How much do your kids use your garden?

[Fizzgigg]

We've been in a flat with no garden and two DS (4 and 7 years) throughout lockdown so are looking at houses. I've been dreaming of a garden so we don't have to go out for walks and so the 7 year old can kick a football around after school.

We've found a fab house we're really interested in but the garden is smaller than we had hoped for. Just about big enough to kick a ball around but only just. There's a good park.on the corner though.

Lockdown aside (hoping this will be the last.one) do your children use your garden much? How much would a small garden put you off an otherwise fantastic house in a brilliant area with great schools?

We have a small garden - about 7m x 7m - but the kids use it a lot. We have a small climbing frame in it which gets used most days in dry weather. Gardens are generally small round here, in fact ours is one of the larger ones, but many people have shoehorned some kind of play equipment in - basketball hoop, wendy house, small trampoline, paddling pool in summer as well as balls skipping ropes etc. The gardens are definitely well used at primary age.

Would they use the garden more if it was bigger - perhaps, but it gets used plenty as it is.

Football is a bit of a challenge in a small garden especially as the kids get bigger. But if the park is round the corner that’s very helpful.

Hardly ever and we have a climbing frame and trampoline... Its such a shame! I would prefer a much smaller garden tbh.

We have a large garden that's unlevel but safe enough. My kids are out every day in the nice weather. We had a tiny garden before and I really regretted it as there was no room to play.

Our small-mefium sized garden was hardly ever used once the DC got to secondary school age. I would definitely prioritise living near a nice park over garden size. A good park is great for them to see their friends/kick balls and for you to have a walk. Your own garden can then be more of a social/relaxing space.

We have a small/medium garden. We live by a big field and lots of parks/rural walks. Garden great for younger dc to potter around in (now 5), older dc (now 9) is too big to properly play in the garden now. Will sit out in it but we spend much more time at the big field or local parks so they can run around properly. In winter the garden is far too muddy for them to use.

We compromised on the garden and every day I wish that we'd got something bigger. It's about 11m square but we have neighbours (albeit bungalows) right over the back fence and it feels somewhat hemmed in - I think that's the issue rather than the size of it. Our older children don't use it much but we have a couple of young ones who love to play out. It's big enough for them to have a slide and trampoline and run about with a ball. We also have a decent park a 5 minute walk away. If we didn't have the neighbours so close it'd be fine.

We have a small/medium garden. It's all one level. We use it as another room of our house. It's used pretty much every day. We spend most of the summer out there. We wouldn't be without our garden

Our children use the garden whenever they can.

Not a whole lot by the kids. A lot by me. I became a keen gardener once I realised that the kids aren't that interested in trampolining in the backyard.

Believe me, I wouldn't worry about a small garden. By the time they're teens, you'll be lucky if they see daylight.
Having a really nice, small garden with enough space to have barbecues is good enough. Our eldest was raised in flats until he was 11. Ironically, of my 3, he was our most outdoorsy, ball-kicking, sporty child. He was always on a green or in a playground. My other two, who have grown up in this house we're in with its large garden, hardly know what to do with a football. Totally different. They are outdoorsy in that they'll dog walk with me and cycle. But the garden holds no interest.

In summer, pretty much everyday we are home, unless it's pouring with rain (and that doesn't always stop them)
Winter, a couple of times a week at least.

They practically lived out there for part of lockdown 1... They had their tents up for sleeping, various play equipment, the hot tub, the barbecue...

It depends on your lifestyle though. Mine our outdoors kids, always have been.

Mine are outdoors a lot. Dh and I are there a lot too. We have bbqs, breakfast or lunches, and evenings relaxing in the garden.
The dc love playing out there and have stuff to play with like trampoline, goalposts and garden toys.
It’s big part of our family life.

Mine are out in the garden a lot, but they are preschoolers so it is directed/supervised by me and is a change of scene in terms of play area. In the summer they were outside nearly all the time they were awake (apart from very early in the morning - I do try to think of the neighbours!) as it meant less clearing up in the house

Yours are older than mine, and more independent, so it will depend on their preferences I expect

I think it partly depends on the design of the house tbh. If you have the kitchen at the back with big doors so your kids can still see you and you them when they are in the garden, I expect that makes it more likely to be used. Also if you have a space to eat out there.

