Maybe one of you smart people can solve this "mystery": The old farmhouses here in the region (Flanders) were all built with their length axis on the north-sout

Maybe one of you smart people can solve this "mystery": The old farmhouses here in the region (Flanders) were all built with their length axis on the north-south line, no matter where the road was. An old farmer here claims that such a house is cold in summer and warm in winter. I once saw an architect on TV claim the same thing. But I was not able to find any explanation for this anywhere.