Aspect - how important is it?

[Cel982]

We’re house-hunting at the moment, and there are two potentially great places we’ve arranged a second viewing for, but both have (fairly large) back gardens that face NE. It’s niggling at me, but I think I might be putting too much emphasis on it. Our current rental has no usable back garden, and both our last place and the house I grew up in had small north-facing gardens, so it’s not like we’ve been used to a huge sunny paradise... Neither of us are keen gardeners, so it’s not about plants; it’s more, I suppose, the idea of long summer evenings with the BBQ going, a big sunny kitchen and so on. Although both gardens had plenty of sunlight when we viewed recently (late afternoon), so it’s not like they’re completely shaded.

How important is it? I’ve seen people say they’d never consider buying somewhere without a south-facing garden, but realistically 75% of people must do... If a house is otherwise great, would you let the aspect put you off?

@sdaisy26 I always would have said no, it wouldn't bother me...but now I have my south facing garden I'd find it hard to be parted from tbh. It is so lovely having sun around all day long and in to the evening.

This, word for word.

I moved into a house with a south facing garden last November and have been loving it - even in this hot weather. Do have a tree that shades part of the patio though (doesn't shade the house).

In winter on a sunny day didn't need any heating on. Much brighter in winter too which helps mood I find.

Previous gardens were west (nice for evening sun) and two north (wouldn't do it again - too gloomy).

Our garden is south facing, but due to neighbouring structures and trees it doesn’t get as much sun as you would expect, especially not in the evenings - so if sunshine is important to you, think about what’s around you too, before you commit.
I personally would not buy a house with a small north-facing garden as it would permanently be in the shadow of the house. I would also not buy a small-gardened house of any aspect if neighbours had over-large trees which would cast shade and drop rubbish all over my patch year round.

In depends on tbf back rooms. They may end up being very dark if they have small windows.

I think people sometimes exaggerate the lack of sun based on aspect. We have a small, north facing garden and it’s had plenty of sun this spring and summer. The house doesn’t really block it much. It’s quite dark in the winter but as others have said, it’s not like we’d be out anyway.

I was worried that we’d regret it, but now I think it’s absolutely perfect. And the living room is at the back so nice and cool in the summer.

We used to have a north facing garden but it had no houses behind (well, it did, but the other side of a canal and its towpaths and banks, plus other gardens, far enough away not to cast any shadows). It got sun in different places throughout the garden, although less so in winter. We extended the kitchen into one big family room and it was lovely and light, bright and airy. It didn't get ridiculously hot in the summer, you could sit on the deck and enjoy the garden.

We currently have a big south facing courtyard and I haven't been out there in days. It's incredibly hot out there.

So in short, I'd consider any aspect, it's not just the direction but what else is around it etc.

It really depends what else is around you. We're in the process of buying a house and my current garden is completely south facing but I lose the sun in the evening because of houses around me. We viewed a house with a south-facing garden but it had the side of another house at the end which would have blocked it off, and the neighbours on one side had conveniently grown their plants high which would also have blocked off the sun. We're buying an east-facing garden which is wide and not overlooked at all so will get some sun pretty much all day.

I'd compromise aspect for location. The bigger your budget, the less you need to compromise. Me, I couldn't turn down my favourite house in a good location because of the aspect. I just don't care that much about gardens.

Our back garden is ene and my kitchen is brilliantly sunny in the mornings, patio is like an oven until about 2.30ish when the sun moves around to the front of the house. It's fairly blissful in the evenings with no sun and a gentle breeze. If I ever moved again then I'd chose ene again because we always have shade on one side of the house.

Old house had a south facing front garden and living room, Christ alive that was just roastingly hot from morning to night, hated it because the curtains and windows had to stay permenantly closed.

Thanks all - after a second visit over the weekend we’ve just put in an offer on one of the houses! Fingers crossed...

Just in case anyone comes across this thread again, our offer was accepted on Friday! We’re over the moon, and ready to make the most of our lovely, large, slightly-facing-the-wrong-way garden 😜

Very important to me. The current heatwave is very rare, and having a garden that gets sun for a large part of the day was on our essential list when buying. I really wouldn’t want a garden where the sun has gone over by afternoon

We have a relatively small NE facing garden in London. At the moment it gets the sun all day, even a small spot in the early evening. It does not really matter in the summer. It’s more in spring and autumn when the weather is nice and all the south facing neighbours have the patio doors open whilst we are freezing. In winter no-one gets the sun here so again it’s no issue.
If you have two identical houses in the same location I would always choose the one with the better aspect. In most cases you don’t get that choice so if the house is the right one for you in all other aspects I am sure you have made the right choice.