Garden design advice please

[iamreally]

Hello all - I would be really grateful for any advice you could give about planting up my garden. I have attached a picture (hopefully)
Orange blob= fig tree in the garden of our rear neighbour, pink blob is a Bramley apple in next door's(right), Green blob is a huge walnut tree in next door (left) and the blue blob is a big tree in our garden that I have never been able to identify🤣.
Am planning a herb bed on the left side of the decking with some curved borders and will re-lay the slabs in a more meandering path. The bottom part of the garden hasn't had much light and the ground is covered with ivy. I have put a bed in there (RHS at the bottom) but it never really takes off and all the hostas I put in have died away. Next door (RHS) have recently removed a huge eucalyptus and had an ash tree trimmed significantly so am hoping that lets more light in.
Soil is clay and it faces due south,
All suggestions gratefully received!

The bottom part of the garden will be tricky as all those trees will make it very dry and shady, especially a walnut which are huge trees. Perhaps concentrate the play areas at the bottom and do your planting nearer the house where it's a bit more open.

You need to look at dry shade plants for the bottom with that many mature trees sucking up the moisture. Also worth planting lots of spring bulbs to come through before the trees get all their leaves. Also consider planting a climber or two up through your tree (clematis, honeysuckle, rambling rose).

Beware of meandering paths. Unless you create obstacles that prevent people going in a straight line otherwise they will naturally take the shortest most direct route.

www.rhs.org.uk/garden-inspiration/conditions/what-can-I-grow-in-a-dry-shady-spot

Thank you for your responses they are really helpful - I have struggled to get anything to grow down there - last year's hostas have shrivelled and died, and the hellebores haven't done as well as they did in other parts of the garden- I hadn't even considered that it would be so dry. Will have a look into dry shady plants now so thank you for that pointer

Vinca major is fab ground cover with pretty purple flowers. I have put it under our trees. Seems happy.

Liriope muscari like dappled shade and have spikes of purple flowers. Iirc they flower in the autumn.

Your neighbours have interesting trees! Do you get any of the figs? That's a lovely garden - clay soil with the addition of humus is really fertile, you're facing south, and you've got walls.

You'll need to get rid of all of the ivy before planting up the bottom.

In amongst our trees we have hellebores, Vinca, Epimedium. You might also be able to manage a dwarf maple.

I'd be inclined to put something with height about half way down the garden - a delicate small tree, and attractive shrub, or even just a trellis coming out between a quarter and a third of the way across for growing annual climbers - to give your eye something to focus on rather than looking down a long corridor to the far end. I might also wonder about ending the decking on a slant rather than straight across.

@MereDintofPandiculation the squirrels tend to get all the fruits - I usually find the walnuts buried in pots and window boxes!
Some lovely ideas - thank you