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?

This is my north facing garden in April this year. Don't discount it as there's so many factors at play. We have our main entertaining area at the back where we get sun in about 3/4 of the garden from 11am-9pm. We get sun at the back door in the morning which is lovely for a coffee.

Deal breaker for me. Light in the house is more important than you'd think.

@allycat4

Deal breaker for me. Light in the house is more important than you'd think.

How does a North facing garden affect the light in the house? If you have a North facing garden, the front of your house will be South facing so half the house will have more light...and vice versa, if your garden faces South, the front of your house faces north and will be darker...or am I missing something?

it depends on so many factors, how overlooked the garden is and from which direction as well as where your main rooms in the house are.

we actually have both a north and south facing garden and we spend more time, when we're outside more during summer, in the north facing one

our main living areas are on the south side of the house, with utility, cloakroom, upstairs bathrooms are on the north side of the house

its' not as simple as north facing = bad

@allycat4
I don't understand that point? We have a very bright house. Sunny front south facing rooms and the back extension has roof lanterns and big doors. If it was the reverse we would have the sun coming through the extension and a very dark front room.

@allycat4

Deal breaker for me. Light in the house is more important than you'd think.

We've got a North facing garden and it doesn't affect the light in the house - our living room faces South and is flooded with light.

I have s north facing garden and love it. We get a tiny bit of sun first thing, and then from about 10am until sunset we have sun somewhere in our garden all day. Just not all of it at once. So I have created three seating areas, each in the sun at different times. The main thing though, is that on hot days there always somewhere to sit that is in the shade. Also, the sun never reaches our kitchen doors/windows, so the kitchen is cool in the summer.

I really do appreciate all the views on hereand the time you have taken to reply. Very dependent on personal preferences I think.

The garden is small so I think there will be house shadow but the west side is open so hopefully afternoon and evening sun. Am also think about how to create sitting space in the front garden which is, of course south facing but not private.

Also thinking about work we would want to do and how to bring light into the back eg roof lights. The front will be bright but layout doesn't allow that to travel through the ground floor.

If anyone knows how to turn the house around or move the sun please let me know.

I had a north facing garden.

IF the garden isn’t overlooked to east and west you will get sun on the top/bottom half of it at the beginning & end of each day.

Best to view the house twice - morning then near sunset on a sunny day & see whether it gets any sun and where.

Ours is north facing, and I moved from a south west facing garden so I was dreading it. But actually the garden is long and narrow (about 30m by 7.5m) so in summer when the sun is high only the metre or so nearest the house doesn’t get direct light, and the shade caused by next doors trees is a relief.

It also means no direct light on the back of the house, which keeps those rooms cooler. We’re near London so that’s a blessing on the 27degree plus summer days.

In the winter the whole patio gets no sun, but I’m planning on creating another seating area halfway down the garden to use in autumn/spring.
I have a greenhouse/growing area at the bottom of the garden and that’s getting a few hours of sun each day even now.

We have a north facing garden and one really sunny patch at the end where we have built some decking for a garden sofa set. We have nothing directly behind us though.

Our patio immediately from our living room doesn't get sun unless it's the height of the summer but even this year it was lovely to sit in the shade and eat lunch there as it was still very warm outside out of the direct sun.

We had a much longer typical 1930s south facing garden in our last house and a lot of the time it was too hot on the patio area and in the kitchen/diner in the summer. TBH the way we have it set up now I think I prefer this garden.

It totally depends on what's around it. I love my N facing garden, but there's nothing on the west side and it gets loads of sun. Yes, it's pretty grim at this time of year, and in Nov, Dec and Jan we get hardly any sun at all, but who wants to be in the garden in those months?

The point about light in the house is important - we have massive windows all along the north side, and have plenty of light. But small windows would make it feel very different.

And you really notice the temperature differences in spring/autumn. When both me and DH were working at home, one in a N facing room and one in S facing, the difference was stark. The direct sun on the S side made the room plenty warm enough. On the N side, it was chilly for a lot of the day.

I have a very small north facing garden, with the living room also at the back of the house. Light isn't a problem at all, and the garden itself is surprisingly sunny and very warm. As all the houses on this road are fairly "meh" with no trees, all the light streams through from the side and of course the back fence is south facing, to the plants. In the summer the sun is high enough the shadow of the house doesn't matter either. Having a north facing living room is perfect in the summer as it stays cool, and it's great for TV watching because the sun is never in your eyes on casting shadows on the screen. I'd say go for it. You need variety in any garden, and north facing makes for a great useful space.

It depends what you look out over. The front of our house is north facing but there is an amazing view of hill and woodlands. As they hills face south they get beautiful light on them so even though our rooms aren't getting direct light what we are looking at is lit up so it makes the rooms feel brighter than they actually are.

I did have some trepidation about this in our current house as the last garden was south facing. This one is NW but is saved by not having anything blocking the sun from the west and also that the far side of the garden is a raised terrace. I think it depends on factors like that.

My garden is south facing and I don't like that in summer it is too sunny. I would much prefer shade to sit out in. It gets too hot for me in summer and I am forever yelling to the kids to find some shade and high factor sun cream.

They're fine if not too overshadowed with fences trees etc. And if you want a conservatory, they are the best- not too hot in the summer. We had one for over 30 years, and it was great, grew veg, fruit, etc. And it wasn't a huge garden either.

If you get westerly sun, that's a real bonus.

Thank you everyone for sharing. Some good points to mull over. We have gone for it. The location is perfect for us. Hopefully being clear to the west will help. Plus a really good point re what we will look at. No lovely view unfortunately, but the side of neighbour's house at the end of the garden. But it is a white wall which will perhaps reflect a little light back towards us.

Really appreciate all the comments thank you.