North facing garden

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Would a property with a north facing garden put you off buying it?

We are going from a long north facing garden to a smaller north facing garden. Buying in a city so huge gardens are rare and mean a big compromise with the house. For us, house is enormous, 5 bed with outstanding primary and secondaries, near a Waitrose and in a lovely area. A huge priority was the house size so we don’t have to do expensive and stressful extensions. Plus when it is really hot the back of the house and garden will be useable - we spent all the hot days last year in the deep shade by the back of our house!

I am worried about the garden but we don’t actually use our garden that much at the moment and find the maintenance with young children a huge pain. Plus we are more likely to be out and about rather then in the garden. I’m considering taking out the small patch of grass and putting some beautiful patterned tiles and having lots of pots and raised planters.

Basically our thinking is that it will put some buyers off but there are millions of north facing gardens and someone lives in them!

Our house faces NE, the front of the house is gloriously sunny, even too hot in the summer and the sun is on the patio at the end of the garden all afternoon and evening.
The kitchen at the rear of the house is darker than I would like but that can be dealt with paint colours & lighting.

No.

I mean, yes it would put me off !

We have a north facing back garden and love it. It's long, not overlooked and nothing obstructing sun. I love that the sun streams in through the front bay windows. The house is much brighter than my previous one.

We are North facing, I was a bit hmm when we viewed as we love the sun but the house was perfect.

Garden is 100 ft and from around April to October 3/4 of the garden has sun, there is always a shaded part on our lower patio which is great when it's really hot, we don't get much sun from 7pm onwards. Our front room and obviously front bedrooms get beautiful sun all day through the large bays but our back kitchen open plan area stays cool in the height of summer.

We compromised on our last house as it was otherwise perfect, but with a small enclosed north facing garden.

I hated it. It was damp and musty and cold all year round. You can only grow plants that are shade tolerant, which usually means toxic - to kids and dogs, not ideal.

I was totally insistent on the next move it would be south or west, no compromises. Our new house has a large West facing garden and it's absolutely wonderful. We get the sun on the front all morning and on the back all afternoon and get to watch the sunsets out on our patio.

Our last house had one and it was depressing. I’m a keen gardener and could only grow my favourite plants in one tiny bit of the garden.

It would depend on what rooms in the house also only have north facing windows. The garden would depend on how big it was and how shadows fall from buildings. It would be a bit off putting for me I think. I'd be looking for a west facing back garden i think to catch evening sun.

I would hate a North facing garden. I've lived in a house with one and would never do it again. We both work FT so sitting down in the evening sun after work is really important to us.

You can always create shade in a South facing garden, you can't create the sun in a North facing one. In our last house we had a very small garden that faced due south - we had a pop up gazebo so the children could play in the shade when it was very hot. We've now got a large SW facing garden with several trees, so we have lovely dappled shade in parts of the garden.

Realistically you will be spending more time in the house than in the garden throughout the year in this country, so if the house is perfect then I wouldn't let a north facing garden put you off - unless you are a really keen gardener who will spend time in it come rain or shine. Ours is north facing and it's never been a problem for us.

If it's the choice between a less than ideal house with a south west facing garden or the perfect house with a north facing one then I would go for the perfect house every time.

I wouldn't buy it. My Dad couldn't care less though. It would limit your market but lots of people don't mind.

It depends on the length of it but a sunny back garden, regardless of orientation would be a must for me.

Yes I will be actively looking for a North facing garden when we move next year. I have had skin cancer and have two young children. Blocking the sun with gazebos and parasols is a huge hassle for me in summer. I have a South facing garden which, at first, was lovely but is too hot for me. I'm probably in the minority though!

It also depends where in the country you are - the people saying they’d be happy with north-facing because south is too hot in summer must be based in the south of the country. There ain’t no such thing as too hot outdoors in Inverness! I wouldn’t be able to sit outdoors in shade most of the year without freezing, so rely on sun to be able to use the garden.

My back garden is north facing and I like it because it means we get plenty of shade on the patio in the middle of the day.

The garden is long, so there is plenty of sun too.

Like pp's have said it totally depends on the layout of the house and garden.

We have a north facing garden in the house we moved into a year ago so it definitely didn't put me off. The garden is very wide but not long and has no houses behind it so it gets the sun for most of the day in one area where we've built some decking. When it's warm in the summer the patio at the back of the house is perfect to sit out in tas it's warm but without being too hot.

When we had a south facing garden in our last house the kitchen/diner was so hot in the summer it made it quite uncomfortable and the patio was sweltering so I actually much prefer to have the choice to actively go and sit where it's hot rather than that being my only option.