New build / off plan worries - garden directly facing side of neighbour’s house

2bFrank

I get really confused with the facing garden orientation, if I stand with my back against the house in the back garden and have a compass our garden faces NW. However from Noon onwards our garden is a sun trap, literally there is no escape, we have to have massive sun shades just to even get a bit of shade, and the have to constantly adjust the angle of them to follow the sun. Does it matter where in the country you are, we are in the North West England.

DiamondLil

2bFrank said:

I get really confused with the facing garden orientation, if I stand with my back against the house in the back garden and have a compass our garden faces NW. However from Noon onwards our garden is a sun trap, literally there is no escape, we have to have massive sun shades just to even get a bit of shade, and the have to constantly adjust the angle of them to follow the sun. Does it matter where in the country you are, we are in the North West England.

Me too - we have a NW facing garden and it's bathed in sun all day from noon on.  Even in winter the garden is bathed in sunlight (on those days when the sun appears that is) from around two. On days like the past few, we sit in the shadow of the large trees at the end of the garden. We're in SE England.

bellaboo86

DiamondLil said:

2bFrank said:

I get really confused with the facing garden orientation, if I stand with my back against the house in the back garden and have a compass our garden faces NW. However from Noon onwards our garden is a sun trap, literally there is no escape, we have to have massive sun shades just to even get a bit of shade, and the have to constantly adjust the angle of them to follow the sun. Does it matter where in the country you are, we are in the North West England.

Me too - we have a NW facing garden and it's bathed in sun all day from noon on.  Even in winter the garden is bathed in sunlight (on those days when the sun appears that is) from around two. On days like the past few, we sit in the shadow of the large trees at the end of the garden. We're in SE England.

I think it depends on what surrounds you. My house is North facing so my patio is in the shadow of the house. 

However, the side and back of my garden are always very sunny as the sun is not blocked by my house (or neighbouring ones) and backs onto a field.

The east side of my garden does get very mossy due to lack of sunlight in the winter when the sun is lower. 

Vasquez65

Our front garden is exactly at the angle you describe and is about 5.5m long  From 1/2pm onwards,  the front of the house is blasted with sun until sunset, despite having a largish tree and bush right at the front.  We have to close all curtains/blinds at the front.   

We have a small avenue and then bungalows raised up quite high to our frontage,  their kitchens are more or less level with our front bedrooms. 
You dont say which side your driveway will be,  ours is to the front and left so the cars are like ovens come the afternoon. 

pinkteapot

Our old house was the same - across our back border was the side wall of another house. The only windows in it were frosted bathroom ones. I think our garden was about 15 metres deep though, so it was slightly further away. I can't find an old photo of it on my phone but here's a couple of really old ones (before we had the house) from Zoopla  that give you an idea of what it was like. 


Didn't bother me as much as you'd think, and unless the site is hilly you'll never really have a 'nice view' in any house in the middle of an estate. In a new-build you will really notice it at first because there's nothing in your garden to look at. Once the garden is mature with plants you'll have visual interest there to draw your eye. 

We bought that house despite the wall because we were trying to buy on a very popular estate where very little came up for sale, so choice was extremely limited. Our garden was south-facing so in spring/autumn that other house cast some shade, but in summer we still got full sun. 

Our current house has a north-east facing garden. In summer the back of the garden gets sun almost all day (even though it's not very deep). The house starts shading the patio from lunchtime and the shade line extends back during the afternoon. 

Davesnave

Much depends on the length of the garden, topography and what else surrounds the plot. Remember trees planted as landscaping now will be entirely different in 10 years time.

Guaranteeing a view isn't the easiest thing, especially with a new build, and most of us cannot do that anyway. In my last house I could be sure of the view because the area was fully developed conservation area. Even then, after blocking overlooking windows with trees, someone did a loft conversion....

sundaysunshine80

Thank you all so much for your replies, and especially the pictures - it’s been so helpful to actually ‘see’ how it would look. I know we won’t get any sun in winter but we wouldn’t use the garden then, so we are ok with that.

We would have 4 other houses to the west of us (all same height), a few houses to the east but across a small road (‘our’ house is on a corner plot). I’ve tried to draw some of the other close by properties (all are also 2 storey).

I really like another plot with a NE facing back garden, but the shadow calcs show that the 4 houses to the west will out the garden completely in shadow - my husband is adamant they won’t completely, but not sure I want to take the risk. There would be fields to the east and to the back. 

Thanks again for all your comments, they’re so helpful!

sundaysunshine80

Rough plan 

RelievedSheff

Take note of what rooms have windows on the southern elevation. We have fallen foul of this. Our house has the garden to the side on the east side as shown earlier but that means that the front of our house faces due south and is sat in the sun all day. Every room except the single bedroom and down stairs loo have a window on the south elevation which means during hot sunny weather the house gets boiling hot. Great in the winter when we are getting free heat from the sun. Not so good at this time of year when we are roasted alive!

getmore4less

They all look very cramped.   
This is your forever house?

We solved our downstairs heat problem with a south facing room that opens onto south garden,  with a grape vine,
Full shade in the summer, a few sticks in the winter so sun gets in.

Upstairs the curtains stay closed most of the summer
north facing living room stays cool unless there are a few days in a row with hot nights.