North facing garden good or bad?

[Kajri]

I am planning to purchase a house is london. Everything of this house looks good except that the garden is north facing and the living space is at the rear so am afraid both garden and living space will not get sunlight. I am planning on purchasing house no. 88..Can someone please suggest whether I should go for it or not?

Depends what you want really. If you like to sit out in the sun, then it’s not really for you. ours is north facing and we got a surprising amount of sun early
morning, then mid afternoon onwards. Suits me because I’m no good sitting out in the sun for hours on end. The sitting room is at the back, but the light is ok thanks to large windows, and the right decor.
my only issue really is the fact the grass gets boggy from end autumn until spring, and it’s tricky to find plants that I can grow beard the house end (which gets very little sun).

I'd hate it but only you know how much it matters to have lots of or very little sun.

I have a north facing garden but it's quite large so the back of it gets the sun. The kitchen diner is at the back of the house. The kitchen is quite dark but the dining bit has patio doors and is open to the living room which gets a fair bit of light. I think this will depend on windows, how many, etc

I personally wouldn't buy a north facing garden (lived with one previously and it just wasn't working for me - boggy as PP said and couldn't grow all of my flowers!) unless it was quite large, as it would still get some sun.

On the plot you've mentioned I'd also be wary of the drive - looks like 87 has a spot they can access by going over your drive? Looks like it's behind their garage?

Pain in the proverbial unless the ground is level. Ours is north facing, and for nine months of the year was swamp!
Thankfully DH is good at quizzes....so one appearance later on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (whole other story) and we had enough to level it all.

There...that's random isn't it 😁

I think your map is upside down (88 looks south facing the way you have photographed it).

Struggling to understand the map.... does 88 back directly onto another property?

What is the bright red square in front?

Are the small white, numbered squares parking spaces?

Have you got any garden at all?

We have a north facing garden, it's perfect! That might be because we live in a bungalow with a low roof though, so we do see the sun in the garden longer than a 2 story house would. Just remember you'll be able to get sun at the end of the garden for at least 6 months of the year and the back of your house will be nice and cool in the summer.

Plus, noone seems to mention this but your front will see sun all year round whereas the houses over the street will have dark fronts quite a lot of the year!

Depending on what's in the gap between you and next door, you might actually benefit from the light at the side of the house.

I am perfectly happy with my N facing garden, but I have nothing on the west side, so I get a decent amount of afternoon sun. And the bottom of the garden (where I have a patio) is lovely and sunny.

Can you go round on a sunny afternoon and have a look at what it's like?

Definitely not especially if the garden is short.

Have a small north facing garden and a tall townhouse. Have sun from March to Oct. Wouldn’t be sitting outside after that anyway! It is currently in full sun a meter from the back patio doors. Grow lots of summer flowers too, but wouldn’t risk too much specific spring and autumn flowers.

it is very good in the hot summers. Whole back of the house was manageable in the heatwave last year with a very young baby and a toddler. Side return is always shaded to be outside so the children’s toys go there if it is hot.

Front living room lovely and sunny and bright in the winter.

generally we are out most of the day (young children!) if it is nice weather!

frankly, lots of people buy houses which are north facing in the city. if the house/area/schools are good I wouldn’t let it stop me.

We're buying a bungalow with a north facing back garden, I don't particularly like sitting out in full sun and in fact there's a covered area I'm looking forward to sitting in.

It's a bungalow surrounded by bungalows though and the lounge diner is dual aspect with a large window at the front of the house and patio doors at the rear.

So depends on what you like and the house and its surroundings really.

I can’t work out the aspect from that but we have a north face garden. Not ideal but everything else was right. It’s tiered so the back gets sun, and we have a front garden which is quite big so I grow veg there

We've a north facing garden and love it. It's about 40m long though and no big buildings to obstruct sun. Means we sit/ socialise up the end of the garden. But this gives us more privacy from neighbours.

Well it depends! I have a north facing back garden but it’s 0.6ac and a detached house in a private area so there’s always sun somewhere! In a smaller garden it may be a bigger issue but in London there’s always compromises. When I lived in London I had a tiny south facing garden which was practically unusable in hot weather as it was so hot and there was minimal shade.

I bought this house specifically for its south facing garden and living room. I'd rule out your house straight away. But light is hugely important to me. I have a north facing dining room which I hardly ever use. It only has one smallish window and I find it like a cave.

But yes, loads of people have north facing gardens and living rooms, so it depends how strongly you feel about light and warmth.

We have a south facing house and for most months of the year we have to pull all the curtain in the sitting room as it's too bright to use a laptop or watch TV. The hotter summer cook everything in the garden including the gardener. When we move I want a north facing garden and main room.

The amount of light you'll get depends on a lot of factors like elevation and shading from neighbours.

From the picture it looks like your garden might get lots of light in the morning as it looks relatively unshaded from the East.

If you're happy with everything else about the house, then I'd probably take the risk but it's a very personal decision.

I had one and had the area closest to the house planted with shade-loving plants, and a sitting area at the bottom of the garden. I would suggest visiting at different times of day to get a true idea of the light situation.

I have a North facing garden but no immediate neighbour to one side so we get sun somewhere for most of the day. These things can depend on stuff like tall trees and all sorts of stuff.

I would visit in the afternoon/evening and see if you have light from the west.

We had a north facing garden in our second house. It was a very shallow garden and so the house put it in shadow from October through to the beginning of April. The lounge and kitchen backed onto it and I always felt they were so dark.

Our north-facing garden saved our bacon in London in the heatwave: London gets HOT and the garden was an oasis. It will still get some sun: my neighbour grows tomatoes, I grow roses. There are wonderful things you can grow in shade and damp – look at Beth Chatto – and plan the garden to put the picnic table and roses where the sun is, furthest from the house.

Ours is north facing. Sun in the garden pretty much all day since the clocks changed. We have two sitting rooms and the sun comes into the front one in the morning and I'm sitting in sunshine in the back room right now.
Hardly any sun on the back garden in the winter, and it does get quite wet out there - not helped by our very clay-y soil - but who wants to sit in the garden in winter anyway?

Resale can be harder in North facing gardens if that's likely to matter.

I rules out lots of houses on their north facing gardens before buying this one.

You should get sun in the afternoon and evening in that plot as long as the fence isn't too high from the West.