Thinking of rejecting a house due to aspect? Don't!

[KhakiCat]

Hi all,

Just sharing something.

I had a dilemma when buying the house I've now been 7 months in at the end of 2024.

It ticked most of the boxes and the minor compromises were things I could (and have since) change.

The major compromise was the thing I can't change - the orientation. I really wanted a South or West facing garden/kitchen and was so disappointed this house has a North-East facing garden/kitchen.

Buildings and trees around it are also so positioned that direct sunlight doesn't hit the windows at all in winter (I viewed in October so it was dark most of the time outside and no sun in the garden).

Someone on here advised me that come summer, I would come to love having a cooler house and the ability to sit out in my garden all day without burning up.

I didn't believe it at the time, but went ahead and completed in December; it was dark and the garden got NO direct sunlight, so I thought I was going to have to get used to a dark house and sell in 5 years.

I was totally wrong. By end Feb, the garden started getting morning sun and the morning sun in the kitchen and bathroom is a wonderful way to wake up and have my coffee.

I also like finishing work and sitting in the still-sunny living room, and the orange glow I can enjoy all evening (I spend most of the evening in this room) rather than darkness had it been east-facing.

But the absolute best thing is that my house is never unbearably hot, especially compared to my previous, SE-S-SW-facing new build. I enjoy sun until late evening at the bottom of the garden and sit in a nice shady patio from lunch time (it does get morning sun).

It is actually perfect and I just wanted to share because it was such a difficult compromise for me - I just hope this helps someone else who might be thinking of dismissing a house due to similar reasons!

I'm in London for context - it is boiling these days and will only get worse with climate change.

So huge thanks to whoever gave me that advice!

I am in London in a house with a south facing garden. My last house was also south facing. When I bought this it was a compromise having south facing. I would rather it was north facing. My kitchen and dining room are unbearably hot at this time of year. I cannot sit out in the garden and this year even large well established plants have died.

As always it depends what part of the country you are in, how big the house and garden are, and which rooms are where.

We are NW facing garden. Kitchen and conservatory at the back. Lounge and main bedrooms at the front. Front garden is currently hotter than hell. You literally can't abide it and we have a big tree there, thank god. But curtains and blinds to the front closed all day. In the evening, the back bedrooms are unbearable due to sun setting there. Our patio and conservatory gets sun all day in the summer. We had to put funky expensive glass in the conservatory to be able to use it.

The kitchen is the nicest room at the moment, as that gets no sun. Bliss.

Ours is east facing and it’s wonderful

It just an attempt to get people to consider NF gardens -I wouldn't even bother viewing .

😆 it does sound like an ad. Only on MNs does everyone's North facing garden get sun all day.

Yep. I’m in Australia and north is the first thing I look for viewing houses. I love love love love our north facing family room and backyard with east light too. you couldn’t pay me to live in a badly oriented house. (In case it’s not obvious our north facing is the equivalent of your south facing - it’s where the sun comes in)

I'm also extremely pale and never sit in the sun
Only on MN have people never heard of blinds or curtains, trees, parasols and my favourite -watering plants 😂
All the shade and cool in the summer and a lovely warm sunny light house in winter

I have a South facing garden with a brick built and paved terrace. It is effectively a pizza oven. Thankfully, though, the position also means that the front faces north and is very cool even in the hottest summer. Purely accidentally, I had the velux windows in my bedroom put in on the north side. I am thankful for this every warm night.

I would happily take a north facing garden for my next move.

We have blinds, curtains, trees (new Magnolia grandiflora arrived yesterday and and several fruit trees have been planted since we got the house to join the existing trees the previous owner planted).

I’m out watering my plants every morning and as a lot are newly planted as we’ve only been here a couple of years. Watering isn’t always necessary if you plant the right plant in the right place as Beth Chatto proved with her garden and generally I try to follow that but difficult with a number of new, not particularly well established plants so watering it is this year.

Only on MN do people lack the imagination to realise different people like different things, have different ways of living and different requirements when house hunting 🤣 As my friend says, you do you.

You are meant to water in the evening not the morning.

I don't lack imagination I just wonder at people who moan about the sun whilst not using any common sense.
Yesterday a whole thread from a MNer who's legs were getting sunburnt in her kitchen
No she hadn't thought about shades/ blinds/ sticking up paper

Same here. Back garden faces north, lawn still fairly green as it's in the shade during the hottest part of the day. Rooms inside cool!

