Getting hung up on which direction garden faces.

[IncognitoBurrito]

Hi, we are in South West London in a high rise flat. DC2 on the way. We want to move to a house, mainly so we can have a garden to plant vegetables in and for the children to play in.

We have pinpointed a very specific area that we love and want to move to. Problem is, houses don't come up there very often. Maybe one new one every six weeks, and some write offs from the start with tiny/no garden.

Am I being silly to get hung up on which way the garden faces? We'd be looking at terraces with gardens a max of 40ish feet. Saw a house the other day which ticked all the boxes, except the garden faced due North. I worry nothing will grow and it'll be freezing to play in. I just can't get excited about moving there. Am aware that worst case scenario we could lose our buyer if we take too long... Or compromise and go for an area we don't like so much.

It's uncanny how many North facing gardens come up. Do people with South facing gardens love them so much that they never move??! Perhaps having a South facing garden contributes to longevity too. Wonder if there's been a study done

Anyway, I suppose I'm asking wwyd in this situation? Positive stories of North facing gardens? DH humouring me currently but fear he may get impatient if I say no to too many more! Thanks in advance!

If you are really worried, there is a website (one of many) which can calculate the shadows in your garden www.findmyshadow.com/

My back garden faces north west and I'm in it, enjoying the sun, as I type this. I only "grow" potted plants and chives though lol.

Go and have a look at the property and spend some time outside. If you like it, go back at a different time of day for another look.

Our garden faces north east and is very sunny and only 40 feet long. We livd in s city bug nog London. We have morning sun on the deck outside the kitchen/ bifolds. The rest of the garden is sunny all day in the summer until it creeps down the garden in the evening. We have another raised deck in the bottom right hand corner which stays in the sun until 8pm at this time of year. I would miss having a coffee in the sun in the morning if we faced the other way.

I grew up in a town house with a north facing garden. Sure the last few metres got sun. But the lawn where u rode my bike, played, etc didn't. My last memory of my time there was dark and gloomy. We moved last year. We discounted all houses with a north facing garden. I know I need sun, especially in the winter, and my SAD lamp is a poor second best. It matters to some people !

This really mattered to me too. Unfortunately there were not many houses to choose from, especially with any decent sort of sized garden, so we've ended up with an east facing garden which is a lot bigger than the others.

This isn't as bad as I thought it would be, because first thing in the morning it is glorious! The sun shines into our dining room at the back of the house and we have breakfast all nice and bright which really wakes us all up.

We lose the sun from the main part of our garden (where we might sit, or the children play - the rest is a steep slope) around 6pm right now, which isn't great, but it's not as bad as it could be. There's plenty growing in the garden and the lawn looks good.

Overall I think I would rather have this large east facing garden than a much smaller west/south facing garden. After all, when it's cloudy the children still want to play. And it's nice to have shade too.

Garden facing south to west was at the top of the brief to estate agents for me - above number of bedrooms even. I would never ever contemplate a north or east facing garden.

I lust after the gardens in the bigger houses round the corner from me - not only do they face south but they also slope downwards. Perfect!

We are just moving from our house with a south and east garden (corner plot). I found it really tricky with young children as it was too hot and sunny out there from about 11am until about 6pm. Plus we went through barbecue covers at a rate of knots as they all disintegrated in the sun.

House we're (hopefully) buying has an East facing garden out the back and a large front garden and balcony at the front that should catch the evening sun.

I would not buy a house with a north facing garden, as I love having the sun right at the back of the house.

Some people have mentioned that with a north or north/East facing garden you get the morning sun, but most of us are at work 5 mornings each week. I think it's much more important to get the late afternoon or evening dun which is when i can relax in the garden.

Our garden is South West facing. The patio does get very hot in the middle of the day, but a £90 large parasol sorts that out. We also have some trees planted to give dappled shade in parts of the garden. It's much easier to create shady spots in a South facing garden than sunny spots in a north facing one!

I live in a south facing 80's south facing garden and i love the liggt in the kitchen.

So yr theory might b right. My house is v modest but im happy inside it.

You need to go and look at whether the sun gets to the garden. We have a small north facing garden and from April we get sun at the back of the garden for most of the day. At this time of year it's fantastic. Our neighbours with East facing gardens don't get the evening sun whereas we do.

