Big garden vs. large public green space (woods + playing field) on doorstep

[FiveSecondsMore]

If you had a choice between a house with a generously-sized private garden but 15+ minutes' walk from the nearest nice public green space, or a house with a very small garden, but two minutes' walk from a lovely, decently-sized wood with an adjoining large grassy field for playing games/sitting in the sun etc., which would you choose?

To be clear, the large public green space (wood, playing field etc.) is behind the houses on the other side of the road, so it's not something we would back onto, or get any disturbance from. Also, our view from the small garden would be a different big green (non-public) field with some trees, so we wouldn't be backing onto other houses, and would have a nice green view. Unfortunately we couldn't legally use that field ourselves though!

The house is detached, if that makes a difference to opinions.

I actually like hearing children play. Call me eccentric...

Absolutely a garden, every time.

If I was taking young dc out then a 2 minute or 15 minute walk wouldn't make a difference to me - a 15 minute walk is still local and if I couldn't be arsed, I'd drive it.

However, if I didn't feel like taking the dc out, being 2 minutes away wouldn't incentivise me to- it's still 'out'! And ime with older dc who can go out and about themselves - they're just as likely to walk to a park 30 minutes away that they like as they are to go to the one behind our house.

A garden is invaluable in terms of allowing open access to play or lounge outside imo. Early morning, when you're in your dressing gown, when youre busy and just don't have time.

The dc are in and out of the garden all day long, playing for 5/10/20 minute increments. They also have Adhoc garden picnics often, taking their lunch or dinner out and eating on the patio or lawn. You never get that degree of flexibility with public space, no matter how local.

You'll own the garden but you'll never own the big green space so may not stay green forever.

@Ragwort

Public green space .... I loathe gardening .

We've got a yard and a park round the corner. Gardening is not something I'm interested in.

There is a large house on my road which is for sale for months on end. It's a house that would otherwise be snapped up (renovation job) but is stuck because the garden is so small. I think having a small garden affects resale for sure

Same here and it's worth considering for resale too, if you wanted to downsize for retirement etc. It might work for you but you may find it difficult to get rid of a large house with tiny garden in future.

Garden.

We lived next door to a park for five years. Had randoms in the garden, randoms on the garage roof, randoms wanting to use our drive to park, randoms knocking for a broom to sweep out the goal mouth, randoms blocking the drive. It was endless.

Never again.

OP you like the better house (B). You are not happy with the responses for A and keep drip feeding info.

We are garden designers and for us a garden was super important, but as I said the house won us over because it is just the most stunning house I have ever seen on rightmove within a good 200k+ of our budget.

The reason we were happy with the smaller garden is because a house of the quality can hold a higher spec garden. You can have a large 'normal' garden with an ok house, but the more grand the house, the more you can justify spending £ on the garden without it looking naff or being a waste of money.

For example: My rattan sofa set which looks good in my garden is destined for the gumtree pages as I will be investing in a custom cast super sleek table with benches. I can have a cantilevered solid green oak pergola where as in my current garden that would be silly. I can put pleach trees all around the boundaries and ivy screening against the fence (££££££). In my larger garden it would be 10s of thousands and I would never get the money back.

I hope you see what I mean.

I would be careful of that field that you back into. It could become a housing development and the small garden could feel enclosed.

Ie.
Would you want a higher spec smaller garden like this... www.charlotterowe.com/town-gardens/barnes-common

Or a larger expanse of lawn and a garden you have no idea what you are doing with. See image attached and every other garden you see on rightmove with a lawn, a few sad beds and a patio.

I’d agree with the pp, you clearly want house b. Does your husband wish House a? The answers you’re getting, which are predominantly garden don’t come across as what you want to hear, so you keep adding more and more to try to sway it. Which isn’t working.

If you want the house with the small garden you and your partner need to discuss and agree.

When we were looking, the big green out front was a major factor in our final choice of this house. There were houses with bigger gardens that were in our budget.

I would sometimes like a bigger garden - to grow veg properly (allotment was too far away and awkward so we gave that up over 10 years ago), put some fruit trees in, and have space for a hammock (and enough grass to pitch my tent on occasion).

But we can make the small one work very well - have had sandpit and small trampoline in it when DD was younger, we eat outdoors a lot in good weather and often BBQ too, I have a small bed for veg most years (new pup ruined that this year) and hanging baskets/window boxes for salads/tomotoes etc, there's room for a washing line and shed.

And the green is great for playing ball games, neighbourly gatherings for wine/beer or "snowed in BBQs", lots of dog walking, etc. There are good trees for small DCs to climb, and larger trees that older DCs use to put up rope swings. (I've used it to do a practise pitch on my tent when necessary ahead of Cub camp etc). We've even had neighbourhood yoga classes on the green last summer, all well spaced out, which were lovely.

What way does the back garden face ?

Just in the process of selling a house with 7 acres of garden, and I'm very happy to be swapping it for a large open space on my doorstep that someone else has to maintain.

Tricky. Depends how big the big garden is as well. We have a small garden but have a playing field and playground at the end of the road. By about age 8 the kids want to go to the park all the time, and they can start to go with friends or be left alone there for short periods. They can also play football or cricket there which they can't do at home unless you have a massive garden. (Or perhaps better co-ordinated kids than mine? Eldest DS has been banned from batting in the garden since he was about 7 when it became obvious the neighbour's conservatory was in danger.)

@LemonSwan

Ie. Would you want a higher spec smaller garden like this... www.charlotterowe.com/town-gardens/barnes-common

Or a larger expanse of lawn and a garden you have no idea what you are doing with. See image attached and every other garden you see on rightmove with a lawn, a few sad beds and a patio.

