North facing garden?

[GallopingGreen]

Need to make a decision this morning... after a year of frustrating house hunting we have found a lovely house in a great location. It's at the very top end of our budget... however it is fully north facing garden. DH is not keen as it's the one thing about the house we can never change.

The current owner has made the best of it with a big kitchen extension at the back with lots of glass and windows... to maximise the light.

Any experience with north facing gardens being fine? It's a long garden so will have some light at some point I guess....

Thanks!

That is strange indeed. I've never known anybody's North facing gardens get boggy, to be honest. Never happened to me.

I've lived in about 13-14 different properties in my life and none of them have ever been new build, so I don't know if it's anything to do with that or not. (As you suggested.) The newest one has been 12 years old - and that was actually in the mid 1990s. So it was an early1980s build.

As I say, it shouldn't be getting boggy. Yeah, of course it will be darker in the back garden in winter, and the first 15-20 feet will be in the shade in winter, but it shouldn't be boggy.

Depends on the shape of the garden and the houses around. We have a North facing garden and I really regret it. Its wide but not that long and there is sun throughout the summer but mostly at the back of the garden which is beside neighbours fences so I have no interest in sitting there. The area to the left of the house is fairly large but shaded all the time and there's also a gradient on the grass that ends there so it's just a bog even with french drains in. I'd compromise to a smaller garden that I can actually use.

This. ^ I think it's an advantage to have a north, NW, NE, (or east or west facing back garden,) as it does give you some shade in summer. Also, why on earth would you be in the back garden for any great length of time during mid-October to March (when there is a small amount of sun in the north facing garden,) anyway?

As has been said, if you've got a garden that's over 30 feet long, you'll have a reasonable amount of space where it's sunny anyway... even in winter. Not many back gardens will be less than 20 feet long. Most houses are not higher than that..., so yeah, you should get enough 'sunny periods' for your needs - even with a north facing garden.

I never understand this obsession with 'MUST HAVE A SOUTH FACING BACK GARDEN or NO DEAL...!)

Another aspect to consider. If you have big glazed areas, north-facing can be an advantage as it won't show dirt/fingerprints on the glass much. The kitchen will still get plenty of light but the light will have a different quality, which I actually quite like. Plus as other posters suggested, south-facing windows with large glazed areas can be uncomfortable in summer.

I love mine too. I’m a keen gardener and I grow everything I want in it. It gets plenty of sun in summer and I like having some shade when it gets too warm. A west facing garden would be lovely, but I actually wouldn’t want one which faced south.

We had a North East facing garden years ago - never again. The sun had gone from it by about 2.00pm. In subsequent years of house hunting I would only ever consider South through to West facing gardens. I wouldn't even view a house if it had anything 'North' even if the house was amazing. Now have a South South East facing garden now and it's lovely. The sun does disappear from right up against the back of the house by about 5.00pm, but we have a large patio outside the kitchen extension that is sunny until it finally disappears behind the houses later on. I think we also keep the sun a bit longer as all the houses are bungalows!

I never understand this obsession with 'MUST HAVE A SOUTH FACING BACK GARDEN or NO DEAL...!)

Because everybody has different priorities when choosing a home. I spent 17 years without a garden, or any outdoor space in fact, so when I finally moved it was my main priority. My OH thought I was mad discounting houses due to garden orientation, but he now thanks me often that he can enjoy a beer in the sun after work 😂

It may be the soil type. Ours is boggy in winter because it is on heavy clay. It’s also north facing, but that’s not why it’s boggy, our neighbours who face different directions also have the same problem.

It's not about the height of summer, when of course you'll get sun in a nf garden, it's about the rest of the year. Those many days when it's warm in the sun but freezing in the shade.

where do you live, I’m assuming not in the uk? The difference for me is minimal in terms of actual temp. I’ve never experienced such a temp differential and i also lived in main land Europe.

south facing for me can also be very difficult as it creates a need to artificially create shade.

I'm in greater London. The sun makes a huge difference in temperature, surely that's obvious?

No. It’s not, I’m in south east close to London and it’s a couple of degrees max.

I love my north facing garden.

BUT:

It's not overlooked at all on the west side (there is a (residential) road directly over our boundary), so it gets loads of evening sun in the summer. In fact it gets sun all day long from spring to autumn, and parts of it are a real sun trap.

