North facing gardens

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Hello, we're currently looking at reserving a new build property, it ticks all our boxes apart from the garden is north facing. The development isn't built enough for us to go and look and see what sun we would get, is anyone able to advise from the snapshot of the site plan please? We are looking at 76. Thanks.

I would say looking at that plan the house would shade around half the the garden for most of the day, except maybe at midday at the height of summer. If you wanted to sit out in the sun (to eat etc.) you would need a patio at the end of the garden.

You can still have a beautiful garden in a north-facing house. You just need to choose slightly different plants. There are loads of books available to help you out!

We have a large chunk of our garden that is north facing (and surrounded by high walls). The only time it is a problem is in the winter, when due to the heavy soil it can get quite muddy. It gets enough sun when the sun is high for us to be able to grow a wide variety of plants, including roses.

I have a north facing garden, and from October - March we have no direct sunlight in the garden - BUT we are surrounded by three story houses (you may want to consider this). I guess if the surrounding houses are low, it will be better. I would like more sun, but when it's really hot in summer its actually very nice to have a cool shady part of the garden to retreat to. Our bedrooms are also at the back of the house and remain nice and cool in the summer too.

All houses are only 2 storey so no big town houses surrounding us. Our current garden is south-west, it is lovely but when it's really hot I don't like my ginger child being out in it, so less sun might actually work! I like the idea of a patio at the bottom of the garden.

The garden backs onto other gardens to the east and west, so you should get morning and probably late afternoon sun. Certainly in the summer. My garden north faces but isn't especially overlooked and gets full sun for most of the day in summer.

What is the ratio of the garden length to the house height? I have a regular two story house and a north-north-west garden. Right now the sun only makes it over the house at about 20m down the garden. In the height of summer it is 3m form the house (which is nice to have a little shade in the heat of the summer).

A key element is the evening sun - In the summer the sun goes down to the west and it looks like that plot would get the sun across the gardens in the evening (subject to trees, now and in the future). I'd favour a North-West garden rather than a North East garden for that reason.

I certainly wouldn't buy number 75 - their garden is a black hole - surrounded on three sides.

A north-facing garden can be amazing. However, I'd be put off by the lack of light in (presumably) the main living areas in the house. I find north-facing rooms permanently gloomy and depressing.

Our garden is north facing and the best thing about it is that in summer the back of it gets the sun all day. The bit nearest the house is always shady but that’s not a problem and good for the kids

I agree with JoJo - less about the garden - there are ways around that - for the few times we use our gardens in this country - its more the absence of daylight / sunlight in north facing rooms all day every day where you spend most of your time. See if you can go to friend/relative's house with the same orientation so that you can see the difference - or if you have a north facing room already spend long durations in there to see how it feels. If the kitchen/living is single storey and has the opportunity for a large velux - the overhead daylight would make a great difference.

The front of our house is North Facing. It is very dull & cold from Dec-Feb so it depends what rooms will be facing North!
Of course it does mean at the height of the Summer it is light & cool.
Also it does mean it us like a house of two parts front (N) is dull & cold back is hot (S).
I would also consider what rooms are South facing as they get very hot & we use blackout blinds to minimise the heat 😉

Our garden is north west facing, and we have a regular height house (ground and first floor). In the summer we get full sun at the front of the house and top of garden, as the sun moves round the whole garden is sunny but just on the back patio is shade. By afternoon that too is sunny, so we get a good mix and plenty of sun in the summer. However, in the winter we get no sun at all on the back patio, which is not a problem except if it's icy it won't melt, and it's no good for my potted pansies so I have to move them into a brighter bit. The house is certainly not dark at the back because of the orientation, but we have got very large windows. In fact the evening sun can make the house rather hot in the summer at the back. Hope this helps.

'Few times we use our gardens in this country' ....you must live in one of the soggy bits!

Many of us get outside quite a lot.

Not a brilliant photo but here's our patio at the bottom of the garden. I've planted lots of ferns as they do well in the shady areas.

Tbh, looking at the plan of the estate, the plots don’t look big enough for a sunny end of the garden. The back garden looks barely bigger than the footprint of the house.

It depends which rooms are north facing. For us it's the kitchen and lounge. The lounge has a bay window with french doors so a lot of glass but it does still get a bit gloomy in winter.

The kitchen is fab because it stays cool. As our house in on a north/south axis you can either find sun or avoid it. My youngest child had white blonde hair so a shady bit of the garden was bliss.

The difference with my house is there is no-one to the left of me so no shadowing from other houses meaning we get full sun all the way down the garden to the house but lose it early in the evening.

It works for us. My parents house had a south facing garden and the sun was so bright you had to close the curtains to see the tv!

Thanks everyone, some really helpful things to think about. The living room would be south facing and the kitchen would be north facing (looking over the garden), that's the opposite of what we have now so our current living room doesn't get much sun but I can't say it's ever bothered me, and our bedroom is the same which does make it nice and cool in summer. I do like having a south facing kitchen currently but I hate how the sun shows up all the dust and grease, so that might be a plus point!!