Help!! Have I just bought the wrong house?

[EllisRoses]

We've bought plot 13. I didn't know this whole north/south facing thing. I'm a first time buyer. I did ask the estate agent how much sun the back garden would get and he said morning sun and from mid afternoon onwards, I thought that was perfect as the kids will have shade during the hottest part of the day but we'll have sun the rest of the time. Now I've seen a post about north facing gardens and I googled and oh my god. Damp, dark, no sun ever, nothing grows? What have I done!! There's more plots available but it would be difficult, if not impossible to change at this point and everything would need to be redone, mortgage, H2B, the lot...

Not a gardener, just want to be able to sit in a sunny garden!

All car parking spaces look very narrow. Less than the width of the garage. Is there actually room to open any car doors?

Don't worry too much about it. Check a sun map for your plot. They're available online and you can even work out how much shade there'll be at different times of the day. Just plan your seating areas & plants around that. I have a tall house that faces pretty much N-S. I do get deep shade immediately in front of my kitchen-diner bifolds for about an hour and a half a day in mid- summer but the rest is sunny. I grow apricots and peaches on my north facing wall without any problem. Your quieter location and bigger plot are big pluses.

We've opted for no garage as they were small, more for storage than cars, and 15k extra.

I love my W facing garden in the winter but it was boiling through the summer.

With your garden being N facing, you’ll get little sun on the back of the house but the rooms at the front should be v sunny so I’d make the most of those. And plants do grow beautifully in N facing gardens as long as they’re appropriate, shade loving ones.

I would also advise to get a grarage they are a god send for storing things

@Level75

It's barely West facing, it's clearly mostly North facing.

South facing is much much better. I've had both.

But it all comes down to individual preference, we have a south facing garden and I HATE it, the back of the house gets way too hot in the summer and the garden is unusable between 11-3. I would never have one again

This is the floor plan so the kitchen/diner and lounge would have light from both sides so hopefully won't be too gloomy. We won't use the master bedroom during the day really so that doesn't bother me. I'm more worried about no sun in the back garden

I think it depends where you are in the country.
I'm in one of the sunniest places in the UK and I've got a North facing back garden.
The front of the house has a garden facing south obvs and it gets so dry and I have to constantly water everything if I want it to survive.

West facing would be my ideal

I have a south facing garden and it is the bane of my life in summer; no shade in the garden whatsoever and it becomes very difficult to have my under 5’s out there for any length of time as there is no way of sheltering them from the sun. I also have bifold doors onto said garden and thought I would love the views onto the garden from my open plan kitchen / living / dining room. The reality is I don’t get to enjoy those views because I end up needing the blinds down lots to prevent my eyes being dazzled / the inside becoming a greenhouse well into autumn and winter. I would never get South facing again! With that said I am fair with Irish skin and do not tolerate heat or bright sunshine so I may be an outlier in that respect!

I think north facing gardens have such a bad reputation because it’s difficult (if not impossible) to grow a nice lawn in shade. But it’s absolutely not true that nothing grows.

I have one part of my garden that is north facing, the other south facing and honestly I find the north facing part so much much easier to maintain. There are fewer weeds and I hardly ever need to water, yet there’s plenty of interesting things to grow. I have camellias, fuchsia, hydrangea, Japanese anemone, spring bulbs, shade tolerant roses and lots more! And there’s plenty of sun late afternoon, which is really when I tend to use my garden most.

I also personally like living in a house that is predominantly north facing, because it never gets unbearably hot. And as I have large windows it’s actually a pretty light house. So, it’s really not all bad!

I think I’d much rather have a quieter north facing garden that I can use later in the day, then a noisy west or south facing garden 🤷‍♀️

EllisRoses are you happy with the house? Are you happy with the location? You can't change the location of the this particular house. You can't change the house without spending £££; better buy something else. You can change the garden and make it work for you. Try getting a student from a horticultural college to draw you a plan for an fee.

You can always put some decking or a patio at the bottom of the garden and make a seating area there to get some sun. A lot of the houses in the development we lived in with north facing gardens did that.

When you say you’ve bought it have you (a) reserved it with a deposit (b) exchanged contracts or (c) completed your purchase (usually moved in)? Which stage you’re out determines what you can change. Sorry if I’ve missed this detail but I couldn’t see it!

We've got a north facing garden (was meant to be west but the position of the house had to be changed) and it's not a problem at all. We're higher than other houses and don't have anyone to the right which might help but in summer we get the sun from late morning until after dinner. One corner where we have the garden furniture is a sun trap until late in the day.

I would have picked plot 16.

Being away from the road etc are big plus points. I've only ever had E/W houses so no useful gardening experience here.

I can envisage a parking thread from that layout 🧐

I hate that they haven’t put the compass on facing straight up. It makes it really hard to tell if it is a true north garden or a north west (well, it does for me!).

If it is NW, you will be fine, NW gardens are really nice. If it is true north or more NE, I would change plots if possible.

(Also hate room sizes in m only, I can only visualise / compare in ft!)

Shared driveway- no
Lack of sunshine -no

I wouldnt buy a plot anyway, I hate new builds but there you go

Having said I wouldn't buy North facing, I do think it depends where you are in the country. I'm in Yorkshire. My PILs are in London and I'd be happy with North facing there - it was so so hot there this Summer and their S facing garden was parched and unusable.

We have a north facing garden. There's no sun from about now but in the summer we get loads. Whilst it isn't 100% ideal, we spend far more time inside looking out in a year, than we do in the garden. And when it's stonkingly hot, it's nice to have shade. Also if you get a lot of sun through your windows, you've got fading books, curtains and furniture to remember

I have a North facing garden, but its about 60ft long so only the bit nearest the house is full shade, the rest of the garden gets so much sun. How long is your garden? With kids, having a shady area just outside the back door has been perfect. We have all sorts growing out there, and shade loving plants can be just as beautiful.

My living room is the same as yours with windows at the front (south facing) and then a door out to the back (north facing) and it is such a bright and cheerful room. The sun streams through the front part. My kitchen is at the back like yours and its perfect for keeping food fresher because its not in the sun getting hot. Honestly the layout has been perfect for us. Its also nice having the main bedroom at the back overlooking the garden and again not so hot being in the shade.

I'd buy the house without worries, honestly.

I might be weird but we have a north facing garden now and our next one is north facing one as well, and I don't give a rat's arse. We've never had problems with our garden or growing plants in it. I don't feel like our living room is any colder or darker than the rest of the house. But then again I don't care for broiling myself in the sun and detest being too hot.

I wouldn't worry to much. We had a north north east facing garden so built a seating deck at the end of the garden. It got the sun on it most of the day. It was only the area near the house that was in shade from middayish. That garden was full of plants and flowers, not damp and dark at all. Also it meant we had conservatory that wasn't too hot, as the sun was off it during the hottest part of the day.

You can get some lovely, lush, shade loving plants for gardens like that, so don’t discount it for that.

Personally, I love clear, cold northern light in a room but maybe I’m weird