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.

You'll get the sun first thing in the morning until whatever time it goes up and over the house, longer in the summer months when the sun gets higher.

We are actually in the process of moving to a house with a north east garden, so I love this. We are moving from a south facing garden and I'm a sun worshipper, but actually I'm really looking forward to it as new garden is both wider and much longer - and I think that is key. Although garden direction is important I think it's more about width of garden and how much it's overlooked/sun blocked in all honesty,
Current south garden house (which I was thrilled about when we bought it) is a nightmare most of the summer, our living room is at the back it's roasting by midday even with the blinds are down and I've really not enjoyed it the last few years with 3 Young kids tbh, we invested in a huge garden umbrella that I have to move around a lot to allow them to play out there in the morning/early afternoon and then we lose sun about 7pm so don't get to enjoy that evening sun relax time.
We've visited the NE garden house a couple of times now at different times of day and most of it has been in glorious sunshine with just patio nearest the back doors in shade later in day which is actually exactly what i want these days so will suit us great!

I honestly think if I could build my own house and choose a direction I would probably go north West to get that glorious evening sun in the summer but where the rooms at the back of the house stays cool at the back most of the day!

You’d probably need any seating area at the bottom of the garden as nearer the house will be in shade from mid/late afternoon but the end of the garden will be fine.

Bricks hold the heat (that's why people used to build walled gardens), and so the whole garden stays warmer for longer and plants grow better

@SarahAndQuack that is really interesting
thanks, although I'm not telling people that it's success is bricks and not my skill! I've grown a decent Mediterranean garden but it is South facing with three brick walls.

I don't live in the northern hemisphere so was always abit bemused by this now I get it!

We're buying a house with a north facing garden - I thought it was a deal breaker because I love the sun but the house is absolutely perfect and has a big garden with an additional patio at the bottom that gets sun til 7pm. The main bedroom is at the back so won't get too hot and kitchen is at the front with huge bay window so will be nice and sunny
We have a big west facing garden currently and the whole thing is sunny 11am-8pm at this time of year. I love it but it's very hot out there and unusable without a parasol

@Mischance

"I have never viewed a house without taking a compass with me to see which way different room face."

Me neither !

As a child I lived in a house with a N/S alignment and my bedroom was at the back facing N. It never got any sun and was depressing.
The lounge was also at the back and always felt cold.

I have been determined never to repeat this !

Our garden is north/east facing and it was a concern when we bought our house but it’s been okay actually. Our garden is long so we get a lot of sun in the back of it but the patio area next to our house is in the shadow most of the day. In the mornings the sun soaks our kitchen and it’s incredible so there’s that at least . If I had to pick I would want a south facing garden though .

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

We have tinted windows at the back. You can't tell they are tinted and it keeps the rooms cool. We also have a pergola.

I love my S/W facing garden. We get the sun from 10am until nearly 7pm. if it's too hot I retreat to the North facing, dining room to cool down. I have beautiful olive trees, plants and flowers in the garden.

It depends. Technically our garden is north facing but as we are detached with a huge gap on the west elevation the south sun floods into our north garden which is basically without shade apart from the 2m adjacent to the house.

We have a south facing garden and it's awful. It gets ridiculously hot and insufferable. We don't really like the heat though so that's the issue. We can't get any shade. Getting a gazebo this year and an awning.

I have a north facing garden and I love it. My garden is large enough that more than half of it is always sunny anyway and my house and patio are always nice and shady and cool. I like having a cool house in summer. As long as your garden is partly sunny it's preferable in my view.

We have a very long East facing garden with no houses overshadwing the length of it. Even so our patio gets the sun until later afternoona and then we can just chase the sun up the garden. Lovely!

I don’t like the heat and I burn like anything - ours gets the cool bright morning sun then more shaded as the day goes on - top part remains sunny. Perfect for me and DH

Our garden is north facing and smallish / average in size (c35ft x 35ft),it's really not that bad. We are the end of a row with a big gap between us and the next house.

We get sun on the back of the house / immediately outside the patio doors for a few hours in the morning, and then from lunchtime we have full sun at the end of the garden on the patio which we have built specifically in that spot because it gets the sun. We get sun in that area that sort of comes around the side of the house til about 8pm in the summer, and it would be even later if our garage wasn't in the way!

However next door is completely different, their garden faces exactly the same way as ours but by about 4pm theirs is in total shade just because there is hardly any gap between their house and ours.

South or south west facing garden was a deal breaker for us, we even moved house to get one. It's a haven for me... especially in lockdown.

It's a long south facing London garden with areas of shade, everything grows beautifully, olive trees and lots of Mediterranean plants, and crucially, I can sunbathe in a bikini in utter privacy.
I am a sun worshipper though.

Was also fine when daughter was younger as we have two large parasols and a tree for shade, just used to spread a blanket onto the lawn and she could play there. Now she's a teenage vampire so no danger of sunburn.

I used to have a South facing house - I hated it on a sunny day. All the "recreational" rooms (dining room, living room, kitchen) were all on the south side which, on a sunny day, no matter if it was winter or summer, were unbearable to sit in unless you kept the curtains closed all day. The amount of summers I just used to end up sitting in my north facing bedroom!

We now have an east facing garden and I love it. The patio is nice and shaded at from mid afternoon to the end of the day so you can escape the relentless heat of the summer. If you want some sun, you can drag a sun lounger in to a sunny part.

I don't like the heat though, so it suits me fine. The people that lived in the house before me were sun worshippers, so they had two outside seating areas at opposite ends of the garden that they could use depending on the time of day.

South or North (as roofs tend to have two sides!) facing houses are better for solar panels, but I much prefer an East / West facing house.

A lot of these comments are making me chuckle, you could be excused for thinking we had a Mediterranean climate!

I live in the South. Yes, we do get some hot weather... but only for a small part of the year. Plenty more days that are warm in the sun, but chilly in the shade. That's when a South facing garden is perfect.

the relentless heat of the summer

The what now?

😂