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!

I think so too. They are predicting within the next couple of decades we may have a climate like spains. With temperatures rising each year , if that comes to pass, then south facing will be the less and less desirable as each year passes, unless you’re a real sun worshipper and a poor gardener.

As said my main seating bit is south facing and I already had to put up a gazebo so we weren’t chasing shade and to make it bearable and the plants out there needed a lot of watering to keep them alive. The internal rooms also become unbearably hot.

I don’t think north is optimal. Although It could end up there, but I’m really not convinced south is either or will be in the future.

if I was buying a house now to stay in long term,and it had a south facing garden, I’d hesitate and consider how I could add shade.

I have a north facing. The back of the house is darker in the rooms but of course the front is lighter. The right hand side of the garden gets the sun in the morning and the left side in the evening. The back half during the day. We have a patio and it gets the sun in the evening from April till the end of the Summer which is really quite nice.

It does get boggy in Winter but that has cleared up already. Honestly it would not put me off especially if you have a longish garden.

Personally I love a North facing garden. It was a godsend last summer when it was so hot, and as climate change will likely make hot weather more frequent I'd choose a North facing garden every time.

I’ve recently moved to my third successive NF garden. Not entirely by choice, but we had to compromise somewhere and previous experience hadn’t turned me off. This one faces due north.

There was no sun at all on the short 30ft length from early Nov until mid March, but we weren’t outside anyway. Now, even this early in the season, the sun has travelled round so far that it’s about to start streaming in the BACK of the house. At 5pm. The dining room at the front of the house is entirely shaded - not by trees or other houses, just because of the route of the sun.

As we get into summer the sun will pass so high that we’ll get have loads of sun from early morning through to late evening. It doesn’t matter that the patio is right next to the back wall as we’ll be in the sun when we want to sit for an alfresco drink after work.

It has south, west and east facing fences and borders, perfect for all kinds of plants and I’ve going to make the most of gardening here.

I’ve had both but currently have south facing. I prefer the south facing but agree about the heat. Last summer I had to close the curtains in the sitting room and kitchen to keep the heat out. On the other hand, I get solar gain in winter. I wouldn’t go for a north facing garden again.

We moved house a couple of months ago. Our new much smaller garden that we had before is north west facing. Haven’t had a film summer here yet but on sunny days so far we seem to get sun at the bottom of the garden mid morning and from lunchtime along with right hand side - we have a small patio. Half of it is shaded and the other half gets the afternoon sun. Of course I would like a sunnier garden but it wasn’t a deal breaker as the house ticks every other box we were looking for. As long as I have somewhere I can sit with a cuppa then I am happy.
last summer was too hot in our previous garden so I am hoping that we at least get more shade to escape to in our new garden.

so personally no it wouldn’t put me off if I loved the house

NW facing is much better than N/NE imo. I like West facing too, but if my house had a West facing garden, I'd lose my north facing lounge at the front obviously and I love how cool that stays in the summer!

OP, my garden I north facing and also long. In the summer, the vast majority is in sunlight. In fact, I'd say only a metre or 2 from the house is shady. Which is perfect to be honest!
I'd also argue that having a glass extension is even better in a north facing back garden so the rooms don't get like a greenhouse.

This is the nicest garden I've ever had. No boggy issues at all and a huge amount and variety if plants. It was a mature garden when I bought it.

My front garden bakes so is perfect for lavender etc.

In the winter, the house shades about 5-6 meters back from the house. But that's about a quarter of my garden 🤷‍♀️.

I have a wide shallow north facing garden. From April to October we get plenty of sun, only a small strip right by the house doesn't. Breakfast in the morning on the patio by the house, sun most of the day throughout the garden and a sunny spot at the end of the garden right until the sunsets.

Another one jumping to say don’t rule it out, all NF gardens are not equal. I was obsessively researching and so worried about our NF purchase as I do love a summers evening in the garden but this one is even better than our previous WF. We have plenty of sun from March through to October and in peak summer it’s right on the back of the house until late so much so that is where our patio area is so no need to camp in a corner at the bottom as I feared (though we are NNW). The only thing I miss is the direct sunlight into the rear downstairs rooms but we are about to add a glazed extension with roof lights which will hopefully bring some more light in. I will say though we’ve nothing directly to the west of us and I do think that’s probably a key factor. Good luck.

My garden is north facing. My kitchen has big wide windows and is dual aspect so is light and airy. My garden is wide with a large patio at the top ( it slopes slightly upward away from the house) and has a path leading up. That gets the sun all day long. Have never thought it a problem until I joined Mumsnet!
My Mum has a south facing garden and she finds it too hot and has no shade.