I would also like your arrangement. Currently I have a kitchen and garden that are what I can only imagine the inside of a pottery kiln to be.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-jobs/watering

The RHS suggest the morning if you can for a few reasons but evening is also fine.

That is a bit disturbing that someone hadn’t thought of blinds to stop sunburn in her kitchen 🤣

You can water morning or evening, just avoid it in the middle of the day when all the water evaporates and everything ends up frazzled.

If you’re trying to put off slugs, it’s actually preferential to water in the morning.

Watering in the evening was dispelled, because it encourages slugs and snails to have overnight parties..I had a south facing garden, quarter of an acre, watering was hell,we would walk right down the bottom and sit under the oak tree. I worked nights and used to sleep under it. I do have a north facing garden, and it does have sun somewhere all day, from 5am to 6.30 pm. It's a detached bungalow, not overlooked,trees and shrubs around the edges,a eucalyptus half way down, front to back is 200 feet. We're in Sussex,10 minutes away from the sea. It's been 30c plus for quite a few days, today thankfully there's a breeze.

I totally agree OP. Our last house had a South facing long garden with no shade, we had a big conservatory that was only able to be used in Apr and Sept.

Our current home has a north facing garden and is way cooler throughout summer and we have shady spots in the garden, our small conservatory is usable Feb to Oct. The south facing bedrooms get warm but I have thermal curtains in place and keep them closed during the day. So much better than our old home.

Am I the only one who waters in the evening, pops out with a headtorch at 10pm and picks them off to live in the compost bin forever ?
Seriously I was referring to the " there's no shade/ everything dies" posters who lack common sense not you @Seaitoverthere

Sure enough the weather will divide the nation !

I do go out and do that if I can stay awake that long which isn’t often at the moment as I wake up about 4 sodding which is why I have switched to morning watering 😀 Only they end up in the garden waste bin rather my compost heap and whenever I open the garden waste bin they are having a party on the lid.

We have always had north facing gardens. I am struggling a bit with our current beautiful garden as we are surrounded by bungalows so despite the aspect we have blasting sun for a large chunk of the day. I am creeping around the edges sitting under tress and bushes 😂

😂an advert for what, the 20 North-facing gardens I have to sell?

Nope, just very happy to share for whoever has a similar dilemma as I that turning down an otherwise near-perfect house would've been a BIG mistake --

I sold my very sunny SE-S-SW home with floor to ceiling windows and thought I would miss it even though the overheating was so bad I wrote to my MP about it!

So having experienced both, my strong preference now is definitely east-facing, though I didn't think so at all 7 months ago.

P.s. I'm typing under an umbrella in the sun at the end of my garden at 19:00, about to go back into the cool(ish) kitchen!

an advert for what, the 20 North-facing gardens I have to sell?

an advert to change the narrative around north facing gardens.

I mean I've already bought the house so this is just making me feel bad after a brief slither of positive feelings from the original post. But ah well! We had 6 houses on our shortlist and genuinely all 6 had north facing gardens, so felt inevitable. We'll make the best of it.

Totally agree - same as OP. It’s lovely always having a bit of shade out back but it’s very sunny 9 months of the year, and bear in mind we have a tiny garden which gets loads of sun, North facing.

It really depends on many things though - you say it works for you as you enjoy the morning sun... many people are working at that time and would prefer their sun to be in the evening.

I only looked at houses that were South or West facing, as winter sun is important to me, as are those spring and autumn days when it's chilly in the shade but lovely in the sun and I can still sit out. The days when it's baking hot are much fewer than these. I also like the sun on my patio, directly on the back of my house, so North wouldn't work for me, no matter where other buildings/trees are situated etc.

We are all very different though so I'm glad your garden works for you 😊

Thank you so much for coming back with this lovely positive update! Our back garden is also north facing but gets lovely sun morning and evening, and the big family living room stays quite cool all day. The smaller sitting room looks south with a big window but we have tall hedges around the little front garden for privacy. I was thinking of trimming them back quite a bit for light and may do it come autumn, but for now it's lovely and cool in there too!

Apologies I didn't read the whole of your post

Hope you enjoy your new home