Hi all, I have been asked to transform my mother in-laws back garden (see below pics) one of the main reasons is she wants to get rid of the grass and I have a 18month old daughter so we want to make it a bit more child friendly i.e some level areas for a trampoline, garden patio set etc, my first thoughts was to:-

Relocate shed closest to back of house up to top of garden, maybe on a decked area and turn into a play house for my daughter

Deck over concreted area at back of house up to grass (not sure whether to deck on top of concrete or dig concrete up)

Dig up grassed and slabbed area at the top of garden and maybe place a railway sleeper border with a slabbed area inside border ( I would ideally like to level the whole garden like a two tier garden but not sure how to go about this

How hard would something like this be to achieve

http://www.railwaysleeper.com/Bill%20Sweet%27s%20railway%20sleeper%20landscaping.htm

Your best asset is having very good access for delivery and removal of materials which is often the reason back garden make-overs are so expensive.

Constructing small walls of sleepers is very straight-forward but you'd be suprised at how many sleepers you need and the cost can rack up. those in the photo look like new untreated oak which are probably about 20 quid each.

Your plans sound reasonable but personally i would avoid decking especially if the main users are children or elderly as its a death-trap when wet unless rigorously maintained.

As for splitting into tiers its very hard to suggest anything as the lay of the land is very hard to see from photo's.

that grass in that link looks to perfect to be real...