WWYD? Perfect house but north facing garden

[shizgigz]

Perfect house in every way but the rear aspect is worrying me. Hate the thought of back of house being dark and cold as I love the sun.

Photos shown the gorgeous view but would north facing be a deal breaker for you?

The advantage of a north facing garden is that the front of your house will be sunny. The garden looks like its getting lots of sun?

depends whether or not you want a dark sitting room.

lovely looking house! In this situation, based on those photos, it wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me. It isn’t enclosed at the back and looks t have plenty of options for sun. I would ask 2 questions

is there any chance that the field behind could be developed?
is the garden straight north facing or is it more NE or NW?
Due to our plot arrangement our NW garden gets so much sun compared to neighbours who went East facing.

I bought a house with an east facing garden, and really regret it. It's OK in the middle of the day but no evening sun at all.

North facing may mean you only get sunshine early in the morning and late in the evening, and not at all in the winter if the sun doesn't get above the height of the house.

Definitely a deal breaker. We use our south-facing garden a lot. Our neighbours across the street have to sit in their front garden if they want sunshine - no privacy, no chance of eating and relaxing.

Personally I wouldn't unless I had a really long garden, which this isn't. The house will shade the majority of the garden through late autumn/winter/early spring. The patio won't be sunny.

The garden looks wider than the house, in which case you should get sunshine. Also if the garden is fairly long then you could put a patio further down the garden. However inside at the back of the house unless there are windows on the side of the house you may not get much sun. Are there/Could you put any windows in the side of the house? Feel,your pain! My house in on a corner plot with a garden of approx 1/3 acre facing north and east but we get plenty of sunshine all day long.

We bought a house with a long NE-facing garden, we've had no regrets. The garden is big enough that some part of it is always in direct sunshine, and you get lovely morning sun coming into the kitchen.

I love my north facing garden, the kitchen is always cool even on the hottest days of summer.
My garden is long and in winter the bottom half of it catches the sun. If you view now you'll see how much sun you get at this time of year.

I have a back garden which faces directly north. I've lived here for 30 years and it's never been an issue for me, but I'm not a sun lover. My living room has windows at the front and back so the sun shines in, same with the dining room.

However my kitchen at the back with windows facing directly north never ever gets a single ray of sun the whole year round, neither do the back bedrooms, this isn't an issue for me but could be for some people.

My garden is quite big and and no neighbours on the west side so I get sun most of the day in certain areas and in the afternoon in others. But nearer the house gets no sun at all from about October to march and only a limited amount in summer in late afternoon, it's nearly always in shade. I like that because I don't sunbathe or like it too hot, and I can only grow certain shade living plants there, in the front I grow all the sun lovers. But there is a good deal of sun further down my garden.

With that house if I was a real sun lover I think I would think twice, it would be fine if you could build another patio further down the garden. It also depends if the back garden faces exactly north or if it's more NE or NW, even a slight change in direction will affect where the sun will fall.

To me it seems that perhaps the real issue is that the patio near the house is largely in the shade throughout the day. The existing owners seem to have dealt with that and built an extra bit (where the table and chairs are) at the end of the garden to take advantage of that.

If that is the real issue then simply extend the patio at the end of the garden, along the hedge line where you sit in the full sun.

Wouldn’t do it no matter how nice the house…..you will regret it the day you move in

Deal breaker - we had a south facing garden - brilliant
Current house south west - sun in the garden from about noon until sunset - lovely to sit out in The summer.

Ours is NW garden, it's never been a problem

It depends how big the garden is. Our garden isn’t massive, but isn’t a postage stamp either. It gets sun everywhere in the morning, but the far 1/3 of the garden gets sun all day.

https://www.suncalc.org/#/54.2666,-0.391,16/2024.12.22/13:48/1/1

You can put the address in here and adjust the date to see the sun at any time of year in the garden.

We have such shite weather that it won't be used daily.
Buy the house

It's the field that would put me off too. Imagine a whole new build estate there.

Definitely not. We viewed an almost perfect
house apart from the NF garden and my gut was a no which I'm glad I stuck to. Those who say the front gets the sun miss the point - as a family we spend so much time in the kitchen and the patio garden just outside the kitchen in spring /summer / wary
Autumn. We have an east facing garden and this time of year I am missing the kitchen sun post lunchtime but I know come Jan it will be back. I couldn't be without it most of the year.

We're gardeners so this would be a deal breaker for us, yes. I'm also basically a lizard in human form and need sunshine to be my best self. I wouldn't want to live in shade for much of the year.

All things in perspective op. I have a north facing short garden and a tall house. But live in a city so loads of gardens are north facing and there are not that many houses in the catchment for the excellent secondary here (only one in my city), great shops, lots of green space around, really safe, short commute etc. People pay 7 figures around here regardless of garden and the houses go fast because the benefits outweigh the compromise.

what are your other factors for buying it?

It's a flat out no for me. We've had a house with a North facing garden and I vowed never again. At this time of year when the sun is as low as it is I'll bet even that patio area at the end of the garden barely gets any sun.

Our current garden is South facing and we're about to move into a house with a SW facing garden. Couldn't be doing with traipsing down the garden for a glimmer of sunshine.

Ours is Nw facing and the garden is in shade November to April. But in the height of summer you could sit out in the garden all day, so for me it isn’t an issue. I put summer sun seeking plants at the back fence - yeah they won’t get any in winter but in summer they will get the first rays in the morning.

I have a south facing garden with absolutely no shade. It’s a total sun trap and we look at ways to hide from it at times when it’s very warm. It wouldn’t particularly put me off at all

Ours is NE facing (I think!) and we get sun for most of the day and the patio area gets it until late evening. What blocks a lot of our sunlight is a large tree we have but we love it and the shade it gives; we’re not sun worshippers anyway. Our plans are to build a shaded patio just outside the back room which doesn’t really get any sun (because of the tree) where we can sit and have coffee in the shade. Our back room is very dark, but again this is more due to the tree than the house’s aspect. We lean into it with dark painted walls, lots of plants and no curtains on our huge bay window.

A SF garden has never been a priority to us, and we are in the garden a lot.

The garden looks green and lush so obviously gets plenty of sun. You live in the house not the garden. You can see where the owners have put their patio set and your neighbours have theirs at the top. How often are you in the garden? Do you sunbathe a lot? Some posters obviously love being in a sunny garden, and treat it as an extension of their house. Others like to sit in the sun then move to the shade, potter about. You need to decide which one you are.