Planning to Buy a House with North facing garden!

[PinkSwan]

Hi everyone.. I would like your inputs on this topic! We are planning to buy a our dream 4 bed link detached house having a 45ft back garden which is mostly north facing and slightly east facing. Also It has a south facing front garden which is 49ft and next to the drive way to the garage. So how bad or good is this?

Thanks in advance :)

Depends on if you like sitting in the sun or drying your washing outside.
Personally I couldn't buy a north facing garden as I love the sun too much.
Could you make the front garden private enough to sit out in it?

Are you worried about shade? I'd guess that will depend on the height of the surrounding buildings and trees.

I think its probably difficult. There are no fences or boundary walls separating the neighbouring houses.. so it cant be that private.. A small portion of the garden gets sun light according to the current owners..

Sounds similarly positioned to my house, although I have a much smaller north facing back garden (about 15 ft). We get loads of sun. In the summer we often sit out after dinner on the decking at the top of the garden and soak up the last of the rays. No problem with hanging out washing, either.
In the winter, as the sun is lower, the shade creeps over quicker but we still get sun in the garden and dry washing outside if it's a dry day.

@SolomanDaisy, We are mainly worried abt its resale value ;)

I couldn't tell you what direction our garden faced. I think if the garden is fairly large it's going to get some sun for some of the day unless it's surrounded by other buildings.

You've got a front garden that sounds pretty big if the back garden ends up being an ice box. There houses down the road from me which have tiny back yards but huge front gardens but you can't see into the front gardens when you walk past as they have tall bushes.

X posts

Mine is n east facing. I am enjoying the planting challenge - latest mix of clematis & ferns are lovely. We do get Sun in different parts of the garden during the day & also have different parts in the shade. In the summer the shade has been v welcome. I have grown to appreciate it. Growing veg is a bit of a challenge & I end up growing tomatoes in the front.

@SingingSands, That sounds reassuring thank u :). Do u have any issues with moss?? I have read loads about it from people who have north facing gardens ..

We bought a N facing gardened house and regretted it. Moved across the road some time later and there was a huge difference. It isn't the summer so much as the winter sun in the garden which is so welcome. Would never buy N facing again.

We've bought a house with a north-facing garden, and one big advantage is that any garden-facing bedrooms will not get the morning sun, so you will be able to sleep in without noise or sun!

I think it will also depend which way the rooms face inside. If the room you will spend most time in are on the north side of the house you will be living in the dark.

We had a north facing garden once and I'd never buy a house with one unless the block was quite wide. We like a secluded garden, and once our north facing garden was surrounded by enough trees and hedges to be private it became quite damp and sunless. Our current north facing garden is so much nicer.

I have a west facing garden currently with no shade on the south side. In the summer it is fully in the sun from 10am for the rest of the day. Sounds lovely but it is a killer on hot days and our conservatory is like a furnace.

On the other hand we rented a house with a north facing garden and it was quite depressing in the winter but lovely to get the shade in the summer.

If the house was lovely and the garden wasn't too shaded by other houses, trees etc then I would probably go for it.

My house is in a similar position too. Everything in the front garden gets burnt and everything at the back in the shadow of the house grows moss! We have a double whammy at the back because the neighbours' trees on either side shade the garden more and suck the moisture out of the soil. It has been a real battle to grow anything in the borders close to the house - but then I'm not a very good gardener!
Also, another thing to mention is the house really takes a battering at the front from the sun. The paint finish deteriorates much more quickly.
On the plus side, I often sit on the front doorstep in the summer evenings and watch the goings on of the neighbours!

We have a north facing garden, about 65ft and it's hugely sunny. In the summer, it gets full sun until 2ish and then the patio gets shaded (which is good as it gives somewhere to sit) and the last of the sun doesn't go from the end until 8-9pm. In winter, we get sun until about 3ish (it goes dark from 4pm). I was worried when we moved in, but it's totally fine.

Another consideration is that the kitchen will probably not have direct sunlight in it all day. That would bother me too.

I've got a north facing garden, in summer we get loads of Sun and have decking at the end of the garden and the patio by the house is in the share which is lovely, it beats the shade from an umbrella.

We then get evening sun across from the side and often sit on the patio in the evening sun which is blissful.

I would not buy a house with a north facing garden. I love sunny gardens.

It's my idea of bliss. I'm not a sun worshipper and we're all fair skinned. Our current house is the other way around and I spend as little time as possible in the back yard, on a hot sunny day, because it's intolerable.

We have a NE facing garden, about 40 feet deep. In the summer it's in the sun all day and we had to get a parasol to get some shade. We enjoyed eating alfresco on the main patio by the house as it was the only cool shady spot. We did get a patio built though at the end of the garden to ensure we get a sunny spot to sit in the evening or during warm days in October or the spring.
I think the problem is in the winter months, from November until beginning of March when there is no sun at all in the garden, as a previous poster mentioned. That's a bit grim. Having said that, the sun is so low that it's barely even in the south facing gardens across the road.
I think a lot depends on the elevation of the house and height of trees, walls and depth of garden.
Resale value depends on a lot of things.. Location, size, number of bedrooms etc etc and garden. We are in London and houses in our area fly of the shelf, regardless which way the garden faces/

We have a North facing garden and still get a decent amount of sunshine - the main issue for us is the bedrooms and living room at the front are ridiculously warm when it's hot outside because they face south. We live in a new build, so it's partially because if the level of insulation, but I can't emphasise enough how unbearable it can be when it's really sunny.

However, on the flip side, it really cuts down on heating costs!

The Master bedroom and the second bedroom face north! whilst the 3rd and the fourth bedroom are south facing. Thank u for those inputs..

North facing garden here too and still get plenty of sun. Besides I've always felt you don't want too much sun if you have kids playing in the garden all day.

Thank u @jaynebxl :)