North facing garden...is it worth it

mjane93

So we’ve found a house that ticks just about all the boxes we want in a house however after doing a google map search I’ve only just realised that it has a north facing garden. We didn’t even notice at first as it’s a rather long garden so about half of it was still getting sun. 

During the spring/ summer we love dining al fresco and spending time in the garden. I’m wondering if north facing gardens are really as bad as I’ve heard people make them out to be? We are currently renting and get sun in our garden from about 10am-5/6pm and absolutely love it so now I’m having a few doubts about not having a sunny garden. 

Anyone out there with a north facing garden and what are your thoughts on it?

princeofpounds

Had one. It does make a difference, especially if you were planning on being closer to the property when eating. It's not really a problem in midsummer - the shade can even be useful then and the sun tends to be high anyway. But it significantly reduces the options in the 'shoulder seasons' when you need direct sunlight to make it tolerable. 

In a long garden you can mitigate this to a large extent be moving the entertaining area towards the end of the garden, but it requires a conscious decision to use the property in that way.

It sounds like being in the garden is pretty core to your lifestyle right now, so I think you're right to have reservations. 

Thrugelmir

Don't underestimate the benefit of shade. With a long garden you can have a number of sitting/dining areas spaced around. 

getmore4less

if north and long enough and no major high properties/tress  about(mainly to the west) then there will be sunny spots just not near the house which might mean back and for if cooking indoors to eat out.
Suitable shed/summerhouse with facilities can solve that.

Also potentially more chance of evening sun than a south facing garden if clear to the west.

The rooms on the north of the house will tend to stay cooler in the summer.

We have north facing bay window that gets sun morning and evening stays cool, south facing rooms get too hot.

poolboy

I am looking at houses now and orientation is the first hurdle.  My ideal is some east at the front to get some morning sun, so rear would be southish. Straight north south means no sun at all at the front.  East west is second option, if it's a semi I would want the southern one to get sun on the sides.
I have a South facing single aspect flat, its small but flooded with light, tenant loves it.  Conversely, opposite is a single aspect north facing one.  I envisage the resident in the latter lives in the dark looking at my tenant who seems to live in shorts and tee shirt.

bouicca21

Mine is north/slightly north east facing. On the rare occasion that I want to burn I sit at the far end.  More commonly I stick to the shadier end as it is cooler and more comfortable on hot days.  My patio does get early morning sun but I’m not an early morning person.

TallGirl

I’ve got exactly the same I actually enjoy having the shade from lunchtime but other areas are in sun all day so have a small set to move around with if needed. The sun does reach my patio by the back door around 6ish in the evening which is nice for dinner time but we’ve got nothing to the back or side of us. The advantage is you’ll get lots of sun around the front of the house. 

[Deleted User]

My back garden is north facing. Its ace. It means I can keep it looking green and lush without having to get the hose pipe out too often. There's still plenty of sunshine, but it moves throughout the day.

My front garden is south facing. I hate it. Its sunny, but gets no shade, and it's a nightmare getting anything to grow, that I actually want to grow, because it just dries out the instant the sun shines. One day I'll dig it all up and start a Mediterranean herb garden out there I think.

I wouldn't be put off by North facing garden. Unless, maybe if its a North facing slope then you might be in for disappointment, but if its long and flat it will be great. 

amandacat

If the garden is long enough you will get it in the bottom half all day. I grew up in a house with a north facing garden and as it was long it was fine. But my parents had to build a patio area further down to get the benefit.
If the garden isn't long enough you will get very little sun, as I have also lived in a rental with a north facing, the garden wasn't very long and we got hardly any sun. 
I have just moved out of a house with a south facing garden and in the summer it was lovely to get the sun all day but as there was another neigbouring house at the end of the garden and it was a short garden, during the winter months when the sun was lower in the sky it was obscured by that house most of the day. So the position of other houses and the length of the garden can often be as much of a factor as the way that the garden is facing. 

AnotherJoe

My garden is almost exactly due N facing and its quite wide but not that deep, and right now the whol back half of the garden is in full sunlight and I can see in summer months 3/4 will be.. It was one of the negatives when i  as looking to buy but turned out its not really at al. Plus I'm not one for sitting out in direct sunshine, or a hot day I'd be sitting in the shade anyway.

Vampgirl

We spend as much time out in the garden as the weather allows, and will cook and/or eat outside as often as possible. I always wanted a south west facing garden, but sadly we couldn't find a house with one (that we could afford anyway!) so we ended up with a garden facing NNW. It was a compromise, but the rest of the house was absolutely perfect so something had to give.

Ours isn't particularly long (about 10m) so we have the main dining area about half way down the garden. We tend to lose the sun around 6pm on the back of the house, but actually its not the garden orientation that blocks the evening sun, its the large trees that the sun sets behind in the west. If the trees weren't there then the back of the house would get lovely evening sun. Even 6 years later I do still fantasise about sitting out in the evening sun....but not enough to even consider moving.

This website is great for showing how much sun a place gets at different times of the year: http://www.suncalc.net but just remember it can't take into account things like tall trees and buildings.