North facing garden...is it worth it

Tiglet2

sgun said:

Beardybaldy said:

sgun said:

I would absolutely hate it. In fact I wouldn't even view houses with north facing gardens. Friends of ours bought in haste and only realised after buying that to get any sun after they get home from work they need to sit in the front garden which isn't private. So it isn't really about what other people think - it's about how much having sun in the evenings is a deal breaker for you - and how much sun you will actually get in the evenings (potentially not much if there are other buildings shading the light).

Sounds like one example of a really bad experience. Unless the garden is exactly North facing and very short, it's going to get some sun, even in the evening.

In my North North East facing back garden, the last of the evening sunshine lands right in the corner where I built the first of two patios. The front only gets maybe half an hour more sunshine max. 

But you're right. There are situations where you'd get no sun in the evening, but I think these are the exception rather than the rule. 

I am a garden designer  and I like sunshine. So north facing is a big, big no for me. I could work with one and turn it into a shady oasis but if sun is important then north facing is not gong to do what you want.

My north facing garden has flower/shrub beds on three sides (south, east and west) so I have no problem at all growing all kinds of plants.  The only end of the garden which would cause a problem is the one nearest to the house, which is in shade.  However, I have no beds there so not an issue for me.  I had a garden designer plan the garden for me 6 years ago and is working very well.

Sunsaru

I've just bought a house with a north facing garden (very slightly NW). From what I can see, it won't get too much sun due to way the houses either side are laid out and my garage (top right hand corner gets the most). Although I really wanted a south facing garden I had to compromise as the house is in the area I wanted, the size I wanted and on a quiet street that my daughter can play out on.

I'll work with what I've got and get used to it. Each to their own.

robatwork

These threads always amuse. Most people of course don't have N or S facing but you'd think that's all that exists. Much more likely you're facing one of the 30 other maritime directions, depending on how accurate you want to go...

Direction	Symbol	Degrees
North North by east North-northeast Northeast by north Northeast Northeast by east East-northeast East by north East East by south East-southeast Southeast by east Southeast Southeast by south South-southeast South by east South South by west South-southwest Southwest by south Southwest Southwest by west West-southwest West by south West West by north West-northwest Northwest by west Northwest Northwest by north North-northwest North by west	N N by E NNE NE by N NE NE by E ENE E by N E E by S ESE SE by E SE SE by S SSE S by E S S by W SSW SW by S SW 225 SW by W WSW W by S W W by N WNW NW by W NW NW by N NNW N by W	0(360) 11.25 22.5 33.75 45 56.25 67.5 78.75 90 101.25 112.5 123.75 135 146.25 157.5 168.75 180 191.25 202.5 213.75 225 236.25 247.5 258.75 270 281.25 292.5 303.75 315 326.25 337.5 348.75

kormacurry

I had a garden that faced directly north, but I still got a lot of sun into the garden during summer because there was nothing to block the sun from the west, so I got lots of sun till late into the summer evening. It's worth checking if there is anything to cast shadow from the west. If there isn't then you're in luck.

sgun

I have EW wrap around - best of both worlds! No need for anyone to take offence at anything I posted about north facing gardens :-) I've given good advice to lots of people in previous threads about planting, aspect, soils etc and I'm happy to carry on doing so. No need for anyone to be rude about my job, experience or quals - all I was doing was giving another side to the debate (sorry - I thought that was allowed but I had forgotten that this is MSE forums). Chill all with a cider perhaps :-)

sgun

sgun said:

Beardybaldy said:

sgun said:

I would absolutely hate it. In fact I wouldn't even view houses with north facing gardens. Friends of ours bought in haste and only realised after buying that to get any sun after they get home from work they need to sit in the front garden which isn't private. So it isn't really about what other people think - it's about how much having sun in the evenings is a deal breaker for you - and how much sun you will actually get in the evenings (potentially not much if there are other buildings shading the light).

Sounds like one example of a really bad experience. Unless the garden is exactly North facing and very short, it's going to get some sun, even in the evening.

In my North North East facing back garden, the last of the evening sunshine lands right in the corner where I built the first of two patios. The front only gets maybe half an hour more sunshine max. 

But you're right. There are situations where you'd get no sun in the evening, but I think these are the exception rather than the rule. 

I am a garden designer  and I like sunshine. So north facing is a big, big no for me. I could work with one and turn it into a shady oasis but if sun is important then north facing is not gong to do what you want.

And I can see how people thought I was saying "I know best - I'm a designer"  not at all what I was trying to say, looking back I didn't explain well enough. I don't like north facing but there is nothing wrong with it, it's a personal thing. Lots of people hate their south facing as its too hot for them. My dream! We can all enjoy our gardens, whatever we have. I'm NOT cancelling north facing gardens, they are in reality more important than south or east :-) 

mat1964

We are buying a house with a NNW facing garden.  We were worried about having dark areas of the house downstairs, however, both the living room and kitchen/diner are dual aspect and have windows at both ends, so that's fine.

It was a consideration, but not a deal breaker.  The garden is about 35ft long, and we may put some decking down the end to get late summer sun if we need to.  I can understand why for sun worshippers/keen gardeners I would be more of a problem, but we are neither.

OldMusicGuy

IMO the most important thing is the size of the garden and what surrounds it rather than the aspect. We are surprised that the small north facing garden we have just moved into gets more sun than the larger south west facing garden that we previously had. Our previous house had large mature tress at the end of it, which created a lovely private feel but meant that the bottom part of the garden got a lot of shade. Conversely, the patio areas close to the house were always very sunny and hot, which of course meant we built a pergola over a large part of it to get some shade!

Our new north facing garden gets the sun in all areas at different times of the day apart from the south west corner closest to the house. This is because the aspect at the back is very open and the early morning sun comes through the gap between us and next door (wouldn't be so good if we were terraced). The percentage of the garden that gets no sun is smaller than the percentage of the garden that got no sun at our previous place due to the screening effect of the large trees at the end of the garden in our last place. It's also much nicer looking out seeing the sun on the back of the garden rather than looking into a dense shady area.

So make sure you consider how the surroundings impact the amount of light you will get, regardless of how the garden faces.

davilown

I have a north facing garden as well. What you should be asking is, ‘what is going to block the sun from my garden?’ 

Neighbouring properties are the Norma culprits.

As for preference, im very happy with north facing as I don’t have an inferno of a living/kitchen/ dining room during the summer, and I can sit on the patio without getting burnt.  It is a 30m length garden though, with no property behind.

Albala

If the back of the house faces north, it is a great place to put a conservatory. Won't overheat so easily, and makes good use of the more shadowed end of the garden. With underfloor heating, it would be usable in all but the coldest weather, even then with a fan heater we used ours all year. We moved from a north facing back to a south-facing back, and my concern is that any conservatory we build here will be too hot to use in the summer (this is based on the experience of friends). Even a south-facing garden can have a lot of dark areas if your neighbours have high hedges. We have 10'-12' hedges on the eastern side, and 7'-8' hedges plus trees and horrible conifers on the west side. That means that even this time of year, about a third of the garden each side is in shade except in the very middle of the day. How much shade you get is as much to do with the sides as the ends, so to speak.