North facing garden

[Bratfink]

is this a bad thing? And would it put you off a house?

Thanks

our house at the moment is north facing - its not that good for gardening and doesn't get any evening sun - depends what you want a garden for - eg just to put the kids in, or gardening or bbqs - and also I guess it would also reduce re-sale - it depends big it is and how high fences/hedges around it are as well - as you might get some sun

Thanks. I don't know the first thing about gardens so that's useful
It's a fairly large open space so perhaps wouldn't be too bad

Tbh the house we've seen is great so I don't think it can be a deciding factor as we've been looking firever and this is the best for years

my back garden is north facing

rubbish for growing plants

great for sun-sensitive DD

have gravelled the lot and got lovely patio

and an allotment for plants where i send DH when he's getting under my feet

Our back garden is North facing . I'm a keen gardener but did not put me off, that said it is a medium size plot and gets plenty of light in the summer months.
Not a great one for sitting in the garden through the Winter months - who is ? Unless, of course, you are mad as DH who insists on a BBQ between Christmas and New year come what may !

I think it's more important to look at the general amount of light the garden gets, not just the direction.

Our garden is north facing but has fairly low fences either side, and it's quite long, so most of the garden gets sun for most of the day. The only part that's really shady is the side return and a short section directly in front of the house - which is actually a plus with small children.

Evening sun is fine because we have nothing to the west of us, so we get it right down to sunset almost.

To be honest, if you have small kids then a real suntrap garden is almost more of a pain as you spend the whole time slathering them with cream and moving umbrellas around. I like the fact that we have a bit that's reliably shady and I can put a picnic blanket there and leave them to play in the sand.

I'm buying with north facing garden, if it's long you will get some sun unless the neighbours have lots of trees blocking the sun.

Yes, it would put me off.

the thing is, if you have a south facing garden but your neighbour has big trees at the bottom, that will have exactly the same problems for most of the year.

The only difference is you can put "south facing garden" on the estate agents details

Our back garden is north-facing. Didn't really think about it when buying tbh. However it is 105ft so most of it is in the sun at the moment. The issue for me is that the kitchen and lounge are at the back and have been extended and are DARK. Have the lights on in these rooms all day. Didn't fully appreciate it until moved in. Needs addressing eventually.

Yes, it would put me off and I have walked away from lovely houses because of that reason.

It's not so much a garden issue but a house one. Do you want your kitchen and back reception room to have no direct sunlight? I would find it depressing but not everyone else does.

Walked away from buying a house, I meant!

Ours is on a north-facing slope and it does get less light than it might otherwise, but in the summer, as theyoungvisiter says, it's actually fine - it's in fiull sun from about 3pm once the sun gets round the trees at the south side of the garden until it sets at, well, up here about 11pm in June . If our blimmin neighbours would cut down their enormous sycamores, it would actually get sun all day. But hey.

Personally, I love a woodland garden full of foxgloves and ferns and hostas, and we manage to grow some fruit and veg quite successfully, so not too much of a problem. If you want to lie in the sun all day, perhaps more of a problem though.

I moved in 3 months ago, have a fairly small north-facing back garden, and sort of regret it a wee bit. These past few sunny days have made it very clear that for the first half of the day there's less than a square metre of sun in the garden, a little more in the early afternoon, but it doesn't last long... Now that I'm starting to think of getting into the gardening it's a little disappointing. Plus I'd quite like to sit in the sun, if it comes back.

To be honest, it wouldn't pull the most weight in terms of when I'm next house hunting (this one's not a keeper), but it will definitely factor in my choice.

Our garden is north facing. It is 65ft long and 50ft wide. At the back of my garden, behind my fence are some massive trees lining the canal towpath and the lock.

I don't have any issues with the amount of sun in my garden. And our kitchen / diner which stretches across the whole back of the house is lovely and light and airy.

Tbh it is better than our previous garden which was south facing and the patio got so hot in the afternoon we were unable to sit out there and had to retreat indoors.

This is all so useful, thank you

The back of the house is cloakroom/ utility room/ bit of the kitchen so may be not as important as some other houses

It's a long long garden and as I said earlier open so hopefully that would help

I also think the point about children being outside all day in the summer and needing a bit of shade could be encouraging

We will see, we've just had the first viewing but it's the first place that has excited us. Going back on Friday so I will pay special attention to the light then

Thanks again

it means your front rooms are sunny though - and warmer in winter.
our is north and actually gets lots of sun

My parents lived a house with north facing garden. It was dark but did get some sun - the problem was more that it meant the kitchen, living room & several bedrooms were all north facing. In fact now I think about it only 2 rooms in teh house were south facing - those rooms were lovely & light & very warm in teh sunmmer!

We have a north facing garden, and have had to alter it alot in order to have a nice place to sit in the sun. We have to have 2 areas, one for morning and one for evening. I get enough sun to be able to have a veggie patch at the bottom of the garden, and really like the way our house stays cool at the back all summer.