As any house-hunter can tell you, if an estate agent has a property on their books with a south-facing garden, that will be featured as one of the properties benefits.
But is a south-facing garden really the best? Are north, east and west-facing gardens to be avoided?
Which facing garden is best for you depends on your own personal priorities, but we’ll have a look at the differences between the aspects (estate-agent-speak for which way the garden faces) below.
South-facing garden
Let’s have a look at the gardens north, south, west and east London estate agents like the best – south-facing gardens.
South-facing gardens get their good reputation because of the amount of sun they get. A south-facing garden will get sun all day, which is good news if you’re a sun-worshipper. It also means if you like to dry your washing outside, it’ll get dry quickly.
For the keen gardener, south-facing gardens are also good because they get a bigger range of plants, flowers, fruit and veg to grow.
On the downside, if you don’t like being too hot, a south-facing garden may not be for you. You’ll also have to water the garden more often as the soil tends to be drier.
Still, if you want a garden where you can pretty much do whatever you want, then a south-facing garden is for you. After all, you can always put up a gazebo or parasol or plant some trees or bushes to get some shade.
North-facing garden
Now let’s have a look at the other end of the compass, the north-facing garden. North-facing gardens get a bit of a bad reputation. This is perhaps unfair because, just because a south-facing garden gets the sun all day, that doesn’t mean a north-facing garden gets no sun at all.
While it’s true a north-facing garden will only get sun near the back of the house in the morning, if your garden’s long enough, there’ll be sun at some part of your garden all day. So, if you like to sit in your garden all day, there’s nothing to stop you putting your patio or decking at the end of the garden. You’ll just have further to walk to your kitchen for more drinks and snacks, that’s all.
East-facing garden
If you love a leisurely breakfast watching the sun rise, you’re going to love an east-facing garden. As we all know, the sun rises in the east, so if you haven’t got to join the commuters in the morning rush hour, go outside with your coffee and croissants to enjoy the benefits of an east-facing garden.
West-facing garden
If you love the idea of a leisurely breakfast watching the sun rise but you, like most people, have to go out to work and don’t get to slob around drinking coffee and eating croissants all morning, then perhaps a west-facing garden will suit you better.
A west-facing garden is perfect for people who like to chill out in their garden after work, as west-facing gardens get the sun well into the evening.
Which facing garden is best for you?
As you can see, all gardens will get the sun at some part of the day but how much sun your garden gets will depend on other factors such as size and whether it’s obscured at all by trees or neighbouring buildings.
When it comes to which facing garden is best for you, decide what you want to use the garden for and whether the inside of the house is more important than which way the garden faces.