North/South or East/West Garden

youth_leader

I remember Geoff Hamilton talking about east facing gardens.  He said to be careful with tender plants as the early morning sun in spring can affect the new buds, which might be frosted and drop off.

Flugelhorn

I have a north facing garden and I love it - the summer sun out the front can be very hot and having some shade at the back is great and also means the kitchen is cooler in the summer. Have had south facing gardens with verandahs and that has helped with keeping the house cool.

Like the idea of a E/W garden - would make a change 

jonnydeppiwish!

It all depends on the size of the garden. North facing large gardens are immense - back of the house is kept cool, you have some decent shade in the garden in the afternoon, and you have some full sun if you want it.

If it’s a small north facing garden, then it’ll dark and dingy.

We currently have an east facing garden, 11m length and have good sun till 2ish. Pros are it’s lively and cool in the summer, morning sun is beautiful! Cons are there is very little sun in the evenings so entertaining outside can be a bit chilly in all but the hottest of weather.

We’ve also had a south facing garden. Hot, damn hot is all I’ll say. Size doesn’t matter too much to this because of the height of the sun in summer.

we also had a NW facing garden - probably the best mix of the lot for us as we had sun but with decent shade all day round. 

Obviously, this all depends on the houses you have around you. Our neighbours across the road have west facing gardens which are lovely except for the house that has a bar and hot tub in the back - keeps them up till 0100…….

tealady

I'm with Freebear.
My south facing house benefits from being warmed and lit by the sun. In these days of high utility Bill's it's a bonus.
On hot sunny days I can sit in my cool North facing garden,
Neighbours who have North facing houses often comment how cold and dark their houses can be.
If I were ever to move I would want the same orientation.

Sea_Shell

We have E/W and it's almost perfect (for us).  Garden faces west.  

We have only one small landing window in the North wall and only the back door in the south.   So quite good for keeping winter heat in and summer heat out.   

We have a conservatory on the back, so that gets S&W sun, which is great in spring/autumn.   We have retained exterior rated patio doors on it, so are able to close it off from the house in extremes of the seasons.  

However DH still wishes we had a rotating house, so as to be able to maximise sun/shade on the front/back of the house depending on the time of day, weather and seasons.    As a compromise on the rotating house, we've turned one of the east facing spare rooms into a morning coffee room.  

YoungBlueEyes

My last house had an east facing garden and I loved it. I could sit in the garden with a morning coffee and watch the sun rise. Heaven. My kitchen was at the back so by the time the sun had moved round my gable wall the kitchen was cool enough to cook/eat in because the sun was round the front. Then I could sit and watch the sun set from the sofa. Heaven. Also meant there was never any glare on the telly.

Where we are now is SE at the front. I wasn't keen when we viewed, thinking the front would just bake and the garden would be too dark in all but the height of summer. Not true. The heat from the front warms the house beautifully and if it gets too much I'll close the blinds. There is sun in the garden now, helped by the fact that there aren't any tall buildings close by. It does mean a cold kitchen though cos it's at the back.

chrisw

West facing for me. As well as the summer afternoons, the sun is on the front in the winter mornings and helps defrost the cars before getting up. Our neighbour is south facing and the front hardly thaws out on frosty or snowy days.

maisie_cat

Our house sits in the middle of our large plot so we have all four. The south facing is too hot in the summer, the North too shaded by the house in the winter but fine in summer. The east is where we have a polytunnel & veg beds and the west is where we tend to sit out, under a tree if it's hot. We are lucky that our boundaries are fields so no 6ft fences.

Bobinyorkshire

Ours is North facing and suits us well. Conservatory and kitchen at the back and never feel too hot and when the children played in the garden there was always some shade. Sunny at the front which helped keep the moss down on block paved drive. 

Sea_Shell

We sound like Goldilocks 😉😎