Currently looking at houses around these roads (they seem to have really gone up in price in the last year, saw one recently for 480 gosh - anyone know why?). Also the gardens are not huge, and slightly worried about having a north facing one, does anybody know how much sun they get? Am a keen gardener with small family and garden is very important to us.

We are a North facer on Maclean Road - admittedly you don't get it all day like our lucky neighbours across the road but we get the sun near the house in the morning, perfect for coffee on the decking - and it gradually moves up the garden - in the centre by lunchtime, the rear by evening.... in the summer we sunbathe right up until 7pm easily....

We live in one of those roads in a house where the back of the building faces south (i.e. on the Honor Oak Park side of the road rather than the Crofton Park side).

We get a lot of sun in our garden at the house/patio end but the end of the garden is in a bit of shade. So actually the end of our garden is north facing and not that good for growing sun loving plants. The patio is sun drenched and takes heavy watering to keep anything in pots alive.

Friends across the road have the opposite - the end of their garden gets sun but the house/patio area is in shade. Their garden is 100 times better than ours although their gardening skills are a factor there and I guess they've chosen appropriate planting.

From my perspective I think you have enough length in the gardens to get a mix of sun and shade on either side of the road. Also in the early morning or late evening the sun almost shines along the road (east/west) rather than over the house (north/south) so we get good sun on plants on either side.

If you look at Google aerial photos you can see how short the shadows can be on the north facing houses.

Maybe it worth going for a viewing at midday to see best case?

As to the costs - these roads are a popular little enclave - things don't seem to stay on the market long - or don't even go on the market - so there is a lot of competition which affects price a lot. The houses are lovely - highly recommended. Nice big 1930s rooms. The garden size is plenty for our skills but your priorities may differ.

Thanks for the replies. I have put that worry to one side now, you have both convinced me it's not a big problem. Will make the best of it, not a reason to not buy a place. Thanks!