How much is a new patio and garden path? Or complete redesign?

[Mellifera]

We have been in our house for 3 years now and the garden needs some serious attention.
I keep on top of the hedges and (most of the) weeding but we have a ground elder problem.

The patio is crumbling and there is a long crumbling path down the garden to the back gate, which all of us use every day.

I dream of a complete makeover, even though I want to keep almost all trees (apple, palm tree, big bushes) but the flower beds have been taken over by blackberries and ground elder. I would love raised beds with sleepers or similar, and keep the rest as lawn.
At the moment there is only a 6x8m patch of lawn, the rest is flower weed beds. My back would thank me for raised beds.

To make mattes worse, there are 2 huge, 20+ foot conifers in the middle of the garden, they are out of control but provide vital screening for the houses at the back. Without them,our patio and those of the neighbours would be in full view of the people living in the houses behind the garden.
Chopping them is not a good idea imo.

We could just replace the patio and 50m path and leave the flower beds, but have no idea how much that would be.
Anyone?

[shovetheholly]

There are really so many factors, it's hard to give a figure. I would think that for a new patio, path and construction of raised beds in basic materials you're unlikely to get change from £5k. I could be wrong, though!

I would think carefully about the trees. If they're beautiful conifers, fair enough. If they are dreaded leylandii, then they are well worth replacing with something else. There are literally dozens of far more beautiful trees that would fit the bill.

[Mellifera]

shove, one of the trees is a beautiful (but massive, wall-pushing) conifer, the other one a smaller leylandii. Then there is a huge palm tree. All 3 from a big screen which we love.

Any other tree would not be as big I suppose. Which trees do you have in mind? Evergreen is a must.

I think 5k would be the patio alone, tbh. It's 10mx3m plus several steps into the house at dining room and back door, steps down to the garden.

I forgot to mention that we want a pergola over the partio and the fence needs replacing too and both sides are ours.

Because there is so much to do, I don't know what to do first, and where to spend money and make do with the rest somehow.

[Mellifera]

form

[WiIdfire]

We had our garden completely redone. Emptied out, new design, new patio, raised borders, (fake) grass lawn and plants. No big trees involved. 6mx6m area ish. Cost us £6k. I suspect yours is quite a bit bigger than ours.

[Mellifera]

Yep, 10m x 50m. So quite a project, and very daunting. I reckon it would set us back £30k including fence, and we can't afford that.

[shovetheholly]

Yes, that's an enviably large space!

One option would be to get the skeleton work done by builders and then do everything else yourself. So you could get your path, patio, fence and beds put in but plant them up yourselves, using plants that you've bought cheaply and are prepared to grow on from tiny to large (will take 2-3 years). This will be less than £30k, unless you want to pave with diamond-encrusted limestone or something.

My garden is smaller than yours by a way (100ft x 25ft or thereabouts) and has similar problems with level changes. I cleared it myself, piled up the earth where I wanted it to go then got builders in to put in a couple of retaining walls and some steps (£1200). Everything else I did myself. One of the larger expenses was skips - I pulled something like 40 tonnes of concrete out of the garden, and ripped down three sheds! (£1000 just on disposal, though I tried to think of it as saving £50 a month on gym membership!!)

So far, I have done a 4 x 3 m sandstone patio (£400 materials), a long windy path in purple clay bricks, with two interconnecting brick circles, one of which I turfed, and one I filled with chippings (£650 materials - bricks cheap on ebay!).

The whole space has then been filled with plants bought very, very cheaply, gifted from other gardeners, or grown from seed. Things grow so quickly that there really is little point buying expensive, large plants to put in. I definitely had change from £5k, which I spent on a new shed and a greenhouse !! The fact that I did it gradually over a period of 12 months or so also cushioned us from the financial cost.

I am NOT a good DIY-er. I am not one of those competent people who only has to look at an electric screwdriver and BAM a pergola is up. I learned how to do things using Youtube videos as I went along, it was slow work at times, and if I pulled back the plants that drape themselves over the edges of my paths, you'd see a difference between the quality of the work when I started and the more professional finish I'd achieved by the end. But it was so much fun! If I can do it, then anyone reasonably sound of limb can do it!

[Qwebec]

I'd suggest takes things slowly and add more when you have the money, and do what you can yourself. For the fences why not have a chat with your neighbors about charing the cost of the new fences?

[Mellifera]

shove, wow, what an achievement!

I have already taken 2 sheds down from the back of the garden, the area behind the conifer screen.
We had lots of skips when we did the house up, so I filled them up.

There is a lot of concrete still there, different levels, and a wooden base for a shed, all rubbish.
I would love to do it myself, I have to be careful with my back though, hence the idea of raised beds.

The whole thing is huge amd I simply don't know where to start. Could I hire some digger to take the concrete up? How have you got it in manageable chunks?

You have put a patio down? I don't know if I'm brave enough to do it myself, even though I like the idea.

I want a magic garden, lots of mosaic, lots of wildflowers. It's always been a dream of mine. DS needs a lawn for football. DD2 will get a trampoline at some point.

The different levels are a problem, the street goes downhill so the gardens are different levels as you go down the street. On my left there is the fence (or sorry excuse of one) to attached neighbour, and about 1m on the same level, then the lawn starts and dips down 0.5m to the main lawn area.
On the other side is a sloping concreted path which is 0,5m higher than the lawn, then flower beds, fence, and. 3 foot drop to next neighbour.

Maybe I need to look at lots of pictures of gardens like mine and what people have done with them.

At the back where the sheds were and where the concrete now is we want an outhouse. Something to play table tennis in all year round. That alone can cost 20k.

Bricks on ebay? I might start researching recycled building material.

Qwebec, the fence on one side is shared, the other side is ours. It would be a very low fence except on patio level and next to the house, at the back we all want very low fences, because of the nature of the sloping back gardens we have a lovely green outlook allround.
One of both neighbours' biggest fears when we moved in was that we would put up a 6 foot fence monstrosity. No we won't, but we are a bit more alternative. They are being very nice about our jungle out the back.

shove, can I see pictures please? Your garden sounds lovely! Purple bricks? I like the sound of them.

[Mellifera]

PS. and - as my username suggests - I want to keep bees in the future, once the garden is redesigned. The position of the hives has to be factored in as well.