Currently considering putting a deposit down on a semi detached house in a newly built estate. As we are buying off plans we can pick the house we want and can safely pull out/renegotiate if things go further south by the time it is built. Just wondering if it should be a big put off that the garden faces north (very slightly to the north-west). As we would be going for a corner house, would it be best to go for the house on the west or east end of the row?
I would assume if we went for te west end that since the house wouldn’t be overlooked from the west, we would actually get a good bit of sunlight in the garden in the evening?
Our kitchen would be open plan and have skylights and double patio doors so would this prevent it from being too dull and gloomy?
Appreciate any replies as I have always said I’d go for a south/southwest garden but would have to wait over 2 years for the sw phase in this development to be released?
I have a north east facing garden and even though it is “finished”, we never use it because “we never get the weather”, my inlaws have a south facing garden and use it all the time. the garden is an extra room and should be priced as such
For me it’d be a deal breaker. Have a look at your intended plot on suncalc.net so you can see where the sun will be. If you have a two-storey house take into consideration that you will block your own garden from the sun at some point. If you have a side garden you might be able to use that to some advantage possibly.
I grew up in a house with a north facing garden, but later rented a house with a south facing garden: it makes a world of difference, as mdi says, to have a south or south-west aspect.
Right now, I have an east facing garden, again not too good. This year when we had a miserable summer, but occasionally nice evenings, the best place to sit was the front garden where the brick wall of the house quickly picked up the heat from the sun. Neighbours did the same. If the weather was great, then back garden was good too, but for direct sun you’d have to move down the garden to get out of shade of houses (our own, neighbours).
Even if you’ve a long north-facing garden, like my parents, sun at the end is not as good if you want to make spontaneous decision to eat outside on a nice evening.
Whether it’s a deal breaker or not, that’s a personal decision. Wouldn’t be clear for me which way to go, but as mdi says there is definite value to a sunny garden (perhaps even moreso given our poor climate).
(just saw bookworm’s post, good link. Side garden (with west view) may be good, but don’t underestimate the shade from your garden walls unless you’ve a very wide garden)
I live in a house with a north facing back garden, it is a pain in the arse how dark it is. It also costs real money - running lighting and heating much more than an equivalent house bathed in sun, even in winter time.
Garden aspect was my first consideration when looking at any house? It is majorly important to me that a house gets sun in the garden during the day or evening.
If you think it might not be as important to you, you should try renting a north or east facing house for a year and see whether it bothers you not having a sunny aspect.
My current rental is north facing at the back so my kitchen is always dark and requires lights in the summer time. I’ve no real back garden and typically don’t use my front facing road garden as it is too busy. I can walk to town though Previous rental was north west, my back garden did get good light in the summer evenings as it wasn’t blocked from the west. The kitchen was typically dark though.
I grew up in a south facing house and never even knew there wouldn’t be light in the kitchen/living areas, I only missed it when it was gone.
I will only now consider west/south west/south orientations for my next place and I’m willing to pay for it.
Currently renting a house with a north-west facing garden. Agree with other posters would be deal breaker for me too.
In the summer we do get some afternoon sun but end up having to shuffle up to the top right hand corner away form the house as it is setting. Also kitchen never gets any sun and during winter neither does the garden which ends up feeling damp and depressing. I am currently looking to buy in the same estate where I am renting but would never consider the same orientation as where i am renting, this is reinforced any time I happen to glance at the neighbour’s house behind me (our gardens are back to back so they have the mirror of our orientation) and their garden & kitchen are basking in sunshine for what seems to me like all day long… on those rare irish sunny days
A north west IMO is a very good aspect. The sun in the summer sets in the NW , in june/ July the garden will get more evening light than a S or S/E direction garden. It’s great direction if your into summer BBQ’s.
Never,bloody great after years of living in a house that had a north facing garden.I would never again buy a property with that unfortunate orientation.
Thanks for all the advice, more confused now as a result I think!
Would skylights in the kitchen counteract the gloominess? We would have a little space at the west-facing side for a clothesline but as for the rest of the garden, all we’d really be interested in using it for would be BBQs on those few sunny days of the year, don’t really have green fingers or anything like that!
This house will have a solar panel on the roof and an A3 BER, would these be pointless without the right orientation?
If your into BBQ’s for thoses few sunny summer eves its a great direction. Sun sets in a NW direction in the summer. Garden would get alot of light. It would get very little in the winter months tho but who has BBQ’s then.
For the solar panels to work to full efficiency it is essential that they are south facing. Ours are south/south west and they are compromised. They don’t get enough of the morning sun, and in the winter in particular, there is often morning sun that could be warming up the panels and by the time the sun gets round, it’s nearly time for it to set! Having said that we have had some hot water yesterday and today.
Previous rental was north west, my back garden did get good light in the summer evenings as it wasn’t blocked from the west. The kitchen was typically dark though.