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?

There's enough patches of sun to be able to sit outside on nice days, but very limited as to what will grow well in the garden beyond lawn. Forget anything like tomatoes or any other vegetables except potatoes, and that's why I wouldn't buy a house with a north facing garden again. The house isn't dark though.

I love ours, we get more sun than I expected. The conservatory is full sun first thing in the morning, perfect for my morning coffee, starts the day off right. Still nice in there in the afternoon, when it's cool. The shade near the house is nice on a baking hot day or we have sun at the top end of the garden if we want it.

I’m a keen gardener with a north facing garden. Through trial and error over the years, I know what thrives in it now. I have plenty of flowering shrubs and herbaceous perennials. Bulbs don’t do well so I plant them only in pots that I keep on patio areas. I love it actually because in the summer it doesn’t get intensely hot with the sun beating down on you (as our front garden does). You can seek our shade. We get the sun on the patio closest to the back door first thing in the morning so I have a cup of tea there first thing. By evening, the last of the sunshine is at the end of the garden so we have another patio area there. We’ve made it work for us and I love it.

The green part with the 88, is the nf garden. The red bit is the house.

I like our north facing garden. None of us are mad keen on sunbathing but we get plenty of light for plants and lovely dappled shade from trees. My planting scheme has been geared around the conditions. Ace when kids little for avoiding too much Sun.

your house looks ok anyway as the garden is quite wide and with the garages to the east, you should get a fair amount of sun for the rear half of the garden at least.

Just looked at my compass and this is what it shows. It’s not a big back garden but gets a decent amount of sunlight whilst the other half is pretty much always in the shade. I am starting from a total blank canvas with no knowledge of plants so any advice would be very welcome

I think you’d be ok. There is no building to the east or west of the garden if I’m looking at it correctly so you should get morning and evening sun.

We have a north facing back garden, people always sympathise. It's a detached bungalow,all bungalows this side of the road. It's 8th of an acre,so we do get sun somewhere,most of the day. At the moment from sunrise, around 5am till 6pm. Slopes so not too boggy. Actually bought it because of the size of the garden.

And your living space will get daylight but not bright sunlight streaming in which I find annoying and difficult for tv watching

I live in the S.E of England and have a largish south facing back garden and last summer I would have gladly traded it for a north facing one. Most summers I have to keep the curtains drawn in all the rooms at the back of the house and end up camping out in the north facing kitchen and the hot summers down here are only going to get worse. London gets seriously hot in the summer, a north facing garden sounds wonderful to me.

A north facing garden is ok IF the garden is long enough or your house is short enough. It's not the direction per se, it's if the angle of the sun will always be too low. What are the red blocks on the plan? If it's another dwelling then doesn't look like you'd ever be able to get any sun. Our house has a N facing garden and whilst we don't get sun on the patio or in the kitchen, a good half of the lawn does get full sun from May - September, as the sun moves over the house during the day. But if the garden is very short, then it won't. And if so, that would be a dealbreaker for me

N-facing is better for conservatories as they don't overheat as easily. If you plant plants that like to turn their flowers to face the light, such as most bulbs and a good many others, you won't be looking at their backsides as you do with a S-facing one. Provided the garden + the ones behind you are long enough and the houses are not so tall you get no light at all (which can be the case even with S-facing gardens if the buildings are close and tall enough) I'd not let it put me off- and we're keen gardeners. We had a N-facing one for over 30 years and did masses with it- veg, fruit, lawn, the lot. And a conservatory we used all year round. But it was over 40' long, with a bungalow at the back with a garden maybe about 30 feet long, so it did get a lot of light.

I have a South facing back garden and wouldn't have one again if I had the choice. It gets really hot and I can't sit out past about 10am in summer until the evening. Gets too hot and sunny for the kids to run around. I wish we had more shade. My north facing front yard still grows plenty. I have grown flowers, herbs, berries, tomatoes, fruit trees in pots. I would love a North facing garden to sit in the shade and have a conservatory to fill with plants.

