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...

I've got north, it's fine in the part not shaded by the house. I like it. If it's not overlooked and the others are I'd stick with what you have.

@FizzyGreenWater

I can't really help because no way in hell would I buy a new build :( must you?!

Not all new builds are the paper thin Persimmon type. There are some incredibly well built small developments out there. We would never consider most of the big name ones that come to mind when you think of new builds.

@FizzyGreenWater

I can't really help because no way in hell would I buy a new build :( must you?!

Gosh. What a shame there’s no option for just not posting. 🙄

First things first, never EVER believe what an estate agent or sales rep tells you - they will tell you anything to get a sale.

Open plan drives can lead to disputes. Imagine your neighbour has a large van that they park right on the boundary, and leave no space for you to be able to park with room to open car door.

If you like gardening and/or a sunny aspect, then a North facing garden isn't ideal and who wants to sit outside at the front of the house?

I've got a short north facing garden. We get sun all day long and all evening but not directly outside the back of the house.
Early morning and evening the whole lot is sunny in the summer. But from 10 to 3 it's the bottom half.
I grow lots of flowers with no problem.
Its nowhere near as dreadful as I was led to believe. In fact I was pissed off in our last house with a South facing garden that was in the shade every evening when all I wanted to do was see some sun and enjoy a glass of wine on an evening after being at work all day.

The downside is when the sun is low, Sept to March, there is more shade than sun. Mid winter Dec/Jan, it is a bit grim out there but then I'm not in my garden at that time of year.

It might mean you need to lay your patio at the bottom.of the garden instead of directly outside the patio doors.

We have a North facing new build garden and it is perfect for DC as it gets plenty of sun but there is always some shade to retreat into when it's really hot.

Personally I'd rather stay with the biggest garden and not being overlooked, you don't want baking sun, especially as summers are set to get hotter and hotter....

Mine is north facing. Seating at the bottom of the garden gets the sun, really nice and warm. Patio gets the shade. I’m perfectly happy with it and would buy north facing again, not a problem

I moved into my south facing new build 15 years ago. It was amazing at first as I had no neighbours for six months and we were happy with our lowish fences. We had sun all year round which was amazing.
Over the years fences gave got higher, trees in the landscaping have grown massively and sheds have gone up. My garden is now shaded left and right ( east and west ) by 5pm .
So I’d say look out for potentially large trees and bushes and other buildings that go up after a few years.

We've recently bought a new build by a big name and it's fantastic, previously we had a new build by a small developer that was horrendous actually. A close friend moved to an old property recently and she is just unearthing fuck up after fuck up that previous owners have created.
So it all comes down to research etc I used to be a snob over new builds as I'd always lived in old houses...but ppl easily forget not ALL old houses were created equally and some are utterly atrocious workmanship.

We have a large south facing garden, it was our main priority when looking for a new house. It does depend on what you want though of course. I love sitting out, just relaxing, and I can do that at pretty much any time of day in the summer without ever feeling cold. We have trees, shrubs and a parasol so pretty all day there is either sun or shade somewhere in the garden, depending on what we want. And it's so lovely in the bright sunny kitchen at any time of year. Our front room is always dark and cool and I'd hate the back of the house to be like that. Our front garden is about 10 metres long and gets virtually no sun.

I would never buy a house with a north facing garden but if sitting out in the sun isn't very important to you then you'll probably be fine.

I do not understand the obsession with the direction of the garden. We have a north facing garden and it has genuinely never ever been a problem. I also grow loads of veg and herbs in it. It’s about 70ft long and I get plenty of sun and there has never been a time where I’ve felt the sun set too early or rose too late. I come from a sunny country so that might be the reason why I don’t think too much about the sun.

We are moving to a property that is north west facing but it is super, super long. Not once did I care about the direction of the sun.

I wouldnt even consider viewing a house with a north facing garden.
They are always so dank and slimy.
Love my sunny south facing garden.
It has lots of trees and shock we put a parasol up if it gets hot.

@Mumofwho yes but as you can see from the thread many who have north facing gardens don't have 'super, super long' gardens

Gosh. What a shame there’s no option for just not posting. 🙄

@tldr

Lol, tetchy, have people been taking your username at face value again love?

100% I'd go for 31....

Then I'd widen the drive so you can get 2 cars side by side.

I should just add, I live on a long straight road - pretty much runs east west, so the houses on one side have south facing gardens and the ones on the other have North. One end near shops. There local estate agents cut the road in quarters and price accordingly...

         Cheapest .............................. Medium (+10%)            

---------I I-----------Shops ^N
Medium+ (+13%)..................Most Expensive (+25%)

I'd avoid plot 31, too much passing traffic. Thank god we all want something slightly different.

Howlooseisyourgoose, then the issue is not so much about the direction but it’s the direction combined with the length. If you have a super small garden I can understand the concerns but with a decent length garden 50ft plus I imagine the direction won’t cause a massive issue.

It seems the obsession with the direction of the garden is just based on people caught up in the idea of a south facing garden being a “thing” in the UK. People don’t want to be left out of the south facing garden “thing” and it all becomes stressful when in practical terms it probably does not matter for the vast majority of circumstances.

@Bakeachocolatecaketoday could you explain your drawing a bit? I don’t get it.

It depends how big the plot is really, obviously a much larger garden is going to get more reasonable amount of sun than a tiny one. I had a south-facing mid-terrace with small back yard, and it was challenging growing stuff in the area close to the house. The very back border still got sun, although it took longer for the soil to warm up in spring so other people's plants were always further along than mine. In the end though, things like that don't matter much.

With the open aspect you'll have an area in the evening that still gets sun, so nice for sitting out with a glass/preferred beverage in the height of summer. You'll have areas that you can put a swing without the kids getting dazzled, or a sandpit or paddling pool... second the PP who said about getting a nice shed and putting it in the least attractive place, which isn't something you could do with a garage.

If you wanted to you could still have climbing plants on the back of your house, there are some that will grow even on north facing walls. It only needs a little research if you decide to do that, and there's lots of advice online for plants that thrive in shade without being needy. I don't think you need to worry too much, you definitely will get some sun at some points of the day. Even in my tiny yard I still got sun at the far end!

I really love sunshine and 35 degrees is not too hot for me, so a small north facing garden is not my ideal, but that one was good practise for the one I have now which is much bigger and south facing, the top end is shaded by neighbours' trees so I have borders for dry shade loving plants and sheds/compost bins/wheelbarrow, etc. at that end. Making use of what you've got is key really.

The shared driveway would worry me more than the lack of sunlight.

We shared with a neighbour at our last house and it turned into a nightmare. I’m not being dramatic in saying that, he’d deliberately block the drive to start an argument, knowing the times we’d be going out. The abuse we got as a result was unbelievable. It totally ruined living in a house that up until then we’d really loved.

A north-west facing garden will get evening light. The part of the house facing north-west will be dark and gloomy.

@Mumofwho

I’ve had both and I prefer south. We moved to a house with a North facing garden (no children at that time). Our neighbour has recently grown a ton of conifers alongside his 3 metre fence which will leave our garden in total damp, dark shade. Our garden is already damp from his existing conifers, bushes, shrubs etc. Our garden is on a slope, so it really is very dark at the bottom. Our kitchen is also cold and will not get much day light in the near future. So you need to think about what your neighbours might grow or any outbuildings they may erect too.

Our old house was warm and light, depends how much you like the sun /garden etc. Plants don’t grow on the one side of our garden at all, due to the damp and wet even in the middle of summer!