I don’t understand why south facing gardens are sought after

[Uncomplicated]

I was wondering if someone could help explain this to me. I have googled it and it says if you exit your house and stand in the garden with your back to the house and your compass points south, then your garden is south facing. But why is that so important? Surely if you are in anything but a south facing garden you can just position yourself or your chair so you are south facing. Also how does a south facing garden apparently get more sun? Is it because your house isn’t blocking the sun? Because even if your house doesn’t block the sun, your neighbours probably will.

Lol, it's not that facing south is a desirable way to sit!

The whole point of the garden facing south is that the house doesnt block the sun. The shadow of the house falls over the road. And as most gardens end-on to the garden of the house behind, they're not shaded by that house either.

South facing gardens get sun most of the day, and north facing gardens are in shadow most of the day. I personally would never buy a house with a north facing garden, because the whole point of having a garden for me is enjoying the sunshine.

They get a lot more sun during the day, so they are warmer and more pleasant to be in - if you like the warmth.
You could position yourself however you like in a North facing garden, but if there's no sun getting to it it won't make a difference!

The front of our house faces South and is much brighter and warmer than the back.

From Google: The main advantage of a south-facing house or garden is the amount of sunlight you'll enjoy. As the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the south side of any house will see the most hours of sunlight during the day – especially in the Northern Hemisphere – so a south-facing garden takes advantage of this

We're in the northern hemisphere, and so the colder winds blow from the north. The house goes some way towards protecting the garden, so it's more sheltered and plants can do better (depending on what you want to grow)

Obviously if your garden is huge, then this effect doesn't apply, and you won't see it mentioned on properties of that type. It's more useful icw typical suburbs size

They do get more sun. It's to do with the position of the sun in the sky being overhead for more of the day. I've had east, west and south facing - east was the worst as the sun disappeared behind the house at midday. West was the opposite - no sun till the afternoon (but a nice long sunset). South you get it for most of the day. Never had a north facing garden so I don't know what that's like.

@MolliciousIntent has it for the reason it's seen as desirable. Which in my eyes was much more relevant when people grew more of their own food earlier last century.

Now, I would actively avoid a south-facing garden, because what heats the garden also heats the house. Our main living room is south facing, and I spend a lot of summer with the curtains closed throughout the day to keep it cool. Whereas our northfacing kitchen happily has the bifolds closed whilst we're out without acting like a greenhouse, and open into a pleasurably cool north facing garden when we are home.

Horses for courses I guess.

Thanks everyone for their explanations and that’s a really interesting point @Starface. With soaring energy bills I wonder if south facing houses will now be more desirable than a south facing gardens.

South or west facing are best for longer sunshine and warmer evenings to sit outside.

Houses have 4 sides - although most houses have windows etc just on 2 ( eg north south ) - south facing patio doors will get you extra hot in summer and lose heat in winter

East west primary facing I think is easier to get stable indoor temperatures

South facing flats in my part of the world are actually less popular because they overheat through having solar gain most of the day. Houses at least have the advantage of a second, third or even fourth aspect. Very rare to find a house entirely south facing isn’t it? Unless you’re dealing with back to back terraces which are somewhat unusual.

I have said this many times on here, but for me a South facing garden isn't about the summer... it's the rest of the year, when the sun is low. You'll get lots of people saying how much sun they get in their North facing garden, but that will generally be in the height of summer. These will also be the people that smirk at others paying a premium for our "6 weeks of summer" or whatever.

There are many days, even in the winter, when it feels warm in the sun, but it's freezing in the shade. I can still enjoy my garden on these days. Never underestimate how much the sun can lift your mood throughout the year. And it's also helpful to dry mountains of washing!

My garden is south facing and wider than it's long. I'm currently sitting in it now and I won't lose the sun till it goes down. I discounted many otherwise perfect houses due to the size/orientation of the garden (I'd lived in a flat with zero outdoor space for 16 years) and never does a day go by that I don't appreciate it.

