give you the afternoon sun? This is re-assuring. Thanks

Mine is NNE, so similar to this. The house is 3 storeys and the garden is shorter than the house is tall, and during the summer it’s fine, with sun at the end of the garden all day. During the winter there’s very little sun at all. It’s not dark, obviously, but shaded.

The height of your house and the length of the garden are what matters. Anything to the North is irrelevant - they won’t block the sun.

I say this all the time on these threads, it's not whether it will get ANY sun - of course it will - it's how much sun it gets throughout the year, rather than just the summer months when the sun it's obviously at it's highest.

Personally I wouldn't choose a house with a garden that is unlikely to get much sun in the winter and not as much in Spring/Autumn. Having sun in your garden when it isn't otherwise boiling hot makes it far more usable imo. Think of the days when you might cross the road to walk on the sunny side to feel the warmth on an otherwise quite chilly day.

You often get people posting on these threads that say their NF is fine and not an issue due to the very short time we get to use the garden in the UK. There's a reason for this!

Do you find it gloomy outwith summer or still useable? Thank you

Our current garden is SW but as you can see it’s blocked from South and West. We get the sun on the patio through the gate on the south side and the far top right corner in the evening. Anything with better than this this would be ideal!

I use to have a long NW garden. The patio was in the shade for most of the day but we had a lot of sun on the grass. Shady patio is great in the height of the summer.

I now have a teeny tiny NE courtyard and even that gets some sun! (Not right now though)

Nowadays new builds have to an assessment of how much sun there will be- I think it's called 'right to light' so you can look at that on the council planning portal.

Thank you, I had no idea!

Agree with PP it really depends how long the garden is compared to height of house. You may find it's fine June -Sept but otherwise the sun is too low in the sky.

Can you go round if it's sunny at the weekend and have a look. We did this with one east facing house we were interested in as we wanted to see how much of the garden was still in the sun by late afternoon. We just looked through the fence.

At the end of the garden it does. By the afternoon the sun is positioned to the west of the house and shines directly into the garden.

Very difficult to say. Our garden is ne facing I was on a big gardening forum, and people refused to believe how much sun we get or that a new facing conservatory reached over 40c in summer. However,it's a detached bungalow,so the sun comes over the roof, and the back garden is almost 170 ft long, so we do get quite a lot of sun,it's over a lot of the garden from 6am to 6pm.

NE, facing conservatory, phone added the W

@ketchupjap it feels very hemmed in, not the nicest of views either!!

You will get sun in the morning from the east, then in summer when the sun is high and from the west in the evening- if there are no big buildings/ trees to the left and right.

This is her current house I think?!