We have a patch of garden that has been waiting to be done for 7 years, please help me!

[ihatethecold]

We have a large garden that is really lovely as a cottage garden, we have taken years to to get it looking like a mature enjoyable space.

We also bought a 15ft wide strip of land of the neighbour about 7 yrs ago. Its next to a brick built barn but currently looks like wasteland with weeds.
We would like to turn it into a courtyard garden but my DH is determined to do this himself.

I would like to get someone in to give us a plan to work to. my DH is very anti this, doesnt want to spend the money paying someone else.
We have a budget of about £1k for hard landscaping etc.

Would it be a good idea to get a designer in to get us started?
The area is about 6m squared.

I think I'd start by looking up 'how to' tutorials online, specially seeing as your DH wants to do it himself. To get the grass short I'd recommend using a flail mower as opposed to a brush cutter.

There is no grass just rubble and weeds, its quite uneven,
i do wonder how much it would cost to get someone in the flatten it and prepare it

Just hire a local landscaping company to do some paving for you. Having rubble already there will be handy as hardcore and save the landscaper a delivery. Don't let hubby do it. I can design it if you like but that would eat up half of your budget!

A 4x4 patio is flexible and large enough for big dining. Get basic paving and leave a metre all round for planting or 2m to one side if that works better in terms of aspect and planting style. Make sure run off is away from buildings.

its more that we want to get it right, the rest of the garden has evolved over time and looks great, I have looked at ideas on pinterest.
we sort of know what we want but cant really seem to get it started.

we dont need lots of paving as we have 2 areas already for eating