Buying a house with a NW facing garden

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Please tell me about your NW facing gardens

I am fantasising about buying a house that's come on the market near me. The only drawback that I can see is the NW facing garden. It's fairly large (21x7.2m). It's surrounded by similar sized gardens and is bordered with mature shrubs and trees which I'd cut back to let the light in.

At the moment we have a similar sized east facing garden, which is lovely. We get sun all day until about 7pm. As a keen gardener and sun lover, would I regret giving this up for a NW facing plot?

Probaby

Ours isn't north west so we get the sun in the morning then it moves to the right side of the house - we have windows so kitchen then dining room then into the front

The shadow of the house covers the garden patio we get a triangle shape

As we are detached the evening sun is either side of the house - but one more shaded by the garage

So depends on the height of the house and the length of the garden

Go look on a sunny day about 4/6 pm

As a fellow gardener I would personally never buy a north-facing garden. We actually didn't buy a house last year because it was otherwise lovely but north-facing, and basically just mud.

However, it does partly depend on how the light hits. If it's open all around you you'll probably have plenty of light. If you're in a row of terraces surrounded by trees you'll have none.

Hmm, same here, just rejected a house as it was north facing garden. Supposedly though east facing gardens are the worst due to harsh easterly winds. I think like Vickie said it depends on what's around it.

I rent a nw facing house. I actually prefer it over our old south facing one as we get some decent shade in the garden and we don't have a sauna at the back of the house (aka the conservatory)

negatives for me is that:-

1)I had to spend a year making note of where the sun is in the garden during the day to work out where is best for growing the veg (I actually decided to grow the tomatoes in our front garden).

2. we can't dry washing outside until it is really sunny. A dry cloudy breezy day results in washing which is still soaked 6 hours later.

3. our dd has the back bedroom and it gets no direct sunlight on it in the winter so is very cold compared to our room.

As it's only really a dream, here's the link:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49776192.html

My DD's former nursery is a few doors along and I remember the garden as being reasonably sunny when I picked her up in the evenings. When I look at the satellite view, the sun seems to be full south and the end part of the garden looks sunny?

Can you go and see it at different times of day?

My garden is NW and it is great, but it is wider than that and detached so I get a lot more sun on the westerly side of the house. I'm not sure if maybe we're more towards the westerly end than the northerly, possbly makes a big difference.

This is the amount of shadow we have now, so just before 1pm. That room is in the shade until about 6pm. The rest of the garden is in the sun though.

We are almost nw. We get the morning sun at the front, then it passes to the left of us so we get afternoon sun in the back, but not all over at the same time, ifyswim. Having had a garden that was in full sun all day all summer previously, and had no natural shade, I prefer this one. However, in the winter, there is no sun on the patio outside the back at all from late sept to march, which is fine, as we don't sit out then, but it is no good if you want a few winter pots of plants/bulbs, as they don't like it, and if frosty or snowy, it won't melt at all. Some natural or dappled shade means you can have some interesting summer planting, rather than scorched plants that need constant watering (or even a scorched lawn).

It's a lovely house. The garden will get lots of sun from halfway to end. You'd need to open it up about by controlling the height and size of the established plants.

I have a N facing garden and loads of plants grow. It's really long and the house is a cottage so casts little shade.
There is always sun in part of the garden and the flower beds at the end are facing south. We grow just about everything including veg.
On the N face of the house we grown a climbing rose and begonias thrive.
Posting a couple of photos.

I love my NW facing garden! Ideally it would be completely west facing as I love the sun in the evenings. Our old house had a SE facing garden and I didn't like it as much as we lost the evening sun.

Another bonus is that we're currently building a kitchen extension and don't need to worry too much about it being a sauna.

My NW facing garden has lots of sun, pretty much all of it from early afternoon.
DD's garden is NW facing and an absolute suntrap so go for it!

Check the trees down the left hand side of the back garden. if in your land, and no tree preservation orders, then go for it. if TPOs or belong to next door then you will have shadow in the evening in the summer.

Actually talk to the people to the west, because they will control the light you can get (they might plant bamboo!). So if they are nice or nasty would really affect your enjoyment of the garden.

We have a NW facing garden. In the depths of winter all is in shade (so no drying laundry outside). In the summer we get a bit of shade from the house which is nice to get a break from direct sun. in the afternoon / evening the sun comes across the neighbours gardens which has been lovely since we worked with the westerly neighbour to take out a load of trees that were totally shading us.

Our garden is west facing and it is ideal. From around late morning the sun shines across the garden from the south side and then all afternoon and evening the sun is on the garden. Lovely at this time of year although some people would complain it's too warm! I shouldn't think a north west garden would be much different. Our front garden is east and I definitely wouldn't recommend that, bit of sun in the morning but not when it's at it's strongest.

JT & chewbecca - your gardens are beautiful, thank you for your photos. I love the challenge of finding the right plant for the right spot. Our east facing garden is great at the weekend, but DH and I both work FT so it's annoying not to have any evening sun.

Any more thoughts on the house?

We have north facing and its fine. It gets enough sun in the summer without being totally crazy hot as it is out front. Plants grow really well. Downside would be in the winter where the lawn doesn't really dry out.

I have a NW facing garden and it's genuinely the only thing I regret about our place. We are mid terrace and we had to position our patio carefully to have a chance of getting some consistent sun. It's not hard to garden but I certainly have parts that are for shade loving plants only.

I think it has a lot going for it but the garden is really overgrown with bushes and trees . Are they the neighbours trees or this house? The area looks lovely OP

We had a north-facing small garden (paved, no grass) in our last house, after having 2 houses with SW gardens.
I thought I would really miss the south-facing gardens, but it was fine for our few shrubs and tubs all year round.
Never had a problem with clothes-drying as that mostly depends on the wind. Also nice and cool in the kitchen in the afternoon and evening.
The bonus of the north garden was for the children playing out in the summer. Paddling pool etc could be close to the house without the need for extensive sun-lotion etc.
We are now in a south-facing garden again, so back to the suncream. hat etc, and a hot kitchen.
Pros and cons for all garden aspects!

I think the garden would be ok, long enough to be sunny further back. However the deal breaker for me would be that you'd get very little sun in the kitchen. (Depends how much you are kitchen based though)

I have a NW garden and love it. I've had west facing and south facing gardens before but prefer the NW garden out of them all. We have sun there most of the day, just not on the back of the house, but we have had an extension on the rear with a vaulted ceiling and velux windows, so the sun pours through them making the rooms bright and warm. Looking at the photos of your (potential) garden, it looks like having enough sun won't be a problem as there are no tall buildings surrounding it. The trees are your biggest issue, however most look like they are yours so I would get it cleared. When we first moved into ours, the garden was badly overgrown so we got people in to clear it for us and we've started from scratch. The house itself looks lovely internally. I think if it ticks your boxes in all other aspects, go for it!

Thank you everyone, I'm glad it's not a complete no no. We're away at the mo, so I'll drag DH along to look at it as soon as we get home and report back.

I have a North Facing garden - which is about a quarter of the size of the garden in your right move dream.

We get pretty much full sun on the patio outside the rear of our house until 1pm and then it tails to the opposite corner of the garden until 6 or 7pm.

I have no issues with any plants growing and despite the small size of my garden I have a mass of Roses, Honeysuckles, Trachelospermum's, Clematis, Photinia's, Lilac's, Buddleja's, Magnolia's one or two others.

I aerate my lawn 2-3 times a year and this prevents any 'bogginess' by allowing the lawn to drain.