Need help please with stinging nettles 6 foot high!

[Swifey]

We might be about to buy a new house (a do-er-upper) that has 11 acres. Now quite a lot of this is used for sheep grazing as the gradient is steep, but at the bottom of the 'valley' the current people have mown a wide strip down, but either side if this is full of stinging nettles. Masses and masses of them. How do I get rid of them and return it to grass and wild flowers? All help massively appreciated

Since you're talking about a LOT of nettles, a good but "full-on" method is to burn them out with a propane gun. This has the added advantage of burning the seeds so you reduce the chances of them reappearing next year.

Nettles show good soil though so that's a bonus!

Nettles, although undesirable, are food for butterflies and they lay their eggs on them. I leave a few in the hedge.
To remove them, I’d kit myself up with trousers and jacket ( waterproof over trousers and jacket are sting proof), also guantlet gloves and strimthem down. Then pull up the roots, they have runners so quite a job.

Ah, now that sounds like a good idea! and fun, but maybe something to do when the children are not around! So I top them first?
What time of year would be best do you think? And then do I rotivate it all, and then seed with a mixture of grass and wild flowers in the spring?

Sorry for all the questions

I think if I did it by hand it might take me about a month, it's probably about two acres worth 😬

Depends on how much of the 11 acres is nettles. If even 10%/one acre is head high nettles it would be a daunting task with a strimmer, and a small domestic machine won’t be adequate. Can you ask around if someone could top it with a tractor to start with? The nettles will die back in the autumn naturally and you can then try pulling/digging them out. Alternatively if you are not averse to using herbicides you could spray the regrow in the spring. As for preventing the seeds, with growth that established I doubt another year’s seeds will make any difference