I would never buy a house with a north facing garden. I love the sun in the garden and having lived in a house with a north facing garden for years I found I couldn’t enjoy my outdoor space. It limits what you can consider but if having a sunny aspect is important to you I wouldn’t do it.

We were in a similar situation, the house was beautiful and as we are in the UK we spend a lot of time indoors, however for the odd days of sunshine I like to be outdoors. You will get some light but not a lot. I made a point of walking past at different times of the day and it was soooo dark all of the time.

We didn't purchase the house, we bought another house which was smaller but our garden is perfect and we enjoy it so much when the sunny days do appear! If you have children I would think about it hard, we stayed in the garden tonight until 7pm tonight and it really does make a difference.

I hope you make the right choice for you, but winter is so bleak as it is you should make the most of your outdoor space when you get the chance.

Deal breaker for me. I am in a house with a north facing garden with the kitchen extension and glasses, exact specifications as you mentioned. It is not about summers, summers are hardly for 2-3 months, it is winters, in winters it gets freezing cold in the kitchen, there is no sun and to add it to it the glasses transfer all the cold into the kitchen. We do have heating but you can't have the heating on for forever.

Disclaimer: I'm probably half vampire in how much I hate the sun.

We had a N/NE facing garden in our old house - it never bothered me much - back of the house got enough light for us, and it meant the conservatory remained tolerably usable much more of the year than it would have done. Size of the houses and layout around meant the top end of the garden patio got sunlight most of the evening - sufficient for our neighbours who liked sunbathing.

Accidentally (it wasn't on our radar at all when we were looking) bought this current house which has the much-desired south facing garden recently and honestly - apart from ease of getting washing dried - it's not occurred to me at all... in fact having to remove the idiot dog from the lawn when she's lying out there oblivious to the fact she's a bloody black dog and there's steam rising from her repeatedly is a chuffing pain in the arse at times.

So yeah - some people NEED one.... some people don't do sunlight and my dog is stupid.

We have sun in our north facing garden because there are no houses in the east west direction.

Your own house doesn't cast a shadow in the entire backgarden usually, only the part that's closest to the house. It means our conservatory is in the shade in the middle of the day, and we don't need a parasol over our garden table. When did you view the house? It's usually in the day so you can see what the sun situation is actually like instead of speculating.

I’m currently sat in the sun in my north facing garden, on the patio next to the house. Yes the back rooms don’t get the sun but whichever way your house faces there will be rooms that don’t get sun

Our NE facing garden right now. Back deck is a WIP but you can see it get loads of sun!

Sorry photo did not attach

No. Not unless is a long garden or it will be all shaded most of the day in winter.

Sitting in my north facing garden now. Our patio is opposite the house against the rear neighbour's wall. We don't get sun in the garden October to March, but April to September the sun gets higher than the house (see pic) so all good! Shade all year against the house (which is the perfect temp in summer). It's chilly in the shade today but sooo warm where I'm sat on the patio in the sunshine. Love having cool rooms at the back of the house in summer too. Neighbours opposite with same house but south facing garden can never cool the house down enough to be comfortable in the summer.

I have a north facing garden which is fine, it’s big enough it gets sun somewhere all day. Also the house isn’t tall and we’re not overlooked so nothing to block the light. Even in the winter there’s a sunny patch on the patio for a few hours where the washing line lives. There are tall trees at the bottom of the garden which have no impact on me but probably block quite a bit of light to the south facing garden behind us.

The rooms at the back are cold though, godsend last summer when it was boiling not so great in the winter when you’re trying to make it warm.

had a south facing garden before and sometimes the room at the back was unusable - the floor was too hot to walk on. No shade in the garden in the day for the dc either, I had to put a gazebo over the paddling pool etc. also the garden was narrow with the tall fences which meant shadows early evening.

Mine is exactly the same so the eastern morning sun at the back door / patio till 12 ish then sun in the rest of the garden till late. It moves around but it's fine.

Our current home has a north facing garden and this is a plus for us, our last house and huge conservatory was fully south facing with no shade and unbearable for most of the summer.

We have a conservatory now that has sun all morning, (love my morning coffee in there) and is actually usable in the afternoon too. The sun moves round to the front of the house at 1pm and warms up the whole of the house. The garden is warm with sunny parts but due to the shade, we use it more.

Aren't all gardens north and south facing?

The back of our house faces north, and this is perfect. We get the shade that is healthy. If we walk a few metres away from the house, there is sun. We also get morning and evening sun.