Hi, AnnaLea,
Good luck planning your layout. You are right to take some time and think about long range plans in advance. I do not know your climate situation, amount of rain, and other factors that come into play.
Agree with a previous poster that the shorter the driveway usually the better for long term upkeep and reduced maintenance. I am not sure I understand all of the map but a house somewhere around the word sunrise might work???
We bought a vacant, sloping lot with some issues that sound a little like yours. We built our active-passive solar house in NW Colorado so that it was oriented by GPS with the longer part of the house facing south with most windows facing south for solar gain, second most windows facing east. Few windows north, none west. If you are in a colder climate this orientation will make for a sunnier home and lower heating costs over the life of the property.
Due to the sloping lot, we have a one story main level with main bedroom, living, dining, kitchen and a walk out basement with 9 foot ceilings and nice windows to the south and east for a family room and two more bedrooms. A basement is cheaper to build and will be more efficient to heat and cool than a second story. We have a deck off the kitchen which faces east. It is nice to spend time in the summer on the deck facing east because the house shades the deck; a deck facing west here would be too hot to enjoy in the summer.
We have two large leach fields that are lower than the house in clay soils. We do not drive over the shallow leach fields, which is definitely a consideration as we have had the need for utility trucks to drive over the property. They can drive over the yard near our house but not over the leach field. Our septic tank is not far from the house and it is in our front yard, which is different, but it works and no one notices. If septic maintenance becomes necessary it is not too far from the driveway. The leach fields are quite a ways out but in lower elevation. Our neighbor has a creek and pond that are below our property. So the leach fields are good for wildflowers and wild grasses. In our case, we can't mow a lot of this area easily because it is too wet in the spring after snow melt and the grass gets too thick in the summer for our mower. But these areas are critical from a permaculture perspective and they do provide habitat for lots of birds, for example.
Our garden is above the leach field but not too far from the house. Our garden is downhill from the house and we did not have much choice, but the flatter and shorter the distance from the house to the garden the better. Putting the garden where it will naturally get more moisture via gravity and/or swales makes sense if you live in a drier climate. Our garden is downhill but close enough that we can direct roof water to the permaculture vegetable garden as well as flower/pollinator gardens closer to the house. We have deer and elk so a high fence around the garden is necessary and the fencing can be a consideration for views (so our fenced garden is along the back corner of the house). At the same time, I think it is helpful to be able to see the vegetable garden from some window in your house because it is easier to see what is going on and helps encourage you to get out there and do what needs to be done.
Our fenced back yard surrounds the chicken coop and the chickens free range in the yard. I like having the large yard where the chickens are by the garden because I can throw extra produce their way or bring poultry manure easily to the garden. We mow our back yard, it has grass and just looks like a normal yard that just happens to have chickens in it. And collies who guard the chickens from foxes.
We built the chicken coop behind our house on the northwest corner. A chicken coop needs to be on high ground where runoff water will not run into the coop; chickens need a dry environment. And chickens need sunlight so the coop should not be shaded by large structures and should also not be too far from the house. We had to compromise due to where water run off occurs and our coop is behind our house and it does not get as much sun as it should early in the day in the winter which can reduce egg production. Our coop has large windows facing in all directions but it is a little too close to the house and would have been better with better morning sun in low winter sunlight.
I am envious that you have the barn. It looks like it is in a good position for storing equipment which will come over the years. I like that the barn is close to the road so you can use the road to access the barn where you may store things you do not need all the time.
Good luck with your plan! It looks like a lovely acreage.
