Would I regret buying a house with a sloping garden?

[SlopeyGardensRUs]

Hi,
Have been looking for a house for a while and found one that ticks absolutely all my boxes.
Except it's on a hillside.
Back garden is mostly flat then slopes steeply at the bottom. I have a plan and can deal with this.
Front is quite large, has the potential to be lovely, but has 20 ish steps from the roadside down to the house.
All the houses in the neighbourhood are either the same or the reverse, ie steps up to the front door, back garden rising behind the house.
In my version back garden has an amazing view over the rooftops and valley.
It's a highly sought-after neighbourhood and houses never sray on the market for long.

I've visited, really like it and can see myself there until I retire, but probably not beyond.

Can all slope-dwellers please tell me what it's really like?

Do you love it or loathe it?

@SlopeyGardensRUs , when we bought it we said it was our forever home.

We have had all kinds of weather, we have been snowed in, the longest for five days. The front garden does flood when heavy rainfall, due to the brook overflowing. But doesn’t reach the house. The front garden is big. Sometimes the wind reaches 40+ miles an hour. Part of our beautiful maple tree came down the other day.

One day we will have to relocate, but it is not on the cards for years to come.

We are aware that to enjoy the house and its surroundings, slope and all, we have to keep a level of fitness.

We are also quite remote.

If it is your forever home, buy It before some one else does!

No young children, no pets, awareness of ice and plan to deal with it, go for it! Sounds lovely!

I had a steeply sloping back garden in my last house and made beautiful terraces with alpines and lavender and heathers and poppies. The decking at the top was fabulous and great summer and winter.

That said I’m currently idly looking (our house is just on the market) and I’ve discounted a house with a stepped back garden because I want this to be my last move to a forever home and I don’t think I’ll cope with that if I get to 80!

I don't think that the slope of the garden is the problem; I think the steps down from the road to the front door is
How do you get groceries, deliveries, prams, etc to the house. Will the steps be treacherous in bad (wet, icy) weather. Where do you park the car.

We lived in a house with a garden like this for 18 years. It had fab views, big skies and wonderful sunsets. The garden had terraces, steps and paths and plants grew very well. All the tall trees looked like shrubs from the house.
We only moved for family reasons. I miss that garden. Go for it!

Sounds like the sort of arrangement that will bring curses from the lips of the removals men.

Thank you, slope-dwellers!

To answer a couple of questions, there is a garage at the top of thd garden. You basically drive into it from the road.

Struggling down the steps with bags of shopping on a dark, wet and windy January evening after work...hmmmm. Definitely a cross in the 'against' column. But is it a big enough reason not to buy the house?

Definitely would need to tip very generously! 🤣

From a flooding point of view it sounds good-you don't mention that, but people who have experinced floods would get this. I would make sure you have a plan if you had mobility issues (this can be as simple as twisting your ankle-it's scary how we take things for granted) and consider if ice in winter could make getting in or out difficult *we changed a path to the front door because even though no one had any mobility needs at that point, the steps were awful in icy weather).

Where does the water go when you have a cloudburst, is there space at the side for it to flow round, how high is the front step into the front door

Our was on Scotland’s west coast, famous for downpours, we never had any issues with rainwater, despite the house being further down the slope from the road. The front door step was about 29 cms high.

Absolutely no! 1. I've had a garden just like this. It was hellish to look after, although the views from the house were lovely. 2. If the drive slopes it's a huge no. A friend died this year after her car was parked and she didn't know it was icy. It rolled on her. It's not worth the risk.

I think sloping gardens can add a bit of character to a garden especially in a new build garden but I get that it’s not for everyone.

We live on a steep hill. One side for the road is completely fine the other side of the road it's a pain.

We are on the good side on the "up slope". We have a steep drive which is fine for driving on but when we have had large furniture delivered has upset the delivery people but they have always made it up the hill. When we moved in the older removal man was struggling by the end! We park on the drive no problem. The back garden has a patio then 4 steps up to a raised lawn so we don't have much of a slope there.

The other side of the road the drive slopes down to the house and many of the houses struggle to park on the drive so at least half park on the road especially further down where it is steeper. The houses are smaller on that side of the road too and have slopier and smaller gardens too.

We treated the houses on our estate on a house by house basis as there are some houses where the slope is a nice feature - we don't look onto the footpath and we look over the top of across the roads garden, some where it won't impact daily life and then others where it might be problematic

Some more good points raised, knew I could count on MN!

Will check height of front door. I don't think it was very high, and certainly not 29 cm.

When you get to the bottom of the front garden steps there is a small patio in front of the house. The current owners have had guttering put in along the wall of the house. The patio becomes a path which leads round the left/south facing side of the house to the back garden. There is a wide planted border here too. The house sits on a flat.

Thinking of run off from streets higher up the slope, I don't think we'd be in the direct path. Also, two streets above us are the woods, no streams as far as I can tell.

How awful about the lady who got crushed by her car! There is no drive way. You literally drive from the road, across the pavement and into the garage which is on the same level, so no slope to contend with there.

we have a steep garden that is terraced and therefore has a lawn and 3 patios to sit on all at different levels. It has amazing views across the city landscape and I love it personally. We are 10 steps above the road with big bay windows and it feels so private as you cannot be overlooked. We are in our 60s and cope just fine and in fact the house has an attic and cellar so is over 4 floors so yes there is a lot of going up and down steps but we say it keeps us fit and we are unlikely to move any time soon.

If there is a slope down to the front door I wouldn't buy it. We are predicted to get heavier rain in the future and water always flows to the lowest point. Could also have a problem with the sewers taking water/drainage. If the weather is very cold (freezing) how difficult will it be to get your vehicle out?