National Gardening Week 2026
It’s National Gardening Week 2026 (27 April – 3 May) – the UK’s biggest celebration of gardening and a moment the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) dedicates each year to inspiring the next generation of plant enthusiasts.
For us at Risby, it feels like the perfect prompt to tackle one of the most persistent myths in new home buying: Which way does the garden face?
For a lot of buyers, there’s only one right answer: south. It’s been the gold standard for as long as anyone can remember. South-facing means sunshine and sunshine means the best garden. Simple.
Except it isn’t, really. And as a builder that thinks carefully about every aspect of our homes, gardens very much included, we think it’s worth challenging that.
The problem with the south-facing rule
A south-facing garden sounds ideal until you think about when you actually use it. At the height of a Yorkshire summer, peak sunshine hits in the middle of the day, which for many people is precisely when the school run is done, they’re at work and the garden is sitting empty.
But it’s not just the garden. Any room with glazing on the rear of the house – a kitchen, a dayroom, a lounge with bi-fold doors – can become genuinely stifling from midday until early evening. Our own south-facing sales office was a reliable reminder of this. It’s also worth knowing that prolonged direct sunlight can fade and discolour furniture over time, sofas in particular.
So if your routine involves enjoying a morning coffee outside before work or an evening glass of wine after it, a garden – and a home – enjoying midday sun may not be adding quite what you’d hoped.
Garden orientation only really matters when it’s matched to the life you actually live.
Ask a better question: when do you actually
use your garden?
Instead of asking which direction is best, try asking: What time of day do I actually want to enjoy my garden?
It sounds obvious but it changes everything:
An east-facing garden catches the early sun beautifully and tends to be cooler and more comfortable in the afternoon – ideal for those who love slow mornings outside but prefer a bit of shade later in the day.
A west-facing garden comes into its own from mid-afternoon onwards, holding the warmth and light well into the evening. If summer barbecues and outdoor dining are your thing, it’s hard to beat.
A north-facing garden is often dismissed outright but it deserves more credit than it gets. In a hot summer it can be genuinely pleasant, often cooler, calmer and more usable on a scorching afternoon than a garden that’s been baking in full sun all day. And the assumption that it gets no sun simply isn’t true.
North-facing gardens have sun spots, and with a little thought about where you place a patio, a seating area or an outdoor kitchen, you can design around them to suit how you actually use the space throughout the day. A table and chairs positioned to catch the morning light for coffee, a decked area in another corner that holds the evening sun – it’s less about the compass and more about the layout. In high summer especially, the back of a north-facing garden tends to get a good amount of sun, which is often a pleasant surprise for new owners.
South-facing absolutely has its place. For avid gardeners – those who genuinely love tending to their outdoor space and want to make the most of every growing hour – it can be everything they hoped for. But the best garden isn’t always the one that gets the most sun. It’s the one that works for you.
What buyers often overlook: seasonality and surroundings
Sunlight is more dynamic than a single compass point suggests. In winter, the sun sits low and daylight is short regardless of direction. In summer, it’s higher and longer, meaning most gardens receive far more light than buyers expect when they first view them in early spring.
What surrounds a garden matters just as much as which way it faces. A tall fence, a mature tree or a neighbouring extension can shape a garden’s character far more than orientation alone.
It’s something we think carefully about on every Risby development – how the garden sits in relation to the house, where the light falls at different times of day and how to make the most of whatever the plot gives us.
Designing a garden around how you live
The best gardens aren’t the ones that face the right direction. They’re the ones designed around the people using them.
A well-considered layout can create different spaces that capture the sun at different times – a patio for morning coffee, a lawn that works all afternoon, a sheltered corner that becomes the spot for summer evenings. Add a pergola for shade on hotter days, a fire pit for cooler nights and some good lighting, and suddenly orientation feels like a much smaller part of the picture.
The gardens of all our properties – including homes currently under construction at Hornby Walk in Walkington and Maple Croft in Cherry Burton – have been designed with exactly this thinking in mind. Not just which way the gardens are facing, but how they will feel to actually live in through all four East Yorkshire seasons.
So, does garden orientation matter?
Yes, but only when it matches the way you want to live. The right question isn’t “is it south-facing?” It’s “will this garden work for us?”
Because whether you’re after slow Sunday breakfasts outside, lively summer barbecues or quiet evenings with a glass of something refreshing, the best garden is the one that fits naturally into your routine. And sometimes, that won’t be south-facing at all.
If you’d like to talk through the plots and gardens available at any of our current or upcoming developments, our team is always happy to have a chat – no pressure, just a chance to see what might work for you.