At what point is a larger garden not worth it with kids?

[OfUselessBooks]

We are buying a house with a smaller garden than we really wanted, although it is adequate for now. We're hoping in a couple of years to be able to upsize, but I'm wondering at what point it isn't worth it with small children. Ours are 4 and 6 and love running around outside, but I'm worried that by the time we can afford something bigger we wont need it for very long. Any thoughts? I had a big garden when I was a child and loved it, but I can't remember at what age I stopped playing in it.

I think it's always worth it for everyone

Except the person who has to maintain it!

We bought a house with a big garden when DS was 9 (he's 11 now). It saved my sanity in lockdown! But even without that, it was money well spent. As I child we played badminton, boules and cricket in the garden as teens. I've never met anyone with a big garden who regrets it (well apart for the time needed for up keep).

We have a large-ish garden (400 ft). It is great for the kids even now (12yo and 14yo) though the 14 year old doesn't ever leave her bedroom use it as much. 12yo out there with his friends as much as possible.

It was great when they were a bit smaller....they played a lot in the middle bit of the garden...so if they started bickering they looked up at the house and couldn't be bothered to come up and tell tales to me...so they'd sort it out between themselves.

However, I am not a gardener. So to me it is more of a ball ache than a pleasure. 400ft of hedge to trim (or lots of £££ to pay someone to do it). We have a ride on mower - great fun - but costs a couple of hundred quid to get serviced. Lots of weeding. Plants...you need lots. Far too many wind-fall apples.

I do get to have chickens. And a big veg patch (like veg gardening), including my asparagus bed.

I have a love-hate relationship with it. I know it makes me seem really ungrateful...but it is just one more thing to do. And not something I get any pleasure from doing.

Ours is about an acre in all, my grandparents was the same and it seems about right. Much more and supervision gets difficult (schoolfriends had significantly more and looking back it must have been a nightmare to supervise).

@Bluntness100

It’s pointless as the kids are already four and six and rhe op is just buying this house, so moving in say three years, you’re talking seven and nine, and they could grow out of it, a couple of years after that. So you’d be buying it for a couple of years use.

However it seems op from subsequent posts yoy want to get into gardening so would wish it for yourself.

That was the question! It would become unnecessary for them at some point, but I wasnt sure if they might use it well into their teens (which would make it not pointless) or if they would grow out if it by 10, making it pointless. I hadn't really considered our own needs, I love sitting in the conservatory and watching them play, so maybe thinking about what we need as well and getting something in the middle is sensible.

This house is really a bit of a stop gap as we can't afford anything else at the moment, bit hopefully we will get jobs in our new area and be able to look for something bigger at some point in the future.

We have a very big garden, around 1.5 acres and plenty of fields as well. I didn’t supervise much! All the DC in the village would play in the woods and come round if they wished. From about 6 upwards. Some parents wouldn’t let DC out of their sight so they didn’t enjoy the space around us so much.

I think space is a huge advantage. It means you can eat away from the house. Get a summerhouse and read the newspaper or a book in peace. You can grow some veg. Experiment with flowers. Kick a ball around and enjoy the space as a family. Even now my DC are in their 20s, they come back from their hectic London lives to chill in the garden here. It helps that we have a pool but even if we didn’t it’s a great place to be and more relaxing than a tiny plot.

DH does the mowing. We both do a bit of gardening and choose plants that a low maintenance!

We are buying a house with a smaller garden than I’d perhaps like. But the house is exactly what I want. So I’m happy to compromise. There’s space for a small trampoline, slide, water table, tables & chairs. It’ll do. It’s south facing. My young kids will have space to play & me sit in the sun (on the 3 warm day’s a year, I live in Yorkshire 😂) My other half & I are really busy with work & life that comes with young kids, our current garden gets quite neglected 🙈 maybe when the girls are older & less needy, we’ll look for something bigger..

