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.

I never really understood the hype on here either, it’s nearly hysteria levels. If you go and stand in your garden depending on which way you face decides on which way it’s facing

so stand at the front door face forward it’s south. Stand at the bottom of the garden face the house it’s north facing , stand and face the left it’s west. Stand and face the right and it’s east.

it’s all a little silly and illogical.

My mother always insisted on a south facing garden. Her last place had a huge conservatory running along the back adjoining the living room. It was pleasant in winter but made both rooms unbearably hot in summer. We've just had an orangery built onto the back of our north facing garden. Wouldn't have contemplated this if we were south facing.

I confidently predict that south facing gardens will become more and more unpopular. North facing is the way to go.

My garden is south facing. I didn’t buy it because of that, but it is a nice perk. It means that as a keen gardener I have a wider choice of what to grow, and can create shady areas where I need them too, as I personally don’t like sitting in the sun, but many plants do. If I didn’t have a south facing garden im sure I could make it work (and have done in the past). It also means that with large patio doors my house is warmed when the sun shines in winter. My neighbours’ houses do not shade my garden.

I like an east/west house as my ultimate preference, especially if the garden is long. East/west houses don’t have the extremes of natural light and heat that north/south houses have, and I think they are lovely to live in. Our west facing garden can be overwhelmingly hot, especially in the afternoon, so a south facing garden would be unbearable on our plot.

This is my second East-facing home and I love it. Morning sun in the kitchen at the back, but sun into the front of the house by the evening. Means you still get light into the evening in the front room. With the amount of glazing people have at the backs of their houses, I don't know how anyone could live with this in a South facing house, you'd just fry! I am not a sun worshipper so always seek shade in the garden anyway. Things grow in the front and back gardens rather than one being in shade all day and the other being baked.

Well that's the way you'll be facing... not your garden!

We had full south and a very small garden when the DCs were small. It was a nightmare trying to create some shade for them. Now we have NE facing , it’s a fair sized wide shallow garden. Gets plenty of sun, but there’s a bit of shade too if you want it. I love it. And our conservatory type room stays a sensible temperature. It’s also terraced so I’m thrilled to see Adam Frost’s new garden on Gardeners World.

My garden is NW facing, and still the conservatory gets hot! I'd not change my house for all the tea in China though, I love it just as it is!

One side of the garden gets sun almost all day, the other side gets morning sun, so I just have to work out what to plant!

I have a small North facing back garden and I love it, it's terraced and gets different levels of light in different places. I have a shady part with acers, heucheras and hydrangeas and a really sunny part with fruit trees.

I have plants out the front too but they need a lot of watering and can get scorched. The whole house is really bright apart from one bedroom but on really hot days going in there can feel like a mercy.

Can you not see why that’s illogical. Like you can’t understand it? You don’t undersgand the bottom of the garden is facing in the opposite direction to the top?

when people say south facing garden they mean the house is facing in that direction. The garden isn’t. Depending on where you or a plant, tree etc is in rhe garden depends on where it’s facing.

I have a south facing garden and would never move into a house without it.

I've never understood the hype about south facing gardens. Mine is apparently and the kitchen is always flooded with light but the sitting room where I sit in the evening is colder because the light hasn't given it any warmth during the day. I have wondered if it would work better the other way round. You're always busy in the kitchen, moving, cooking or whatever, and then when you sit down in the room that has been north facing all day, brrrrrrrrrrrr!

what is there to understand.
it's not rocket science.
look at a globe, or atlas.
you know, i hope that the sun rises in the east, and rests in the west.
we are in the northern hemisphere, yes.
presumably antipodeans desire a north-facing garden.
or not, if it's too hot.
we are a temperate climate, so it's not too hot.
hope that helps.
not sure it OP was a serious question.
hence my being a bit curt.
and rushing for the post office.

We bought a house with a north facing garden. It’s not as bad as it’s made out to be. From April time to about September the garden does get sun as the sun is more directly overhead. The bottom of the garden gets it most of the day, directly in front of the house doesn’t though. The winter it is pretty much in shade all the time but we’re not gardeners and wouldn’t be out there anyway.

@alexdgr8 yes unfortunately I was being serious, but where else can you ask these questions if not on mumsnet? I really do appreciate everyone’s responses. I think I understand it a bit more now however it appears it is not as straightforward as some people say it is. From what has been written and from my own experience I have come to the conclusion that the way your garden faces is no guarantee to a sunny garden. If you have a large garden (in comparison to your house size), which isn’t overlooked by houses or shaded by trees, it doesn’t particularly matter which way your garden faces, you will find some sun. However if you have a south facing garden which is small and neighbours on each side with leylandii trees which are blocking all your light then you are no better off than having a north facing garden.

Was that reply to me? If so I'm not really sure what you mean? It's not illogical at all that someone who appreciates a sunny garden would choose a house with a South facing garden. As it's not generally overshadowed by their house.

But your shade won't be coming from left and right for most of the day in a South facing garden. It will be coming from your house. It comes from left or right if you're east or west facing.

I meant in a north facing garden it will come from your house. Generally in a South facing, unless you have a massive building at bottom of your garden, there will be little shade.

@CellophaneFlower so to avoid that scenario, your garden has to be bigger than the largest shadow cast by your house?

Here's my North West facing garden currently. Excuse the mess, and the washing, but it shows you how much sunshine we have...

I love our south facing garden - our solar panels love it too!

We've had a north facing garden and I enjoyed planting it up with big-leaved, glossy green , white flowering plants. I can't do that now but I've enjoyed learning about drought-tolerant plants. No more dahlias for me!

Yes to you, becayse a garden doesn’t face any way. It’s a patch of land. It’s the house that faces not the garden.

I don’t get why folks can’t grasp it. If the back of the house faces south then the house will cast less shadow on the garden. The garden itself isn’t facing anywhere. It’s a patch of land. It doesn’t face.

Depending on the size of the garden and the size of the house dictates how important how the house faces. A small garden and it’s very important. A large garden and irs irrelevant. because the house won’t cast enough shadow to cover the garden

i have a large garden, it wraps round rhe whole property. The house casts more of a shadow at rhe front as the house faces north, less at the back as it faces south at rhe back . Enough distance away from the house shadow I get the exact same sun all round the garden. Becayse there is nothing more to cast a shadow.

it’s the direction that part of the house is facing and how big the house is v how small the garden is. That’s why folks think they get rhe sun down rhe bottom. Becayse there is no house to cast a shadow and put it in shade.

I work in a south facing office and it's like a furnace even in winter if it's sunny! I have to have the blinds closed most of the time which seems a shame but I can't see my screen and it gets too hot!

I think if you are in the South East a South facing garden is unbearable in the Summer. We are North/West facing at the back, South/East at the front, and have planted a large tree there to ensure shade at the front. Midday you literally couldn't sit out there. We close everything at the front in the Summer, from about 9am, windows, curtains, blinds. In the late afternoon, we open the front, and close the back up! Our garden is in sun all day, including the patio, even though we have a large 5 bedroom house. The garden only goes into shade mid afternoon, but sun stays on the patio into the evening. Yes, in the Winter it is colder at the back, but then you get the sun on the front, meaning those rooms are lovely, including the lounge and my bedroom.

It's all about orientation of the house, where the rooms are, and how long your garden is. You actually do need some shade for your plants too. My garden is spectacular, very English/Meditterean cottage garden, even with it's supposedly unlovely orientation.