Another north facing garden here with no complaints. We have sun all day and then it stays on the patio at the bottom of the garden during the evening. I liked the fact that when the DCs were little they could play out the back and there was some shade for them to play in. During winter it's not so sunny but I still dry washing out there, so not all bad.

Having lived in a house with a north-facing garden, one of my priorities when buying our current house was that the garden should be south-facing. I'm a keen gardener and got very frustrated with the fact that I couldn't grow most of my favourite plants because we just didn't have enough sun.

North-facing has it's benefits with small babies - always somewhere shaded you can sit during the day.

It really depends on the house. We have detached house and surrounded my detached houses so not a lot of shadows to block our garden no matter which way it faces. If you are looking at terraces you really must visit it morning and afternoon to see how much sun it's getting. Anything else is guesswork.

Oh god it makes a huge difference. So many flowers I couldn't grow in our old house (north facing) positively thrive now (south!). I thought it was me! It wasn't.

I'm confused by this. Our garden is not long (about 25 ft) and nw facing. However the grassy part is sunny all day long. And the patio gets the sun from about midday in the summer and is BAKING all afternoon, seriously hot. And our property is 4 story, on a road of 4 stories!

Does the slight tilt to the west make that much difference and if it was directly north it would be so much worse?

Oops read second thread and I see that I am not alone!

Looks like it depends on the individual gardenthen

Our last house had a south facing garden and it was unbearably hot in the summer. You couldn't sit out on the patio in July/August, even under the gazebo; we had to move our table and chairs further down the garden to find shade under the trees. I would never buy a south facing garden again!

If I had the choice I would have a west facing garden like I grew up in. Sunny on the patio from midday onwards and at the top of the garden but the bottom is shaded. Plus you get to watch the most beautiful sunsets. Admittedly our garden was up high overlooking fields so it might not work for most

I think north facing gardens are fine if they are large or there aren’t any large buildings / trees that will cast a shadow. At the very height of summer you’ll probably get sun come what may.

We have a South facing garden (with a north facing rear wall) and there are lots of plants that can grow in shade—clematis montana grandiflora, star jasmine (mine is blooming like crazy) and madamme Alfred carrier climbing roses to name just a few.

However a South facing garden is MUCH better than a north facing one. You get to use it 9 months out of the year and sunshine pours into the house. I actually underestimated how much more I’d like a south facing garden before getting one…

So south is worth waiting for but at least for me, not worth moving to a worse area for.

Ours is NE and has the sun all day long. I wasn't expecting much due to the direction, but my DD is out in it all the time, the closest 1/3 to the house is usually shady, but that is quite a good thing too.

Still sunny now, it's really lovely.

If you have a lovely view then north facing is best as then you are looking at a sun drenched scene. South facing the sun would stream in and possibly make it hard to see the view (curtains might even be drawn).

At the height of the summer the sun is high so even a north facing garden is mostly in sun.

So it depends on which window looks onto where. And how many months of the year you barbecue. If it's only july and a bit of Aug north facing is ok (unless your garden is only 20ft)

Also is the master bedroom facing south - so, like a greenhouse and sweltering all summer, or, if you are in Aberdeenshire, pleasantly warm enough to sleep naked. Or will the DCs be awake til 11 if it's hot summer evenings, then their room should face north.

Swings and roundabouts imo.

For every North facing back garden there is a south facing front garden, so plenty of opportunity for grand planting.

Ours is south west, which I really wanted. It hasn't got anything to do with tanning myself, it is to do with gardening.

Honestly, I think you can worry far too much about aspect. It's actually the particular conditions of the particular garden that matter.

But they only matter in terms of what you select. In Britain, there are beautiful plants that will grow in any conditions, from very dry, south-facing gardens to very wet north-facing ones. Whatever kind of aspect you have, you will need to do research on which plants will thrive there, but there will be many, many wonderful contenders. Come join us in the Gardening forum to discuss!

I have a north-facing garden in the north of England at the top of a hill. Basically, think of an environment that is much colder and wetter than anything in London. My house is an absolutely bog standard 30s semi - however, because the house next to me is slightly at an angle to mind, a ray of light comes into the garden. Here are some pictures (ignore the random bricks - I'm planning where a pond will go).

My garden is north facing, 50ft behind a three storey edwardian London terrace. We get lots of sun, the back 30ft of the garden gets sun all day. A photo at the risk of outing myself (excuse the ladder I've been tree pruning this morning).