And garden design - as well as a climbing frame, we have the dreaded fake grass which means we can use it in all weathers as it doesn’t become a mudbath like the old real lawn did.

And of course age of the kids makes a huge difference, I imagine that by 9 or 10+ it will be less used. But you have a way to go before then.

A huge amount. Trampoline, swing, slide, climbing frame, paddling pool, slip and slide, ball games, dens, camping, firepits etc. More in summer but all year round.

DD is now 15. We have a pocket hankerchief sized garden out the back but a large green faces the house to the front.

We've always used the back garden a lot - sitting with coffee/lunch etc, occasionally reading a book under the tree, hanging washing out, growing veggies. BBQing etc.

But DD uses it a lot - it comes in phases, but she's had a very well used sandpit and we've gone through a few paddling pools over the years. A small trampoline fitted in a corner for a few years also that was very well used. She has always done a lot of kicking a football against the 3 brick high wall (divides patio from what was lawn - is now pebbles - area). But in the past 2 years, has spent a lot of time doing very focussed football, tennis ball, hockey stick and ball work out there. There is even a "captcha" net there now, and 4 sheets of "fake grass" carpet (from Lidl's middle aisle last year) to protect her stick from the stone of the patio (and the stone from her stick!) - we tend to sit up on the pebbles out of her way.

But we have found that it was big enough for our uses most of the time (I'd prefer more space for veggies, but DD has had enough for her needs).

She will sometimes go out to the green out the front, or a local pitch, or the local playground. But has been happy with the garden generally and including all this year.

My DS is 3 so this year is the first year it's been used in that way.

We've hardly used it at all in winter but this week i've had the doors open and he has been out quite a bit. The house layout comment is definitely true. Our kitchen and playroom is at the back and has patio doors, so it's really easy to keep an eye on him and still do things without having to actively "supervise".

We've got a slide and climbing frame, a swing and a gravel pit that he uses as a building siteX

Thanks for all your thoughts. Mixed opinions so a lot for us to think about.

The kitchen has big bifold doors into garden with small patio for eating and BBQ. Then a few steps up to grass. Enough room for a small trampoline or slide etc so I think it'll be big enough.

Our garden was always used more when our daughter was growing up for sitting outside, eating, drinking, socialising, bbq etc in good weather. Yes she played out there, from sandpit very young, to swing set and climbing frame, through to trampoline, ans games of football with her dad as she got older, but I’d say the most use over the years was us as a family using it as a social space.

We live in thr south east, so have a good climate, and being able to sit outside for a morning coffee, lunch, drinks in the evening, dinner etc, is a luxury, The size is less relevant, kids will play where ever.

I would go for the house as it sounds great. I'm in London so our garden is small, but we have a decent patio with table and chairs and enough grass for a trampoline and sun loungers, and it's been fine for us. I would have liked a bigger garden but preferred this house and location.

Watch your Windows. Several if mine were broken by eager footballers!
My husband used to say a sma garden is fine when kids are little and when they get old enough to kick a football (or bat a cricket ball) it will never be big enough.
By the time they are teens they either won't use the garden at all or will just to sit and chat to mates (or smoke!).

We moved from a flat to a house with a garden when DD was 3. She hardly uses it at all. The only times she really uses it are when we have the paddling pool out. So for a couple of weeks in the summer? We have lots of outdoor games but she isn't really interested. I think it would be different if she weren't an only child.

All of the time. We have DC 6, 4 and 2 and we just open up the doors. We do have a trampoline and swing but it's often just really random things - this week mud pies.

Because the weather has been a bit rubbish in this lock down we have really noticed not having access to it.

However, what makes the biggest difference (compared to our previous house) is having really easy access so they can come and go as they please (and I can see them) in our current house we have bifold doors - so the garden is an extension of the house for 6 months of the year. In a prior house we just had a back door at the side of the house - silly though it sounds (as we could see them through windows) it made a real difference to our use of the property.