Why are British houses so dark?

Take Cardiff, England (51 degrees north latitude) as an example. In the warm season, without a southerly orientation, you can still absorb long periods of sunlight. The weather in the UK is affected by latitude, ocean currents, etc. It can be cloudy and rainy anytime, anywhere, and it gets dark very early in winter, with a minimum of only 6 hours. When I was in China, I often heard people around me saying that the house must be facing south so as to get good lighting. Chinese people have always preferred facing north and south. Our country is located in the northern hemisphere, and most of it is in the north temperate zone and the East Asian monsoon zone. The sun mostly rises from the east to the south and sets from the west. Houses oriented in this way are conducive to absorbing light. In midsummer, they can avoid the direct sunlight in the hottest time in the afternoon. In the middle of winter, it can avoid the cold northwest wind and play the role of preventing cold and keeping warm.