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Original poster

Would you buy a house with a north facing garden?

67 replies

georgeclooneyfan · 14/07/2013 23:49

We can't decide over going for a new build which ticks all the boxes apart from it's north facing garden.We have spent ages talking about it and have been looking for ages for a house.We have always had a south facing garden which has been great when it is sunny,my dh would prefer a west facing one.We feel time is passing us by as we have waited literally years for the right house to come up.Any advice would be great thanks

OP posts:

MissyMaker · 15/07/2013 00:06

Nope, unless the garden was huge (think acreage), and then it wouldn't matter so much. I personally wouldn't have a house with a north facing garden. Sorry. Are there any other possibilities in the same development?

HenWithAttitude · 15/07/2013 00:08

I'm confused by this whole north facing garden thing. My house was marketed as north facing garden. The front garden is north of and back garden is south of the house. My front garden gets little sun but tbh slopes away from the house so house shades it. If it was flat it would get sunshine. Back garden has sun all day. Sun rises and crosses and the back border 4ft deep? is in shade from the 6ft fence nearly all day. The east part of the garden grows plants amazingly well but tbh the rest isn't bad either. (My garden is pretty large so possibly you're going to find somewhere that is sunny)

So as I started...I'm confused. When it says north facing what does it mean? Back of the house (a fixed point) faces south. Garden faces in every direction???

MissyMaker · 15/07/2013 00:13

Hen, I would say that your house should never have been marketed as having a north facing garden!

holycowwhatnow · 15/07/2013 00:13

My garden is east facing and I think this is worse than north facing because when the sun starts to set, the house throws a shadow over the garden. My friend has a north facing garden and while this means her rooms at the back of her house never get sun in them, her garden has sun all day.

TBH, that wouldn't put me off the house.

holycowwhatnow · 15/07/2013 00:14

Hen, north facing garden means if you stand at your back door and look straight out, you're facing the north.

HenWithAttitude · 15/07/2013 00:18

holy cow thanks- I'd thought this but assumed estate agent must be right! So my garden is south facing... South facing is lovely OP. HTH

My front garden is very cold and shady even on a hot day. However as I said it drops away from the house so is always in shade. If it was flat the sun would hit the garden at the edge to the road. So size does matter in this case!

mnistooaddictive · 15/07/2013 00:23

I have a north facing garden. Everything else was perfect and there has to be a compromise somewhere!

We are not great sun lovers and it is not a problem. The back if the house is cool.

HarrietSchulenberg · 15/07/2013 00:40

I have a north facing garden and have no real problems. Sure the front is sunnier for longer but the bottom of my garden gets plenty of sun and I have some great fruit bushes there that don't seem bothered .
Go and look at the garden in the late afternoon and see where the shadows fall, then make your decision.

HenWithAttitude · 15/07/2013 00:44

I was going to suggest popping around there and checking garden in the evening or daytime. I did that and also checked neighbouring gardens for 'health' of plants...even asked one neighbour what soil type it was .

SignoraStronza · 15/07/2013 00:45

I have a North facing back garden and the front, where we grow our veggies is South facing. It means that ours and the baby's bedrooms are boiling at the moment, as they face the front.

Having a North facing back garden has never been an issue to be honest. The house doesn't cast a shadow over all of it, and means I can keep the baby cool on the patio on this wretched heat.

CoolaSchmoola · 15/07/2013 00:50

We have a north facing garden and it's perfect. The garden gets full sun until 3-4pm but the rooms at the back of the house stay lovely and cool.

We have a huge field at the end of our garden though, so there is nothing to block any of the sun. Not sure if that makes a difference.

flow4 · 15/07/2013 07:29

I think it depends on the size of your garden and what else surrounds it. A north-facing garden will be over-shadowed by the house for at least some of the day, but if it's longer than the shadow, that's not much of a problem and could be an advantage in heat like this. However, if the garden is small, and particularly if it is also surrounded by other houses that cast their shadows on it at different times of day, then it could be dark most of the time, and that could be depressing.

TheRealFellatio · 15/07/2013 07:34

Probably not, and cetainly not in a new build, where they tend to have small gardens that are often less deep than the house is high, iyswim. And if it also totally surrounded and overlooked by other similarly high houses that would be very oppressive, and in almost constant shade.

But of course it depends on the size, the plot shape, etc, the other choices you have, and value for money overall. How does it compare to similar houses on the estate with south or west facing gardens? If there is not much difference I would try to beat the price down on that basis, or buy something else.

Clayhead · 15/07/2013 07:37

I have twice!

Luckily, each time the garden was longer than the shadow of the house but I'm a shade lover anyway so it suits me

TheRealFellatio · 15/07/2013 07:38

Hen is your house still on the market now?! No estate agent in his right mind would actively 'market' a house as having a north facing garden, when it is considered a negative feature by most people! And it sounds as if yours made a mistake anyway, and got it the wrong way round! Usually they mention south and west facing gardens and they are something people look out for in the write-up, and ignore any mention of aspects for east and north.

