Small courtyard garden with children.

[Dyers]

Hello,

DH and I have viewed a lovely city centre house, it’s very nice but we aren’t sure if the garden will be too small at 9ft by 30ft.

Im wondering how other mumsnetters get on with a similar sized garden?

Our children are 7 and 5. There’s a green space 20m away, and 2 play parks within a 5min walk.

thanks

Would you ever want to extend out the back - we have a small garden (37 ft x 17 ft) but we are now quite limited if we want to extend our small kitchen as we would sacrifice too much of our garden for not that much extra space for the kitchen.

We had a wide but shallow garden in our old house and it was fine - you just need to be clever with the space. Now our kids are a bit older, they never go out there.

We only ever had courtyard type gardens when DCs were little but big enough to go on a ride toy or put out a small paddling pool ( sounds like yours might be too old for that ) but we lived near a park and that did the job. So DS when he could ride his bicycle - he went to see DH at the tennis courts & he would go out on his bicycle or with his friends - it was fine.

I would not worry one jot .

My happiest childhood memories are of bbq's, blowing bubbles and planting bulbs in the planters in our very small yard.
We didn't have a garden at all but I certainly didn't miss out on anything.
Ball games and bike riding was done in our local park.
Spent hours watching the beetles and suchlike emerging from the cracked concrete 😀
My house has a large garden.
I'd of preferred my childhood yard.

Sounds lovely. Beautiful long and thin garden inspo

Pretty standard sized, we have grass and wild flowers in ours. There isn't room for outbuildings but enough for children to potter around

We used to have a very big garden when we were renting but bought a house with a 5m x 4m garden. The only problem is that it is on a slight slope so a paddling pool doesnt work but a sprinkler is fine.

DC moaned when we moved here as they apparently liked the big garden (that I would have to force them to play in) but we live in a cul de sac and there are lots of children who play out the front and are in and out of everyone's gardens so we don't find it an issue. There's also a large playground less than a 10 min walk away and we've always spent a lot of the weekends going to national trusts etc so the garden wasn't a deal breaker for us.

Just because you know loads of people with one, doesn’t mean we all have to love them next door!
At least they keep staff in A+E busy!

We have a slightly smaller garden in London zone 2. I would have liked a larger one but it was a compromise on location - under 10 mins walk to a big royal park. We have younger dc and aren't really interested in gardening, so it's used just as a play space for them. We have a play house, sand pit, wheeled toys etc

We will be getting a trampoline when they get older - dd1 trains in the sport so I want her to be able to practice. Neighbours on both sides have noisy dcs, and a dog on one side, so we have all learned to be tolerant of different needs.

Just because you don't love them next door, doesn't mean people can't have them.

Yeah, we should all do exactly as we please, and sod anyone else who happens to be affected by it.

I only know one person with a trampoline, wouldn't consider it at all especially in a tiny garden and ffs please don't fake grass it! Awful.

Those I know with courtyard style gardens have really utilised them with clever planting systems and they look lovely

It depends on you and your family. Personally my main criteria for our new house was for their not to be a small garden. But I have plenty of friends with kids that seem to be more than happy with theirs. My kids play in the garden a lot and they run around, kick a ball, and can ride their bikes a little in it. They also love playing and pottering around though, which would be OK in a smaller garden.

We are moving from a long and narrow garden (about 25mx8m, to a slightly smaller one (about 10mx16m). All houses are compromises so you to get a bigger garden you would probably have to give something up. We gave up a bit of garden for a detached house, but I wouldn't have gone any smaller with my two.

I chose my garden, rather than my house. It was really important to me, after spending 16 years in a flat with zero outside space.

It's not that long, but really wide and unoverlooked. My children spend a lot of time out there, football, climbing trees, making dens etc. During the summer we have a large pool. Our back gate opens onto a playing field, so that's also perfect for us when they want more space. There's a brick built summer house, which once renovated (currently a bit mouldy!) will be a great space for future teens to hang out.

It really depends on your priorities. We spend a lot of time at home, so it's massive for us. Kids adapt to what they have. Mine would have been happy with less outside space if they'd never had it, but they'd really miss it now if it was taken away.

The thing is that if they're want to go to the park you're going to want to go with them for a while yet. Your neighbours might be the sort who don't like the noise of children playing for all you know.
We moved from a terraced house with small courtyard garden and play area/park at the end of the road to somewhere with a bigger garden, good space between the houses and minimal neighbours - one at the front and one each side - so that my DD then aged 3 and 5 could have more space to play at home, ride their bikes round the house and have their own climbing frame so they could do their own thing rather than (usually me) having to take them out and sit there whilst they played. What do you have now because I think you could regret it if you move there

Sounds perfect. I hate gardening and only want a place to sit.

Does it get sunshine? A small dark garden is a much grimmer place than a sunny courtyard.

Does it get sunshine? A small dark garden is a much grimmer place than a sunny courtyard.

Good point. We actually moved from a house with a much bigger garden, but it only ever got the sun at the top which was not practical for seating area and paddling pool. It also meant drainage problems in the lower part of the garden. We get much more use out of our smaller garden as its a real suntrap.
We live in a cul de sac with 8 houses. We are very lucky with our neighbours, so now the kids are a bit older they rude their bikes and scooters out there and play with other kids in the road.
And don't forget in this weather you will be thinking lots about outside space but for a good chunk of the year any garden is unused

Thanks again everyone.

Our current garden is 50ft by 225ft, which tbh is a struggle to keep on top of.

I think it will get the sun from about 10am until late.