Ideas for newbie - small garden

[Margo2023]

I have a nice, simple, small garden surrounded by fence. It is 10x8m, some slabs and rectangle of grass. I'd like to spruce it up a bit, no soil area so I guess plants and flowers in a bedded box. Any ideas of how I can make it look less plain? I have a nice L shaped rattan furniture and glass table and that's really it! I'd love to grow some herbs and veg but not sure where to start

Do you use the grass? I'd dig it out and plant flowers and herbs. Plant bulbs in autumn for spring colour. For veg you could start with potatoes, salad leaves or tomatoes in containers. Remember to water them a lot.
Maybe cover some of the fence with clematis, climbing roses or espaliered fruit trees. Where possible I'd try to plant into the ground rather than containers because it's a lot less work.

North facing? South facing? Overlooked? Sunny?

If it has grass you could create a bed. What kind of soil?

If you grow stuff in containers it will be entirely dependent on you for water and nutrition.

For small spaces, turning it 45 degrees and/or creating zones makes it feel larger.

It feels counter intuitive but it tricks your brain I to thinking it's in a bigger space - eg when you have zones it always feels like you've got somewhere to travel to rather than being a single enclosed space.

https://www.philperry.co.uk/5-ways-to-make-a-small-garden-feel-bigger

(No idea who this is but it was the first search result that was brief and had diagrams. If you Google, there are loads and loads of hits for turning a small garden on a 45 degree angle or zoning it.)

https://images.app.goo.gl/87oX8t85t6FDBgrV9

It is 10x8m, some slabs and rectangle of grass.
What you are describing is two-dimensional. Add some height to get 3D. A tree is the obvious but you can also do arches, pergola, etc. A change in level can also be effective.

Are there interesting things (usually trees) going on beyond your boundary that you can incorporate? This is called a 'borrowed view'.

I would suggest some form of water feature. You can have really small things - e.g. half a barrel - but any body of water will introduce some wildlife. And nothing beats the sound of running water.