Definitely prefer the larger garden the 'higher end' garden looks horrible

I love how people want such different things!

We are in zone 2 in London and our garden is about a 3rd of the size OP considers small. We feel really lucky to have this private space and our kids use it all the time to play in. We could never afford a property where we live with a large garden, that would be £millions.

But we also have a rather wonderful, off the beaten track, green space a 2min walk away.

This works perfectly for us and I am not ready to compromise on area for the big garden yet, despite loving gardening.

The decision has to involve so many other factors, like schools, local facilities, community, house etc
Good luck deciding!

I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread and getting different viewpoints! I still think it’s best to consider the overall package. Also the house would win it for me as we spend far more time indoors. Also the aspect-a smaller south west garden would beat a larger north east as there is more all day useable space close to the house.

Your own garden won't get built on , but you have to maintain it.

Those who have said they think I was hoping for the responses to be the opposite, you're probably right. There isn't actually a house "A" for sale yet in the area we're looking that ticks all the non-negotiable boxes, but most of the houses in the area do have decent-sized gardens, and I feel a bit sad that this is the thing we might end up having to compromise on, as there is currently a house "B", and we don't know if a house with a decent garden that ticks the other boxes will even come up in a reasonable timeframe.

DH and I are both feeling the same. Which is that we like the house, but are worried that the garden could be an issue in future for kids and/or resale. I'm more worried about it than he is, but I think he has absorbed some of my worry (or at least, doesn't want to push for anything I'm not on board with). In fact, I think the most likely reason for us trying to sell earlier than anticipated would be if the garden turns out to be an issue. So it would be really annoying to then make a loss because others also have reservations about the garden.

It's a shame because the existing garden does look nice, and would be fine for us right now (great for entertaining etc.), but it's just so hard to predict what life will be like with kids. If we weren't thinking about kids, we wouldn't be going for a 5-bed, so it would seem a bad idea not to make sure that all aspects of it will work for kids. I guess I was hoping that the wood and fields over the road would more than make up for it. If it makes any difference, the wood covers an area of ~75 acres (there I go again I guess, trying to change opinions with new information...).

Honestly. Two points

Firstly why would you sell at a loss, you would be buying it priced without a decent garden

Secondly when you have kids, going to the park is going out out. You need to be there with them, a decent garden they can go out and play in, whilst you do other stuff, even if it’s just a glass of wine or reading, is way easier, than let’s all get our shoes on, walk to the park and I’ll spend an hour there bored whilst you play.

However I can’t see why you’d sell at a loss. It’s not like it has a garden on buying and you remove it, so it will be priced accordingly now.

I honestly don't think you can plan too much to accommodate a future life. A 5 bed house is huge even if you do have children. If I were you I would wait for a smaller house (3 bed) with a larger garden, perhaps one you could add value to with an extension or loft conversion if you did ever actually need the extra space. If you end up not having children, will you rattle around?

I have just moved from a large house with a small garden opposite a park to a large house with a large garden and it is pretty blissful for the children to just run out of the house.... but when they were very small I much preferred the park as all the equipment is there and you actually get to talk to other adults. In the small garden I could always see them and there enough room for a sandpit/water table/small trampoline.

There is a pretty small window when a big garden is worth it just for the children and it's probably from about 6/7 to maybe 12.... which is at least 7/8 years away for you. If they like football etc. it will probably never be big enough too. Once they hit the teens they will barely go out in it....

Secondly when you have kids, going to the park is going out out. You need to be there with them, a decent garden they can go out and play in, whilst you do other stuff, even if it’s just a glass of wine or reading, is way easier, than let’s all get our shoes on, walk to the park and I’ll spend an hour there bored whilst you play.

True, but the other house does have a garden, just smaller.
My children still entertained themselves quite happily for hours in our postage stamp.

I don't want the garden to put a ceiling on the price.

Well it does - but more indirectly.

It must be priced cheaper than the other houses already and you would sell it cheaper than the other houses - so it has its value BUT where it would put a ceiling is that you would be unable to add any value to the property by extending because the garden is too small.

But if it suits your needs - go for it. There will always be someone who wants a cheaper house in the same area down the line - you only need one buyer.

BUT if it’s going to bug you out why bother buying a long term house that you will not satisfied with?

I recently bought a place that fits your B - not sure the exact square meters, but a rough go on google maps has the back at roughly 90-100sq meters. There is a large public green across the road, and I can see forest from my doorstep, about a 5 or so minute walk at my snail speed. It was really busy at viewings and we went to best and final offers.

There is far less hard standing than you're describing though - maybe a quarter near the house is like cobble stone with a small path next to back of the house (which is kinda L shaped) and some raised beds with the rest open and covered in play gravel put in by the last owner to slow down weeds after they removed greenhouses, so my first thought on the description was whether some of the decking could come up/be replaced later as your needs change.

I think part of the answers may be experience and expectations. Our new place has way more garden than we've ever had and it feels manageable even if I still need to ID some of the plants in the beds. Also, my four children are older (9-16), so having woods, park, community centres, and more close-by for me and them is great. We've been busy renovating and when they take a break, they mostly go out front and explore around for a bit. It was really sweet recently with my 16 year old go out with my 9 year old and watch them walk across the green towards the woods. It's a big draw for us, and I think in part because most places around here have either obviously smaller gardens or those really long gardens that for me feel less manageable and I'd question how much extra square meters we were actually getting.