OK, thanks a lot for all the comments.
Context: £500k, 3 bed bungalow. Plenty of scope for either loft conversion or rear extension. Desirable area with larger than average garden where we are, but specific downside is the east facing aspect.
When we moved in the garden was inherited after an elderly owner who obviously loved her greenery. Setup was hardly usable for a young family (2+2).
What you can't see on old images is that the back end is nearly 2m deep +30cm step up from grass level and that the plants close to the house and the 'patio' also took up about 1m of space. The tree looked reasonable, but by the next season it pretty much started to die (and we did nothing to cause it).
Now, slowly, we made progress and re-organised the side to have our berries border, removed all the old bushes at the back etc.
Thanks to great weather and the state of the old fence, we had to get the new one installed before summer. I took the chance and decided to open up the end of the drive to move the gate to get the run up to the garage into the garden so I can use this as a DIY work area for what I need without tools being left 'outside'
The plan is like so:
Old, falling apart shed is going down and Id replace this with the smaller storage box next to the water butt we have off the garage and 'visually shield' this with a trellis panel or something. I will be sorting this out.
The boarder will be made look neater, I will replace the old gravel boards for sleepers.
At the end, the yellow area is a softwood chippings going down, boarded up with old fence posts. I only need this dug up a bit by the landscaper so I can sort the rest out.
Next to it, is the new porcelain patio - we really like the Burlington Rust which goes well with wood - although light greys are nice, we felt they were too cold looking. This is what the landscaper would do, so 16sqm there. Behind it is a small area to plant like a bamboo screen so it doesn't feel all empty and grass at the start, later I want to pop a square/rectangular pergola over the patio.
The old cherry tree is to be ripped out and it has shallow roots all over the lawn so taking all that out will need new turf. that is like 70sqm for them to do.
At the other end, the lawn will finish with a set of steps made of sleepers that will retain the lawn and come down to the decking area. Deck is about 24sqm and Ill sort this out myself but steps I was going to get the guys to do.
Last but not least was the path between the ramp to the garage and patio. They would get the old concrete slab path out and re-do with the pavers I have a pallet of leftover from the front drive I did. I know I dont have enough of pavers so may need to buy another pallet unfortunately.
As the last thing, I want to paint the garage, so the old concrete panels dont look so bad. I cant be entertained with knocking the thing down.
The layout is kind of optimised to use the sun in the morning on the deck, while in the later morning/afternoon/early evening you get the sun at the back over the patio.
Out of those £15k, the landscapers costs were about £12k, with the rest being the deck, pergola, garage and all the rest of the stuff Id do.
