Hi all. I’m making the move from Quernmore over the line to the ladder. I want to own a house, just once, so am doing this! I’m really struggling to understand where I’ll get the sun in my garden. I’ve seen many south facing gardens that don’t seem to get it. I saw a house in Beresford with north facing who say they get it in the afternoon and late evening. I’m really confused and of course, it’s winter so how do I know what sunshine I’ll get?! Anyone have any advice?! It’s my biggest purchase and I love sitting in the sun in my garden..it would be a massive mistake if I didn’t get it right! Thank you!
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Rebekah, here is a pretty cool website that will allow you to calculate shadows on any property on google maps for any day or time of the year.
It's a bit fiddly, but essentially you create a rectangle over the existing houses (let's say half a dozen houses to the south of the garden you're interested in), set a height of those buildings and then choose the days and time. It will project a shadow to show exactly how much or little sun your garden will get.
I don't know the exact heights but would guess at 7-8 metres?
The example image below shows the shadow over a North-facing Beresford Rd garden at 10am on the 1st of March next year
OMG this is amazing. I’m really useless however! Could I give you like a little fee to run this and let me know if you think yes or no? My dad literally (and I’m in my 50s) just told me not to buy this place….bit the lost magnificent answer way and above…
Try this app - makes it super easy! https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/sun-seeker-tracker-compass/id330247123
You just point your phone at the sky and it shows you the various lines the sun will take throughout the year, by taking account of your compass and gps location. Can confirm it works!
As a North side of Beresford Road resident I can report that the back garden gets some sun, but the front room gets sun all day. So for the sunniest garden you would need a house on the South side of the road. I've often wished for that.
A north facing garden in the Harringay Ladder will get sun only for certain months of the year. I am guesstimating the months for that to be roughly March / April - ~October or so; but I do know someone with such a garden and he says in the summer he gets a full day of sun.
The only other thing to mention is that whatever direction one's garden faces, the sun cuts out earlier in the afternoon / summer evenings because of the hill to the west of the Ladder.
Given the importance of the issue just talk to a would be neighbour (on the north side of the road) and ask what sort of sun he or she gets in that garden at different times of the year.
I would also suggest you research daily traffic volumes on the street you are interested in. I moved here in 2016 and didn't do that plus Wightman Road was closed for half a year for bridge repair. I was very surprised at the traffic amount on my street when the bridge reopened.
We have a north facing garden on Seymour. The downside is you do not see sun in the garden from end of November to the end of January when it starts to creep back in. By mid March or so through until October we have sun throughout the day from dawn until dusk - and the garden is quite a sun trap.
The upside is that even in summer the back of the house will not have sun beating in - so it stays relatively cool.
Thanks everyone. It seems I need a south facing garden. With these two new tools I could try and see. Does anyone have a sunny south facing garden and if so, where and what times?
Many of the south-facing gardens on Umfreville overlook the Railway Fields nature reserve and some have relatively long gardens (a handful have buildings in the way) though sunlight could be filtered by tall trees rather than close-by house roofs. Those west of the New River may be screened in the late afternoon by houses on Woollaston Road.
I’m worried about the rooves. Does that mean no sunshine?
Hi Rebekah
I don't think I would be concluding that you definitely need a south facing garden. I think the point is that there are many factors at play. We get a lot of sunshine in our north facing garden (we are near top of hill - so that probably means we get all day sun more than others) - bar the couple of months in deep winter. And I do really appreciate not having sun beating into the back of the house in summer. And the front garden is south facing. We happen to have a back garden that is in a big gap in the row of houses so we are not overlooked from the back at all - which is lovely. There are south facing gardens that are in the shade of trees, or very close to the other row of houses and are overlooked. Some gardens are much bigger than others .. . some longer north facing gardens will get some sun all year . . . You probably need to look at each case.
That’s great thank you. I’ve seen a north facing at the bottom of Beresford and the owner claims she gets the sun most of the day to sunset so I will have a second viewing. Much appreciated.
Does anyone have a sunny south facing garden and if so, where and what times?
The south facing gardens on the Harringay Ladder face largely south but also slightly to the east. (On sunny days/mornings) I get the sun in my first floor window pretty much as soon as the sun has risen above the houses on the next street whose rear gardens abut mine. My first floor rear window is a bay window, so the sun comes in there a little before it comes into my kitchen.
In the winter, the sun has an arc like a thumbnail, but it does always clear the roofs of the houses behind me, even on 21 December. For a couple of hours on winter days my kitchen gets bathed in direct sunlight. But that said, all year round there are times where I wish the sun shone on my front sitting room and warmed/lit it up.
No matter what time of year, as I mentioned above, I don't think many houses in the ladder whichever their orientation get late afternoon sunlight because to the west is Crouch Hill. No one on the Ladder sees a sunset but we would see a sunrise if it weren't for the row of houses behind us.
A south facing garden Umfreville Road as discussed above is sui generis among all the south facing gardens on the Ladder. BUT, I believe at least some (all) of the homes with south gardens that back up onto Railway Fields also have access to it. Someone who lives on that road could confirm that.
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