Hello one & all,

Bit of a lurker, now turned poster!

I have recently moved in to a lovely country cottage, bordering on farmland, in East Anglia. I have inherited about an acre of land which is mostly composed of tough, clumps of meadow grass and plenty of weeds. The situation is made even worse by the fact that the last owners rode a hefty tractor over it, making deep ruts all over the place which have now grown over!

Anyhow, I have a smaller rear 'lawn' and a long, large front area of land. Given the expanse of land and the extent of work probably needed to bring it up to a useable standard, I would like to tackle it in parcels, the smaller rear lawn being the first. I intend this to be our formal type lawn, not putting green standard, but at least level and an area where we can sit and relax as a family. The front area, I intend to merely lay to grass/meadow flower and have a childrens swing in, etc., as long as that bit looks neat & tidy.

With regards to my rear lawn, having read a few other posts on a similar topic, my intention was to,

1. Kill off rear lawn;
2. Rotorvate/cultivate rear lawn to soil;
3. Trample down/heel soil & try to level;
4. Leave and pick out any weeds appearing over winter/spring;
5. Seed a new lawn in Springtime.

My question really, is how should I go about this since I have very limited knowledge of gardening. Is this the wrong time of year to begin to tackle this project? Will the Glyphosate have time to succeed in order for me to rotorvate/clean before ground becomes hard & freezing?

Any views, pointers or tips greatly appreciated!

(btw, can pics be posted up on this BB?)