North facing garden

[Evanna13]

I am hoping for some advice please. I am considering a new build in a lovely estate. The only houses left have north facing gardens. I am considering a 3 storey semi detached (corner house). The back of the house has a kitchen/diner with double doors leading into the back garden. The double doors take up the full length of the back wall and there are no other windows in the room. It is a big room with space for sofa etc. The garden is not big but will be backing onto other gardens so not overlooked.
At the moment I have a south facing garden and kitchen. It can get very hot especially when cooking. I do like the idea of sitting in the garden on a warm day but realistically I don't do it often. I have young kids.
Would I be crazy to buy the house with north facing garden ?would it be miserable? I have never lived in a house with a north facing garden before. If I wait 2/3 years new houses will be built in this same estate with south facing gardens. Should I wait for these?

We have a north facing garden...I absolutely hate it.

Given it’s a corner plot, there shouldn’t be any obstructions to the sides giving you E or W light too? I’d be more worried about it not ever getting sunny in the rooms at the back but, equally, I also found it too boiling in my house this year.

We are north facing and it’s not great in the wetter months. The garden gets water logged. In the summer though I rather like it as the kitchen stays cool and the children can play out in the garden for longer. I guess it depends on your priorities. We’re not particularly interested in gardening so we’re not that bothered.

I have a north facing garden, moved from south facing as it was like a furnace all summer. I much prefer sun with a bit of shade! Especially with young kids.

Is it due North or North-East facing? As depending on what is on the sides it will be very cold and dark.

This is my north facing garden in the summer. It's big so that makes a difference and we have no houses behind us.

Behind the table area is mainly shaded, obviously in the winter there is much more shade, the back of our house is open plan and is lovely and cool in the summer but it does mean the front bedrooms get really hot as have the sun all day.

With a three storey house and small garden I might be less inclined. Is the corner East or West? If West I might be more happy than if East.

We have a north facing garden. It's fine. Gardens on both sides, so we get morning and afternoon sun from the sides too. Just means your patio will be best put at the end of the garden rather than by the house. We get plenty of sun year round.

Just be aware that a three storey house will cast a longer shadow than 2 storeys so if the garden is very short that could be an issue. We have three storeys and it's fine in our medium sized garden.

@justanotherneighinparadise surely the waterlogging is more likely to be down to soil type or a high water table? Most water in gardens drains away rather than evaporating

Thanks for all the replies. It is due north. The corner is west. We are not big gardeners and rarely go in the garden in the winter. I would like a little bit of sun in the summer though.

What is to the west? We have a NNW facing garden and in the summer we get sun coming across from the west, its lovely. Because there is no house or tall trees to the west.

Now we don't really get garden sun, but it's winter so ok. Come the spring equinox we'll get sun again.

Hi OP if its a corner plot you'll probably get sun from another aspect as well, is that coming from the East or West? How close is the house is to other high buildings? This will have an effect on how shady the garden is as well; I've previously managed to coax roses to flower in a north facing front garden because it was very open and so got lots of indirect light. If it was me I probably wouldn't (even though I'm a complete shade lover!) but that's because I love to garden and its definitely harder to encourage anything to bloom in a north facing garden. However if its facing North West you'd get some lovely evening sun which would definitely help a bit. But ultimately it depends on your requirements and how you like to live your life; if you don't like to garden, prefer the shade and have very young DC then a north facing garden might work quite well for you.

We are a clay soil so I imagine that doesn’t help with water logging. The garden is also slightly inclined.

I have a 150ft North facing garden with nothing at the sides or bottom, so it gets E/W sun all day. We grow loads of flowers and veg.
The house is cool in the summer heat.

I wouldn’t buy true North again. North west was lovely as the sun hit the back of the house all afternoon in the Summer.
I think resale will be a factor with North facing, unless you negotiate a big discount l wouldn’t buy it.

Is the house already built? If so I’d go and look at it at different parts of the day. We have a N facing garden but its very long so we still get lots of sun during various parts of the day.