Garden question for parents

[TheWrongPong]

Short version: we have a small, sloping lawn, is it worth paying c. £1000 to have it changed to a small flat lawn?

(Posting this is parenting as I'm mainly considering it for DD(6)'s benefit.)

Long version: We live in London and have a small garden: a small patio outside the back door, then a step up to a lawn of around 8x4m (plus shrub borders either side). Then another small patio at the back where the shed is. Currently there is a step up from the first patio to the lawn, then the lawn slopes gently up to the back patio. It's not a massive slope but it is a pain. DD is into gymnastics - she can do cartwheels on the slope but I would like her to be able to practice walkovers etc, or move her bar or beam outside in the summer. She would also like a trampoline!

We can't afford to get the whole garden overhauled, but I spoke to a gardener who thought it would be feasible to level the lawn by lowering it and adding a 20cm timber to the edge of the back patio and around the borders (which would form a step to the patio and retain the soil in the borders at their current level). So we'd end up with an 8x4m flat lawn with raised beds at the sides, a step up the patio at the back and a step down to the patio by the house.

(Thank you so much for reading this if you've got this far!)

Wwyd?

(Further context: DD is our only and there will be no more children! We do have parks nearby, but I would love for us to actually use our own garden far more than we currently do!)

I'd say if you can afford it, it's worth doing. We have an 8 year old and I have to admit we have our gymnastics stuff in the house as it's just more likely to be used where it's warm and dry! The bar is too heavy to realistically bring in and outdoors on the odd dry day.

But having a level garden will be useful for using it when you're older too (assuming you're planning to live there long term). It's not something that would increase the value but I think you should make the changes that mean the space is more usable for you.

£1000 seems very reasonable and once it is done you will really appreciate the level lawn and wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. You will also
quickly forget about the expense!

I'd be surprised if you can do it for that price - you'll need sleepers cross tied in place to hold the soil back, and probably top soil and turf as well. If you can though I'd say it's handy!

Yes actually looking back at the quote I think it will be a few hundred more including removing the soil. And probably a few hundred on top of that for things we haven't thought of yet 😬

I initially thought we'd get turf but the gardener said he prefers seed for environmental and cost reasons, so I agreed to that.

Even at £2000, if you get five years' good use out of it it is probably worth it if you can spare it?

That seems exceptionally cheap... have you seen similar work he's done?