But if you have a massive garden that faces east or north it's not really a problem - you will still get sun somewhere.

daisylulu · 15/07/2013 07:43

I have a north facing garden- it was my one compromise on an otherwise perfect house. DH and I are both sun lovers.

Has it been an issue? Definitely not! Our garden is much longer than the house so we get full sun for most of the day and then shade at top of garden and sun from middle onwards. Like the other posters have said it really depends on length of garden to house ratio...

Yama · 15/07/2013 07:43

North facing back garden means coffee outside on a sunny morning.

I like our north facing garden for that reason and also, it provides shaded bits for playing in when it's frankly too hot. Our garden is large though so we can get sun at the end of it until close to 7pm. Our front garden is large too and we have a wee bench for sitting out (quiet street).

So, it wouldn't put me off it is is fairly large and if you could use your front garden.

HenWithAttitude · 15/07/2013 07:45

No RF. I bought it 7 yrs ago and the EA was useless. The picture used to market it, was the back of the house which is quite uninspiring...taken on a gloomy day and limited internal pics. It's was on the market for 2 years.....

I was a buyer ready to go and asked to view and they were unable to arrange a time to suit me. In the end my selling agent had to intervene in order that we were shown around!! My seller was abroad and not supervising the sale or that contactable when we did eventually buy. I was stunned at how difficult it was to view and how rubbish the marketing details were. It was the cheapest house I viewed and a bit of a 'rule this one out' viewing. I loved it and could see potential immediately

WhoNickedMyName · 15/07/2013 07:51

On a new build property where the garden is the size of a postage stamp - no.

A lovely big well established garden - yes.

AngelinaCongleton · 15/07/2013 08:01

We've just moved from house with north facing garden. I echo what others have said, it depends on depth of garden. If the shadow of the house/ or other houses cast too long a shadow then it is a problem. If its deeper than the shadow them having a bit of shade is nice. We found in our new build the neighbours all grew ivy up the fence so that blocked sun on both sides of fence and as we'll as only having a postage stamp area with sun. it was pretty gloomy. Also the developers tend to dump their rubble on the plot and build up limited soil and top soil so drainage was also a problem in a very shaded garden. The grass was always soaking and of poor quality. People often extend new builds at the back of house so have a think about if you were wanting to build a sun room or whatever, as that could be sunless. All in all, totally depends on depth.

Spickle · 15/07/2013 08:09

I have just moved from a south facing garden to a north facing garden (both gardens around 100 feet long) and was concerned about this aspect. The north facing garden is, however, fabulous. We now spend more time outside than in the south facing garden and the sun is in the garden all day, except right by the back of the house and the house remains cool. There are various paved areas so we are not restricted to sitting in the shady bit. My driveway (now in full sun from facing south), means that snow/ice in winter melts away a lot quicker than on the other side of the road. Win win in my opinion.

However, if the garden is small and surrounded by buildings, you may find it very shady. Best to look at the garden at different times of the day to see how sunny/shady it is and for how long. Have a look at the patio - has it got a "green mossy" tinge? If so, it doesn't get much sun.

EeyoreIsh · 15/07/2013 08:27

I have a small North West facing garden. It was a compromise when we bought the house.

At this time of year, we get sun in the garden must of the day. It takes a while to hit the lower part of the garden, but we cut down a tall tree and ivy that was blocking some of the sun and that helped a lot.

In winter, the sun only hits the top of the garden really. One wall never seems to get much sun other than in mid summer.

At the time of buying I thought it a massive sacrifice to make. actually, it's been fine. There's enough sun to sit out and enjoy the garden at this time of year.

The back of the house stays very cool, which is nice. The front receives lots of light.

MortifiedAdams · 15/07/2013 08:30

We only have a yard, so didnt care when we bought if it was NF or not. It happens to be NF and I dont wish for.more sunlight. The back of the house (lounge and dds bedroom), are always cool, so even in this weather, she is sleeping great and still with her duvet!

The yard is long, so the bottom half gets sunlight til about 7pm.

pictish · 15/07/2013 08:31

Our garden is apparently North facing. It gets plenty of sun for most of the day, so I don't see a problem.
Come tea time - the top third of the garden is in shadow, but the rest is still sunny.

Our garden is lovely - I haven't got a complaint about it.

littlecrystal · 15/07/2013 08:38

I have West facing garden. In the evenings it gets so hot at the back that our kitchen is boiling when I need to make dinner, think of switched on oven! Come morning, our master bedroom boils from 5am with early east sun and I often escape to my kids' west facing bedroom to relax in their toddler bed :) In my ideal world the garden should face north west and the front should face east south to have best of both worlds. So north garden is not far from my ideal and it certainly would be much preferred than south garden to me.

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