Does a steeply sloping garden bother you/make a difference?

darrens_here

ive a steep garden. I HATE mowing the grass... but love the fact I can sit back and admire all my neighbours (behind) trees at canopy level, feels like we are living in the trees.........

ellie27

Is it just the Bearsden/Milngavie area you are looking at or would you consider others?

Davesnave

glasgowdan wrote: »

It does have great views over Bearsden and lots of light, but my dream home is a leafy level house and I think that's what we'll hold out for. It's been months now and we've no patience left!

Leafy, level and views is hard to do.

One of the few interesting things about my house is that it sits astride a ridge with views front and back, but no serious inclines in the main gardens. It was so overgrown around, I didn't realise this fully till after we'd bought it.

There is still a penalty, though, which is slightly more exposure. There is always a penalty of some kind.

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

There is still a penalty, though, which is slightly more exposure. There is always a penalty of some kind.

Unless one has a "stash" of money to pay out quite heavily to buy a house. I certainly know exactly where I could/would buy that I cant think of any "penalty" to - as said stash of money would provide enough money to walk or taxi to the nearest bus stop to get around.

But there is a HEAVY price weighting for that location.

But, re that particular house OP is looking at = he would almost certainly be forced to move from it at some point - courtesy of his family's ill health/his own ill health/ill friends and relatives that couldnt visit/just sheer fatigue at the thought of climbing up and down all those steps every time.

Mine would be the sheer fatigue of climbing all those steps - but I would be very aware of visitors ill health. Even in my 60s - I'm astonished at just how many same age group friends/acquaintances that don't regard themselves as having much in the way of health problems still "puff and pant" their way round the place (usually courtesy of being very overweight....:cool:) and I can't visualise many of them climbing those stairs.

ellie27

Do you have young children? I know what I am like with a 6 yr old and 4 yr old trying to get out the house to go to drop kids at school and nursery in the morning! Forgot the PE bag, back in, forgot the lunchbag so back in, youngest needs a pee so back in, oops rain is on better get my umbrella so back in. I guess with those steps you could just make sure you were SUPER organised anytime you left the house.

However.....to us the garden and front steps are all putting us off and will put others off..... you might get it for a good price!

glasgowdan

ellie27 wrote: »

Is it just the Bearsden/Milngavie area you are looking at or would you consider others?

Anywhere East Dunbartonshire, we'd happily move to your neck of the woods. In fact, we've just last week moved into our rental house, along in Milton of Campsie, so now we're free to make offers and move into a new home whenever. Always appreciate your input Ellie thanks

Yes we have a wee one, 2 years old, and there may be more in future. Good point re: issues in future if not now. I mean, a small or badly laid out house can be remedied, but there's no getting away from the hill this one's built on!

Not fussed about views, or even having something pan flat. I just think my gut was telling me this one was too awkward from the start.

There's so few good houses going up for sale in the area just now that any time one almost makes the mark we umm and aah far more than necessary.

supersaver2

I moved into a new build with a sloping garden last year. We have a 4 year old and dogs and had no issues. It is harder to cut the lawn.

The main problem has been with the awful rain over winter, the grass at the bottom of the slope was basically annihilated! It has needed re-turfing as it never had time to dry out and the water was running down the hill and collecting at the bottom.

It is a bit of a bugbear of mine as I like a tidy garden. I'll be interested to see if it happens again next winter or just last winter due to the excessive rainfall. Having clay soil doesn't help either as the water sits on top and doesn't soak in.

Lots to think about.

Dan83

It would bother me.

How bad is the water run off after a heavy down poor of rain?

glasgowdan

I don't imagine the water run off being a huge issue; it's a well-drained garden, no sign of drowned areas, brown patches and the like. Borders seemed to be composed of good light soil. But I do think this one has been scrubbed off the list.

Back to the waiting game.

Supersaver2, that's a common problem with new houses. The subsoil is comprised of largely clay and rubble which makes for very bad conditions for lawns especially. I'm a professional garden maintenance contractor and get it all the time. I don't try and get client's hopes up by saying I can do x-y-z to make their gardens better. I've learned that I need to be honest and tell them how it is and not try to get work out of it because they'll not get the results they want!

As your garden suffers flooding down the slope you would probably benefit from 2 pairs of fishbone drains being dug to direct the water to the sides where hopefully there might be something of a channel for them to drain into that doesn't matter so much. You can DIY this over a couple of days.

supersaver2

Thanks for the advice glasgowdan, will give it a go!

Yes it's not the easiest soil to work with, we did put a lot of top soil down and it was well watered and looked after and looked very lush and green last summer but that winter has ruined it. My house is the only garden with a slope and the neighbours grass all looks fine, I'm letting the street down!

It's definitely going to be something that irritates me more and more.