North facing Garden

[FluffyCubs]

Im sure this has been done to death, but this is the only thing standing in the way of us making a decent offer for our house.

House is a standard two storey house, garden is about 70 foot long. we live at the same latitude, and our front facing garden is mossy for the first four metres.

I don't really think it should matter if the garden is longer than the height of the house?

Ours is north facing and is wide rather than long. It was fine in June/July/August, full sun until evening but now the sun doesn't get so high so the sun in the garden starts from halfway down. It annoys me as my washing doesn't get the sun now!

The property I had before this one had a very wide, but not long north-facing garden. It was split so that the section nearest the house was patio and then lawn after that. Like the pp it was ok during the summer months, but outside of that it was awful. The winter months were the worst, no sun at all on the patio area and indoors felt so gloomy and it cost a lot to heat. This was probably all made worse by the fact there were no south facing windows.
However, I now live in a house with a south-facing garden and I adore it. There is always sun in the garden/house no matter what time of year and everywhere feels light & airy.
It's very odd, but I also feel more cheery in this house & I honestly think it has to do with the sunlight.

I wonder if you could put a shed summerhouse at the far end, where it will get sun, with some paving, washing line, place for your garden chairs?

It's ok in summer but deadly in winter. We moved across the road. Made a huge difference.

Thanks.....good to know it's not a deal breaker... Due to my panic about the substation, I'll be amazed if even get close to making an offer now though

It's fine. Honestly. You just need to approach it with the view that it's not a sun garden and will need to be treated accordingly. Making simple rearrangements, like placing your patio/greenhouse at the bottom of the garden instead of the top will allow you to maximise light and sun outside of the house's shadow.

There are dozens and dozens of absolutely beautiful woodland plants that love shade. I think they are probably more beautiful on the whole than sun lovers (check out my shade gardening thread in the gardening forum).

I don't understand the comments about sunshine in the house. Surely if your back garden faces north, then your front garden faces south. Which means you get the light and solar gain on the other side of the house. Given that most houses have windows on both sides, the overall net effect should be the same??

It was a deal breaker for me - I didn't go to look at houses with north-facing gardens after renting one for a while and craving sunshine in the garden. But, I accept that I am in the minority - estate agents certainly behaved as if it was a very niche desire!

shovetheholly my old property was weird an actually didn't have any south facing windows as that's where it was attached.
In my new place it's only the utility, one side of the lounge and my DD1's bedroom that face north, so in the parts of the house I use most it's always light and airy.
I can honestly say that I felt more depressed in my old place due to the lack of sunshine and for me a predominantly north facing house would be a deal breaker.