There are about 8 weeks a year when it gets no sun, but that coincides with it being cold, wet and miserable, so I don't want to go out in it anyway.

I was adamant I wasn't buying a house with a N facing garden. I said to the estate agent that I wouldn't put an offer in until I'd seen the garden in the afternoon (on a sunny day) to understand what it was like. He said we couldn't view after 5pm, so I said fine, no deal... He changed his mind pretty quickly when he realised I meant it! A 5 minute visit at 6.30 on a sunny day and I'd seen what I needed to.

I guess drying washing is the only down side. I have a rotary line, but it doesn't get much sun (and I don't want one in the middle of the garden), so you can only dry outside if you know you're going to have a full day of dry weather with a breeze. Fine in summer, but other than that we dry washing indoors. Not too much of a hardship for me as I hate pegging washing on a line anyway!

I disagree. On Monday I walked my kids to school and it was gloriously sunny and I had to take my coat off. Picked them up, no sun and really chilly. Plenty of days I can sit out in the sun in my back garden, but couldn't in my front. The sun has a warming effect due to it's nature 🤔

The difference between sitting in full sun and sitting in a shady corner in the same garden can be a lot more than a couple of degrees on a summer day. Particularly if there's a breeze. Warm and sheltered vs shady and breezy can be like being in 2 different climates. We get those extremes in our garden a lot.

It depends how you would imagine using a garden really.

I have a south facing garden. When my children were small, I couldn't let them out in the middle of the day as there was no shade, it was too hot.

The back of the house boils in the sun, and my family when they come over huddle under sun shades! I sit indoors as I don't like getting hot and sticky in the heat.

But my family are not massive garden "sitters" anyway ....they tend to be doing things in the garden (pottering about) - so shade is preferable for that, and thus they work out the front of the house where it is cooler (although plenty of sunny spots available if they want).

I have neighbours however who really enjoy lying out when the weather permits - so make maximum use of the aspect.

How long is your garden? Our north facing garden gets lots of sun at the bottom end where it's out the shadow of the house.

The shady part of the garden nearest the house is patio and that also gets a little sun, the grass is fine and not boggy as it's further from the house.

I'll be pleased the back of the house and parts of the garden will be cool and shady if we get another heat wave.

Honestly not sure why this has to be pointed out 😂

Some days I cross the road to walk in the sun to warm up a bit, isn't that normal 🤷

Yes I had to put permanent shade up in the south facing part as certain times of the year there was no respite. I also needto watch what I plant there as many plants can’t take full sun.

for me it all has its pluses and negatives. As said, I don’t see the extremes of temp mentioned between warm and freezing, it’s not my personal experience but appreciate others are witnessing these extremes.

Yes the garden is long and pretty wide - it's full of bushes and shrubbery down the end at the moment that I think we could clear to make a little sun spot at the end. The west side has tall trees - lovely and private for us - but will take away a lot of the evening light. It's on another property so would not have certainty they would do anything to help us get more light....

I pointed it out because a PP said there wasn't much temperature difference between sun and shade! There most definitely is.

I have a long thin north facing garden (maybe 30mx8m) and I really like it.
The sun is never directly shining on the back of the house, which keeps the rooms comfortably cool in summer, but there’s still plenty of light. From about 2pm onwards in summer we get some shade from the neighbours trees (west of us) so the children can play out without me worrying too much.
We’ve just put a patio in half way down the garden so we can sit in the sun in spring and autumn.
In the summer it’s a real sun trap and can get too hot even right by the house. I have my greenhouse right at the end of the garden and have to have shading from April otherwise my plants can end up scorched.

I know, I was agreeing with you. It was my comment the OP was disagreeing with!

No the OP, the PP!

For me it's about how cold the rooms are that don't get sun. Our old house never ever had sun on the kitchen and it was miserable other than on a really hot day.

My Friends garden is fully north facing, they have decking next to the house and also put some in down the bottom if they want the evening sun. They don’t use it that often.

as said, mines wrap around, so I have all . Personally I prefer the east part as the best compromise, as I get a good mixture of both sun and shade. The south part is where the major seating area is, just due to lay out. and I don’t find it optimal and had to put permanent shade in in the form of a gazebo as it was impossible to sit out there certain times of the year.

I don’t find a huge amount of difference Between north and west and find it depends on how close to the house you need to sit. Once out of the house shadow I find little difference