I have a north facing garden, moved here about 20 years ago! At first I was apprehensive but soon began to appreciate the benefits. We get morning sun on one side of the garden and evening sun on the other - when I had young children, there was always somewhere for them to play outside which I found a bonus.

Now I have dogs but can confidently let them have free range of the garden knowing that they can always find somewhere cool to lie down. Plus, I was able able to sit in the garden during last year's heatwave when friends with their south facing gardens hid indoors due to the heat.

I'm currently looking for our next property and as we want to keep chickens, we're once again looking for north facing garden!

This app lets you centre your address on the map and then see how the sun will move around your house and plot at all times of the year. Obviously it doesn't account for shadows thrown by the house, trees and other buildings but it's a useful start. http://suncalc.net/#/51.508,-0.125,2/2023.05.22/09:55

LunarC, same here. South facing front,north facing back (obviously 😮) sun rise on the right, sunset on the left. But as I said,it's a detached bungalow,it's all bungalows this side of the road. Conservatory,yes,used all year. It does get hot in summer, when the clocks go forward in March,sun is over the roof. Even with fancy Australian roof blinds,it gets to 44c, we don't sit in there,mid day in summer. I belong to a specific gardening site, and people Refused to believe a north facing conservatory could get this hot.... until I sent screenshot of the digital thermometer! We did visit this place at varying times of the day, however.

We have north ish - works for us
With shade on the other side

But I dislike heat

It's light and bright and the garden is coming along nicely

N/NW Facing back garden here. Last house back garden facing due South. Pros and cons with both as with everything in life. Kitchen diner is now on the back which means it stays cool in the summer, and the patio in the side return is heaven in a heatwave. It's planted up with ferns and climbing hydrangeas near the house, and is lush and green. The South facing house kitchen was roasting in summer, massive folding sliding and velux. I'm hot just thinking about it.

The 6m ish from the back door is now always in shade, but beyond that the sun moves over during the day and all of it gets sun at some point.

North facing back means South facing front, which is lovely and bright and sunny. Front rooms are sunny and back rooms are cool, wheras with a south facing back garden you just get the reverse.

Wouldn't put me off with the caveat of the back garden being fairly long.

The back of the house will be dark. If you are mostly at home during the day the kitchen won't be bright and sunny. That helps especially in winter time.
If you like gardening it won't suit you.
I'd say if you could wait and find a better situated house then do. You'll be in it a long time so take the time now to get it right. If your circumstances allow.

If you like gardening but are not very good at it , and only chose sunny loving plants for the shady end of the garden , you will struggle

But sone of the nicest gardens are shady gardens

If the windows are small it will be dark but if they are the right size for the room it won't be

You'll have some exposure to the east and the west, and if the houses are all normal 2 storey buildings, the sun will also get high enough in the sky to give sun to the end of the garden for probably 7 months of the year. As a keen gardener, it wouldn't put me off.

We have a north facing garden. I don’t mind it.. we get sun at the far end of the garden for most of the day. Right now it’s very sunny in the garden; we’re open plan and find that it’s very light in here all of the time and never had an issue with it being dark.

I would have preferred south facing.. but we just couldn’t find one at the time.

You could ask for another visit? What I'd look for is moss on the patio, slippery decking, damp spots etc. If it all looks reasonably dry and the grass isn't marshy then it's probably OK.

We've got a south facing garden that gets no sun in the winter due to being surrounded by buildings and a Leylandii hedge.

My garden is south facing and my living room is north facing. This is perfect for me. I love sitting in my sunny garden but my living room stays lovely and cool so is a welcome relief from the heat. Also no horrible glare on the TV. For me a north facing garden would rule out the house.

Our last house was south facing garden and it was too hot in the summer with no shade, we ended up staying in the cool living room which is a shame. The conservatory was 40°+ so pretty much unusable. I like a bit of sun but I'd rather sit in the shade.