How much does garden size matter with young children?

[Hann376]

we are looking at buying a house which ticks most boxes other than having small garden (approx 7m wide by 5m long). We have an almost 2 year old and hope to have at least one more so I’m just wondering if this is a deal breaker and we will wish we had a bigger garden in a few years with more kids , when they have friends round etc.

There is a park close by but I know it’s not the same as being able to relax in your own space while your kids play.

house with small garden has 3 big bedrooms so would last us until teenage years whereas we have another option house which has 2 double room, 1 box room but big garden but then would possibly have to move (or pay fortune for double storey extension) when they are teenagers

how much do people use / value garden space with young kids?

I would go for the larger garden.
As long as the house was in a great location for schools and was near a park of some kind. You can always put a studio in garden, or add a room and box rooms are fine for a kid.

Pros for a garden...
Grow food
Entertain
Trampolene
Grow flowers
Swing set
Cubby
Dog
Cools the house
Birds
Artistic pursuits like painting
Climb trees.

I really like my garden with my toddler, who is 2.5. We can spend the whole day together in it : digging with little spades, watering everything, playing on slide / rocker, exploring, making dens, chasing pets...

But indoor space is also important, especially in winter - I suppose it depends how much value YoU put on having a garden?

I don't have much of a garden and I've never missed it.
It rains so much here that I think good indoor spaces are more useful.

We live near the village park/playing fields and used that as our 'back garden' when the DDs were small. Lots of other people did too so it was a great way to meet up with friends.
It has swings, a slide and a sandpit; there's huge amounts of space for riding bikes and some small wooded areas for building dens plus tennis courts and batting cages.
We have a small, paved courtyard with deep flowerbeds on 2 sides. There is plenty of gardening to do witihout needing to maintain grass (which is actually v difficult to grow!). It's beautiful but fairly low maintenence.

Our garden isn’t very big and we have a toddler and a baby. It’s big enough that we can put a little plastic slide out for them to play on. If my toddler wants to ride his bike then we tend to go for a walk to the nearby park.
We have a 3 bedroomed house and one is the box room and I would much rather have 3 good sized bedrooms. We will need to move before the baby needs an actual bed as his room is so small we won’t fit one in. I’d compromise on the garden if it meant the bedrooms were big enough, especially if there was a nearby play area / the general area is great.

I think I'd go for the small garden. At least it's some outdoor space.

I've got a big garden and one good thing my kids love is our trampoline. However especially in winter, my kids can honestly go a week or more without stepping foot out there.

It didn’t matter as much when they were little, but mattered a lot from about 8 ish. Basically, the age when they can play more independently. If there is a playground nearby and it’s safe to walk to and you’d be comfortable with them being there with friends, totally fine. Or they have local friends with big gardens. If you want them playing at yours where you can keep an eye on them and not just on screens, then you need the space.

We had a small garden til our eldest was 9. That was fine because there were no friends in walking distance so no playing out anyway. But now I love to see them all on the trampoline together on the weekend (she’s 13).

As much as I value our garden, one thing I’ve really valued is two separate indoor spaces for them. We’ve always had a lounge and a spare room/office of some sort. It means I can separate them! One could watch Blippi or play in the lounge where I could keep an eye on them. Older one could watch some preteen drama in the spare room. Otherwise, there was fighting.

We have a smaller garden and it’s fine. But we also live about 50 steps from a playground

I think as long as you have a garden it doesn’t matter if it’s small

We’ve had both. Larger one is better as they age, for more tiring exercise via organised games with friends as well as the climbing frame & trampoline. Then replace the above areas with flowers & veg when they leave home 😁

We don’t have a huge garden but big enough for a playhouse and a little slide and still space to sit out. It’s not hugely important to me but I only like to be out when it’s really warm so it suits. If your outdoorsy and will spend loads of time out there then maybe go for bigger. The previous owners sacrificed a chunk of the garner for an extension and we get far more use out of the inside space the. We would the bigger garden

I'd definitely take the small garden and the 3 bigger bedrooms. Garden upkeep is a pain in the butt and im sure the kids probably only use about the first 30ft of ours.

We went for a bigger garden and are very grateful for it. The kids are out in the garden come rain or shine, and it's great now they're older and can have playdates out there rather than trashing up the house!! I also find I spend less money - in the holidays and at weekends they're happy to spend the day in the garden so we're not spending money going out to places.
I have friends who don't have much of a garden/live in a flat so no outdoor space, and it's a bit of a 'false economy' as they spend fortunes on taking the kids out to places to stop them going stir crazy!

We went for a bigger house that will last us until the dcs leave home, even though it has a small garden.
For us, that made more sense as we dislike the upheaval of moving, stamp duty makes moving v expensive, and it's a headache moving when they are in the school years as you're restricted by school distances and the admissions cycle. We also wanted to invest time and money into making the house right for us for the long term, and not have to think we might move again soon.

Our garden has enough space for a sandpit, slide, small trampoline and play house. The dcs enjoy going in there but we aren't the type to spend all day at home. We're very child-centred and will travel all over London every weekend and school holidays for a trip to different destination playgrounds (ones with lots of different equipment, very high towers, climbing frames and long slides, big splash and sand areas). We'd always rather go out to somewhere like that than sit at home on a weekend, and playgrounds like that can't be replicated in a domestic garden. They'd get bored with just going down the same slide in our back garden even if we had a big one, they always get excited to visit a playground with different designs so we like to facilitate that. It doesn't cost lots to go out to parks, just travel costs and a packed lunch.
So it depends a lot on your lifestyle and whether you like to stay home a lot.

We have a big garden in northern England. October to March we don’t use it at all. April to September we use it every other day. I wouldn’t be without a garden but I’m not sure I’d have a big one again. We’re very home based as a family so it is important to us