Pergola?

[HelloHellebore]

We’re considering a new build house. The living -dining room windows face south and we’re looking at ways of providing a bit of shade. The builders have suggested a pergola, along the full width of the room. Has anyone experience with a pergola? Good? Bad? Ugly? Thanks for any insight!

Some friends did this in their house and it's lovely. They have wisteria and star jasmine growing on it.

My parents had one to shade their kitchen and it was lovely. They had clematis on it so when it died back in winter plenty of light could come in and then in summer it was full of flowers. They put a table and chairs under it and used to have lunch out there.

You can get metal bits that go into the ground upon which you fit the timbers now so that you don't get posts rotting in the ground.

It’s beautiful! But you need to put a lot of effort in the upkeep of the plants. If you are into gardening, it will be very rewarding.
Otherwise, it will be a very sad looking wood structure (my grandmother had one in her garden but could not be bothered…)

I house sit, and I used to regularly sit in a house with a gorgeous pergola with a vine growing over it. Lovely.
I've also sat in a house with a retractable awning. Lovely also, provided shade and shelter, and was very practical and good to be able to make it disappear on dull days. Not AS lovely as a pergola but perfectly nice.

So, if loveliness is the main thing and you're happy with the extra gardening, have a pergola.
If you want the shade and shelter on demand and the practicality is more important than overall loveliness have a retractable awning.

We're moving into a house soon that's going to need something. The garden is beautiful already and will need upkeep. We're planning on an awning.

These are really helpful comments, thank you all very much! I am into gardening, although have heard that Wisteria upkeep is not for the faint hearted.
I did wonder whether the structure would dominate the garden in Winter and look unattractive but I guess any sun shade solution has its downside at times.

You can get pergola structures that you can add to, to suit your needs. They aren’t wooden and you need to mount them on blocks, I think. They come in dark grey and a beige type colour. Titan is one company, but I’m sure there are others.

They wouldn’t need the upkeep of wood and you could still put tubs around if you wanted. We’ve seen them in a local garden centre and they come in various sizes.

You can also buy retractable canopies- like ice cream shops use but more modern! I was looking at some on blinds to go the other day.

Wisteria upkeep isn’t that bad. Prune twice a year and train it to where you want jt to go and it’s fine.

The thing with a pergola is it’s there all the time even on gloomy days and you might find it makes your room to dark. I have a catio outside my kitchen with a clear Perspex roof and it’s an amazing how much darker it’s made the kitchen. I’d look at retractable canopies.

Thanks @heldinadream and @NigelPonsonbySmallpiece, that’s a good point about it always being there, even when it’s not sunny. I guess if the pergola is covered with beautiful thick wistera, that will be quite a shade, and not great when it‘s a dull day.
I haven’t seen many around, so maybe on balance there’s more of a drawback than benefit.