Thank you for all the advice given, I have read and understood it. The area is triangular in shape, 8m wide going to 3m wide and 13m in length. It's not that I don't like gardening, more that I've never had a garden to do any gardening in! To be honest I find it quite exciting that I have a nice challenge on my hands. At the moment it's just a bit overwelming because there is so much that needs doing, it's difficult to know where to begin! On Friday i cut the grass, yesterday I trimmed the privets back by about 2ft on each side of the garden, today I will take about 3ft off the tops of them as they are probably in excess of 10ft tall. At the moment you can't really see any leaves as they've been cut back so much. I'm guessin that if I keep trimming them back, then the leaves will learn to grow at the point where I've trimmed back to and the bushes will become more tame?

As for the ground.. It is uneven to the point that I would imagine it could be quite difficult to push a lawn mower over it. On top of that, since cutting the grass on Friday, I have found various lengths of wire mesh, a hammer, a gardening trowel and numorous pieces of wood have pushed through to the surface which the previous owner must have lost within the growth. I feel digging it up and levelling it out is my only option here. I'm thinking that if I take 6'' off the top then I will unearth any other hidden tools and wood, also I will be able to level the ground to make it easier to cut the grass with a lawn mower. So with that in mind, would the recommendation be to spray the area with glyphosate (as suggested by Jake) before I do any digging? In which case would I be able to use the soil that I have dug out to level the ground with since the glyphosate should of killed the grass and weeds or have i misunderstood something here? In which case I will get rid of what I have dug out and get fresh top soil to put down. I am just trying to work out the most cost effective way of doing it. Again I understand that the garden will need maintaining in order to keep the weeds out as it will be near impossible to kill ALL of the weeds and any seeds which have blown in, only there is a fair bit of work which needs doing before I get to the stage of 'maintaining' as appose to actually getting the garden in order. I will look into getting grass seed or turf nearer the end of summer but or now I will take it 1 step at a time..

Again thank you for all the advice given. I know it must be a pain having a complete beginner ask potentially obvious questions but I appreciate and take in all the advice. Thanks 😊