North facing garden?

[PutThatDownNow]

Looking at a house in a great street, perfect location. Except it has a north facing garden. Not a lot to the west side, so maybe some afternoon sun. Wise Mumsnet, how miserable will the garden, and even more so the north facing living room, be?

I had the same dilemma and spent hours researching and obsessing, bought the house and so far so good. Definitely no absolute answer as really depends on so many factors, we are probably more NW with very little to the west side of us , garden is wide but not particularly deep- 40ft at most and gets far better afternoon and evening sun than I had hoped better than my previous west facing that faced large trees and houses slightly raised so we had quite a lot of shade towards end of day in our smaller garden. Yes in the winter months there is little in the way of sun at the back but we I can live with that. In short don’t immediately rule it out.

I have a north facing garden and I would never do it again.

If I ever move house it would be a deal breaker for me.

Even little things like washing taking FOREVER to dry on a windless day because it's in the bloody shade

It's so bloody call all the time, only one corner gets sun for a few hours a day.

We have a north facing garden. Our social space is at the end of the garden so gets the sun from mid afternoon until quite late. I don’t mind it at all. The living room is always warm being south facing and the kitchen at the back doesn’t get too hot when cooking. It did take a while to get plants that will thrive in the shade near the house but it works for us.

It depends on how overcast the garden is, how big it is as well. I have seen a north face garden which was so depressing, cold with only a tiny bit of sun on fence at back. I have also seen a north facer with a western aspect which had sun in the evening on a patch of the garden; as the garden swept right around you sort have had both. You may be okay if it isn’t overcast too much.

I truly hate my north facing garden. Like a pp said, never again!

My NW facing garden is great in the summer. Small London garden - 5m X 5m approx. Back of it is blazing hot, but there isn't another house immediately behind ours. Towards the house it's nice and cool in the shade. Winter is a bit shady and miserable, however, and the rooms are gloomy. I'd prefer a different orientation next time but wouldn't let this be a deal breaker for an otherwise perfect house, especially if you enjoy some shade / have young kids. Also, if the orientation is slightly west and/or the garden is a decent size / not overlooked / not surrounded by large trees etc that makes a difference.

I quite like my north north west garden, it is quite long and I’m a shade seeker in warm weather. We’ve removed a massive tree on the west boundary and it’s made loads of difference to the evening light and neighbours are delighted.

I was worried after having a south west previous, but it’s less of an issue than I thought. Much easier to keep the kids in the garden but out of the midday sun.

Love my north facing back garden. The kitchen is at the back, with big folding glass doors and a glass ceiling, so we get plenty of light without scorching in direct sunlight, and an amazing view of the garden all lit up in the sunshine.

One thing I never thought of, before moving in, was that all the flowers turn to face the south, so they are facing the glass doors and we get a beautiful view of them.

I love my north facing garden. the shady bit is the patio & some ferns, and then the lawn beyond gets a reasonable amount of sun. the house doesn't get much direct sun but that keeps it cool in summer which is lovely.

It depends how far South or North you are, and also how long is the garden and what's around it.

When we lived in one of home counties, even when the sun was behind the house, there wasn't much shade in the garden as the sun comes up quite high. It would have been quite different somewhere in North England or Scotland though. Also our garden was quite long, and there weren't any houses or trees either side (there were houses but they didn't block the sun that is), so it's all very relative.

Depends on so many things. I had a small house (ground floor and first floor) with a north facing garden that went up a gentle slope. It was almost all in sun all day, except for the ten feet nearest the house. I think that’s unusual though, it was the combination of small house, few trees and long garden. You have to look at the land and work out where shade would fall from.

I have one. But I'm in a terrace with no tall buildings either end so get sun a lot of the day, just not into the rear of the house, which is fine as I have a wall of glass and two skylights and it would bake in the summer if I did. I obviously get less sun in winter as the sun is lower, but I'm not out there much then. Lovely sun in the living room which faces south though.

100% miserable. When house hunting I won’t even look at houses with north facing gardens.

We have a north facing garden. In the summer it gets a patch of sun until about three pm. Working from home has been good as I have been able to sit in it.

Most of the time I sit on the front door step which is south facing and very sunny and ignore the big garden at the back which is a shame but it's so much warmer on the step.

Personally, it's a deal.breaker. I have had one house with a North facing garden and never again

My house is back to back with another so my entire house is north facing with no windows facing any other way.
It's our first year here and I was really surprised how hot it got this summer. It was nice not getting any of the sun in the rooms though, as they stayed much cooler than my previous house (SW facing).

However, the house is already dark - I like it dark but this is WAY too dark even for me. We seem to have the lights on constantly. Washing takes forever to dry outside. Now we're in the cold seasons it is bloody freezing constantly. It's costing a fortune to heat the house.

We're in the North. The garden is wide rather than long.
In my previous house I had to keep the blinds shut a lot due to the amount of sun. It's VERY different here and I do miss having the heat of the sun coming in to warm the house through.

I had a North facing garden at my last house. It wasn't too bad in the summer when the sun was high in the sky but for a large portion of the year it was dark and cold as the house put it in shadow and the rooms that overlooked it were dim and dingy too. It was a lovely house but I found it rather depressing to be in shadow for most of the time. No way would it ever buy a house with a North facing garden again.

Thank you all very much. Seems there are some positive experiences, although the, balance seems to be towards miserable. I think light in the house is important, DP doesn't 'get it' and thinks it will be fine. The front of the house will get sunshine all day but I think the back will be dark.

Ours is north east facing front and south west facing back. The front garden is lovely in the morning. But the house is very dark - all the main living space is at the front, and its depressing in winter. Don't have any windows in the back of the house so no light comes through.

The back south facing garden is lovely in summer up to about 7pm - but because of buildngs and trees doesn't get much sun either in the winter. It's depressing not being able to sit out in the warm for much of the year.

We have a north facing garden. But it’s big enough that it gets sun in winter towards the back end for most of the day. I have grown to prefer it - especially in the summer. With temperatures increasing it keeps the back of our house cool. Especially as the back of our house is a double set of glass bifold doors to the garden - can’t imagined how unbearably hot the house would be in summer if south facing.

I wouldn't - whenever I have moved house I have taken a compass with me and the route the sun takes in relation to the garden and house was the first thing I would check. You also need to consider the presence of fences/walls and how they might influence the amount of sun in the garden and house.

I am a light junkie and could not bear to be in a house that gets little sun if it is avoidable.

Our house is NW facing with a very long garden (100ft). We have tall trees at the end for privacy but they don't block any of our sun. The area nearest the kitchen is always shadey and when we change the downstairs kitchen layout in a few years we will get some roof lights to get more light in but overall I love it! The front of the house is sunny in the living room all year round, and we get sun in the garden all day until around 7pm in summer. If the next door neighbours cut down their ridiculously tall trees we would get more evening sun but even so I am happy with the garden. Our washing line is further down the garden and gets sun all day in summer so no problems there.

I'm happy with our small north facing garden. In the summer the eating out area is shady, and the conservatory doesn't get too hot.

Depends how big/ long your garden is and what buildings/ trees you have on either side. We moved last year and had a south facing garden and it was too hot in the summer. It got so hot that our lvt floor started to lift. We now have a north face garden and I love it. It's long, not overlooked and we've just landscaped the back. We get the sun at the back door until about lunchtime then it moves further to the back. In summer we get the sun until 9pm in the garden and it's a real sun trap.

We had a house with a very large north facing garden.
As the garden was so large I never thought it would be a problem. It was though. The house just cast a shadow over it and we would have a tiny patch at the bottom to sit in.
I would never buy a house with a north facing garden again.