north facing garden

[nikki73]

We have seen a house we like but the garden is north facing. and there s a huge tree in one of the neighbour s garden and big tree out at the front. Are north gardens really depressing or are they quite good to have wit h smmall kids.we currently are south facing and it does get horribly hot in the kitchen and garden in summer.just wonderinfg what people s experience is of not getting the light/sun with a north garden.thanks for any tips!

[LondonMix]

It depends on how large the garden is. If its long, then a portion of it (far from the house) will still get the sun. If the southern aspect of the garden isn't blocked by trees then you also might get the sun. However, if its small and surrounded by large trees on the southern side, at least for me, it would be a deal breaker. It won't ever get any direct sun, and most likely will be damp and muddy.

[nikki73]

Thanks londonmix.large tree is in northwest.will check again for others.

[Dudley]

We have a very small north facing garden (Heber Road), they are all very small.

Sorry to say that it is virtually unusable in the Winter. Especially as we have grass.

Very muddy and damp.

Fine in Summer, as the sun is full on (Just like South facing garden in fact).

I fantasise about a south facing garden- but comfort myself with thought that Victorians always tried to build North facing as they wanted the kitchens cool.

If is was a big garden, and had suitable material (perhaps paving - I think decking is a bad idea), you could still go for it.

But is does mean our sitting room is flooded with light .....

[LondonMix]

That's funny. I'm sure a south facing garden before fridges were commonplace was considered a bit of a health hazard! My mother in law remembers her mum making jellies by leaving them out in the side return to set. Even in the summer this worked as their side return was always in the shade... Now most people see side returns as wasted space. How things change.

[LondonMix]

Sorry, the house is on the southern aspect of the garden. I meant to say, east or west but confused myself!

nikki73 Wrote:

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> Thanks londonmix.large tree is in northwest.will

> check again for others.

[Chillaxed]

Is it me, or does the north or east side of a road often have bigger, nicer houses? As if this was the preferred side of the road for Victorians. Maybe the 'cool kitchen' theory explains it.

North facing garden is a deal breaker for me. When we were looking for our house, we passed on some nice places for just this reason.

[kristymac1]

It really does depend on the size of the garden, ours is around 60ft (so not massive) and is north facing. We have sun directly at the back of the house from morning to early afternoon and then it moves towards back of garden for evening sun. I was nervous moving from a south facing garden to this one, but honestly I find it better - with two children the south facing garden was too hot to play in on some summer days where-as now there is always some shade to play in.

Good luck!

[LondonMix]

60ft is plenty big (by my standards at least)! There are plenty of 25ft gardens in ED and that size combined with being north-facing would be a deal-breaker for me unless the east and west aspects were pretty open so that you could have some morning and afternoon sun.

I hope it works out that its got enough sun for you to live with nikki.

[Caroline_S]

I have found exactly the same as Kristymac, that our north facing garden gets sun in different places at different times of day but there is also shade which is perfect for the children. And ours is a fair bit smaller at 40ft. Having lived with ours, a north facing garden would no longer put me off a property.

[nikki73]

60 ft: a dream! This was closer to 30/40 I'd say. But someone else snapped it up:( depressing but thanks for all the info will be useful for what is proving to be a long and painful search...

[kristymac1]

Our previous garden was 25/30 ft long, so 60 is an absolute luxury for us too (and also a little daunting:-/)!

[LondonMix]

That's interesting. I sometimes daydream about a large garden when we move but I wonder if in London its actually more of a burden than an asset most of the time.

[kristymac1]

60ft is totally manageable once it's in a manageable state, if that makes any sense:-\ . It took me 10yrs to get my 25ft garden the way I wanted it, and it'll be at least that again with this new one I reckon - depends if you like 'instant gardening' (and the funds to buy big mature plants), we don't but I kinda like the non-instant variety anyway...