We've moved from a South facing garden to a North facing one and we love it.
The conservatory is useable all summer. It's surprising how much sun in the garden we do get so we can choose a sunny or shady spot to enjoy. The house is bright and warm, lots of sunlight pouring in from the front. Our old garden was too hot during the summer, no shade at all and the conservatory was regularly 40°.

Ours is SW & perfect but also end terrace so no house next door to block the sun.

We have a north facing garden and it gets a decent amount of sun tbh, there are no tall houses around.

I find it more of an issue inside the house, our kitchen is dark and fairly cold, I would love it to be south facing.

Love my south facing garden, its sunny, bright and my plants love it.
House is sunny and warm in the winter and we just have the blinds down in the summer, so its nice and cool.
I look after my elderly neighbour and her north facing garden is so dank and mossy.
I wouldnt even view a house with a north facing

I've said this to DH. We have a north facing garden and it actually sees sun for most of the day in summer, thanks to our positioning around other houses. The back of the house really isn't very warm though.

I prefer to benefit from the sun on our living room, as it really makes a huge difference between needing to use the heating or not (or just being able to use it less) during the cooler months.

My house faces south west and the front of the house is horribly hot. We have a garden office which is too hot to use in the afternoon even in May unless the blinds are down and the door is open.

We have a North facing garden, its tough to get things to grow that are in the shadow of the house all day long. The garden is long enough that there's places away from the house we can sit in the sunshine, but this would be an issue in a smaller garden of getting little sun.

I don't have a South facing garden and hate it.

By 3pm 3/4 of my garden is in shadow and I have to sit right at the back next to the shed if I want to be in the sun. It's rubbish.

I used to have a north east facing garden and there was no sun on the garden by about 4pm. So could never sit in the garden and feel the sun after work on a sunny day, for example. If your garden is massive then this probably doesn’t apply as there will be a spot where the house doesn’t block it, but for a normal size garden attached to a normal size 3 bed semi, the direction ruined our use of the garden in a way that had never really occurred to me before living there.

Now I have a SW facing garden, the sun moves round from behind the house at about 11am and shines on the garden until sunset. So much better.

There are many days, even in the winter, when it feels warm in the sun, but it's freezing in the shade. I can still enjoy my garden on these days. Never underestimate how much the sun can lift your mood throughout the year. And it's also helpful to dry mountains of washing!

We're by the coast with our north-facing garden. The sea breeze dries our washing outside all year round.

It’s not ideal - my garden is south facing and there is no natural shade from 10am until 8pm this time of year. Great for the garden but I need an easily moveable sun umbrella.

living room and two of the bedrooms are north facing so always stay cool, which is great.

It only really matters if you have a very small garden, like a Victorian working class terrace, or a 3 storey newbuild, where north facing does mean all the garden goes without sun most of the day.

I had a south facing garden and found it unbearable on hot days, sun blasting into the garden constantly so I had to close curtains and generally sit under a tree for shade! I now have a long garden that gets sun by the house in the morning and from 3pm ish starts to get shady but the end of the garden stays sunny so I have both. It’s perfect for me

Depends on the size of the garden and how high the fences are and how overlooked the garden is. My old house had a north facing tiny garden and it was in shadow most of the day.

My current house has a garden 10 times the size, is not south facing but because the shadow of the house only takes up a bit of it, and the fences are lower and there are no houses at the end of the garden then it's always sunny. I actually hate it, I'd much rather a shady garden!

I've had both. South facing was great but the sun still dropped off by 6pm ish, my plants had no shade and my kitchen was like an oven in summer, everything like bread and potatoes had to be kept in the fridge.

I'm now in a North facing and it gets the sun most of the day from 11 ish, it benefits from the sun coming through from the west until about 5pm when it is blocked by trees. My plants are much happier!

In an ideal world I'd have a SW garden to enjoy being outside in the evening, bbqs and watching the sunset.

It would only be a dealbreaker for me if there was no sun at all (been there).