My children (eldest 13) still like a massive pool and will service his bike on the lawn, but hey will go to the park to play ball. We do have a badminton net too which gets used.
We found footballs/basket balls were just annoying for the neighbours as they were loud and went over the fence so they are park things.

Iove gardening though

Honestly op. I think it’s a bad idea to focus on thr next house before you’re even in this house.

Get into this one, see how the financials go and then decide when you’re in a financial position to be able to afford more.

Won’t they use it always?

Kids running around, teenagers probably not, 18+ parties and bbqs in the garden.

Don’t you use it? We are adults and use the garden more than the young kids

We have just exchanged contracts (yay!) on our next home which has half an acre of garden and a field which we’ll use for our hens, horses and sheep. My DCs are 10 and 7 and are really looking forward to it - they’ve made plans to build a den in a wooded area, want to help garden etc. I don’t think mine will grow out of it any time soon but we are a very outdoorsy family, which I think makes a difference.

We have a very large garden and teens. They still use it a lot possibly more so because of lockdown, but having a large garden has meant that they invite mates here to hang out, but they also work-out, play basketball or football (or table tennis on the garden table)

@Bluntness100

Honestly op. I think it’s a bad idea to focus on thr next house before you’re even in this house.

Get into this one, see how the financials go and then decide when you’re in a financial position to be able to afford more.

Planning for the future and seeing our new house as a stepping stone is helping me to cope with a difficult situation. In a couple of years we should be able to get a mortgage again and move. I have always been an over thinker! But if not we will make the most of what we have.

@Chickoletta

We have just exchanged contracts (yay!) on our next home which has half an acre of garden and a field which we’ll use for our hens, horses and sheep. My DCs are 10 and 7 and are really looking forward to it - they’ve made plans to build a den in a wooded area, want to help garden etc. I don’t think mine will grow out of it any time soon but we are a very outdoorsy family, which I think makes a difference.

Thank you, yes, so are we. That's good to know. I would dream of having a wooded area, how amazing for you! X

15yr & 11yr olds here. In the garden most days, friends round in lockdown etc when rules allow. Makes a massive difference for all of us. Wouldn't be without it.

We have a big garden and the kids only ever play in the top part which is around 4x5m.

We moved 5 years ago from a flat with a small garden to a house with an even smaller garden, because in our area anything with a larger garden was super pricey and we didn't see many houses of the right side, so we compromised.

I guess this summer we've missed having a big garden as we could never gather many people in it and socially distance, and in general we'll never be able to hold big family 'dos' in it, but we are round the corner from a park. Neither kid is especially sporty, so not having space to run around hasn't really been an issue.

*right size

Your garden sounds like quite a standard city garden? There’s still a lot children can do in there, especially creative play but you could also squeeze in a little bouldering wall or a small trampoline or swing etc. For them to run around in, it’d need to be many times bigger so presumably you’ll just go the the park for that whether the garden is the said size or double.

Ours is 50ft long and only 20ft wide, but we've had it landscaped to perfection. I have space to garden, the kids have grass, we have raised deck, a shed and another cosy seating area and we have 3 kids all under 10. Its not huge, not tiny, but its so much more used than our last garden than was triple the size. Its not a drain on time either which makes actual gardening more satisfying as its more fun than basic maintenance.

However all said and done, i wouldn't buy a house i only intend to spend a couple of years in tbh. What faff.

It is a faff and to be honest, we will probably be there slightly longer. We are in a slightly odd situation, in that we have equity from our house we have sold (in the south), which is enough for this small house, but no income at the moment, and therefore no chance of getting a mortgage, and not wanting to spend our savings on renting. I've been a bit inspired by some of the stories on here, so we may see how we get on and wait until secondary school age, when we can move to a cheaper part of town.

We do have a park fairly near by, as well as grandparents with large gardens. I am just a worrier I suppose!

Depends on the kids. We have a garden of c3/4 of an acre. I have two kids aged 5 and 8 and they're not very outdoorsy. Don't get me wrong, they're out there playing but not as much as I imagined they would.