You have two dogs and more than one young child I surmise. That's a big crowd for that size yard and I recommend that you will have to surrender one of your favorite pastimes to them for now. I've done it, and rest assured times change and eventually the opportunity for you to do something for yourself will present itself again. The only thing I can suggest is that if you have a space in the front of your home which the children and dogs don't frequent, you might try gardening there. I have found that UK gardeners are absolute masters at creating lovely front gardens no matter what the size they have available.

That's wise advice.

No point in trying to have a nice lawn with kids and dog in a small area and no point in spending a lot having it redone if you might be moving. I can think of only three options for the play area, try to live with it, or cover it with the sort of soft surface you get in play areas, or use artificial grass which you can hose down.

I wouldn't worry about the new fence panel but if it bothers you you could consider painting the whole fence with obe of the coloured preservatives you can get now - but the result might be different because of the colour of the wood.

You can transform the planters with bright flowers and grow clematis on the pretty trellis.

In the bottom left hand corner how about a large container with an attractive shrub?

When you say "get the garden redone" do you mean pay someone to do it? I would save your money until the kids are older.

I'm afraid I do agree, with a garden that size and all the wet we have had in recent months its no surprise that your lawn has suffered, unless you be ruthless by not allowing the dog or the children on the grass I'm afraid it will be ongoing for a while, I no longer have young children but do have dogs so its a task yearly to redo the parts that have been killed off by them, comes with the territory, take heart from the fact that the children are growing up and soon won't need or even want the toys, I can see you already have two nice sized planters in place, concentrate on them for now and also see if you can use more baskets and planters on the fencing, going upwards and leaving the lawn for the children and your dog, it will look more attractive to you and cheer you up no end..

Just re-read the Q and seen the trampoline is going - You could put a couple of tough flowering or evergreen shrubs in the ground at the far end of the garden then, rather than in a container. Hypericum Hidcote flowers for quite a long time, thornless, semi evergreen and stands cutting back drastically. Pop a blue perennial geranium under it for contrast. Both are harmless and fairly childproof.
You could grow clematis on those fences - protect the bottom foot or so of the stems by threading them through sections of drainpipe (ceramic if you can find any)when you plant them.

Thank you everyone for your advice and kind comments. There isn't any hope of moving so I have resigned myself to making the best of it. I don't have a garden in the front but the little bit of space I do have I've got some pretty pots on with some bulbs coming up, as in the back garden. I've ordered some seeds today and will pop in the back containers so they will hopefully will be flowering all summer. My other half said we could have the concrete bit on the far left removed by a professional and he will do a patio area there for my swing seat to sit on rather than the old shed base which has been there since we moved in as that gets the full sun in summer. I'm going to be daring and give the fake grass a go. Could be a mistake but couldn't look any worse hey lol. I like the planting ideas for the fences so will definitely give that a try. x

Astrantia at the bottom of the page you will find an A-Z, key in S then scroll down to Small Gardens, have a browse through the pages and photo's, also do the same with C and have a look at the Container Gardening, you might see something you like amongst them, don't know whether you would be interested but you could also look online at vertical pallet gardening, can work wonders with a pallet...

A little tip about artificial turf - if at all possible, use granite dust underneath, NOT sand - with dogs and kids over it, if you use sand, it'll be moving, rumpling up and generally be a pain in the proverbial. If you cannot get granite dust, then make sure its sharp sand, and you can send away for small samples of the varying turfs available before choosing one, link below which also has DIY instructions if you want to lay your own

http://www.lazylawn.co.uk/fitting.html

Drawbacks with artificial turf; it gets very hot in hot sunshine, and sounds 'crunchy' when you walk over it. And melts if a barbecue coal or a firework falls onto it - other than that, its a pretty good choice for situations like yours.

Hi, those long planters look as if they could do with filling up, just leave about 1 1/2 to 2" below the top for watering, if you sow any seeds in them at the moment, they will probably end up getting 'leggy' as they search for light, Derek.

Thank you so much for all your help. I've been reading the a to z and asking a few questions on lazylawn. I do definitely need to fill my planters up higher, just got short of time when bulbs needed to go in. Really appreciate all the advice. Feeling very inspired today what with a glimmer of sunny weather today. I've Been given another idea today to tile over the concrete bit at the bottom. I was told I could level it out with pretty bricks round the edge and then tile on top. Never thought of that.

Suttons have some good advice on choosing artificial grass if you're interested in going down that route.

What a dilemma! Happy children and dog or pretty garden! Much as I dislike decking perhaps some of that over the concrete with a rail at the front from which you could hang window boxes or stand your planters to screen part of it. You might encourage the children to treat it as a den and give the grass time to recover. I would stick with the real grass and perhaps cordon part off while it gets going now it's spring, perhaps again with some tougher grass seeded. Is not artificial grass expensive and probably not designed for heavy use unless you get the really high cost stuff? I have no idea, but would probably involve a lot of preparation to get it level and flat. Best of luck, but with all those fences just waiting for sweet-peas, Black-eyed Susan, honeysuckle, and a myriad of climbers you could have that covered in no time!

Forgot to mention - scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the letters for fencing ideas and climbing plant ideas - should get you dreaming!

Thank you again for all the advice and ideas. Getting really excited now. I have a good landscaper booking us in. He's going to sort the drainage out and preventative measures to stop it flooding in future. We have lots of artificial grass samples to look at as that's what 4 landscapers have recommended is the best thing for our situation so we'll get that ourselves. Can't wait to start covering the fences with the ideas you've all given me.

Show us some photos please - both ongoing and finished?

Hi I'm pleased to say after quite a few delays our landscaper is here today hooray! so I should be posting some photos over the next few days to show you. Just a shame my tulips have finished flowering, had a wonderful display of different types, was so pleased with them.

How nice that you've come back - looking forward to seeing what happens!

I've been so excited all day. I've updated the pictures but unfortunately it would only let me add three more in . Garden isn't finished, he's back tomorrow and even after that I've got bits to do but I'll swap the pictures in a few days to show more progress. I'm very pleased so far though

Wow! How are you going to keep the dogs off the lawn?

It's artificial turf, Steragram, or at least, I hope it is - it was suggested higher up the thread, and the preparation underneath shown in the pics suggests artificial turf on top. Looks better already Astrantia, just think, a mud free winter....

I know no mud horray. It is artificial turf and yes looking better already. Really like it all raised up. Now to pick something tile/slab for on top of concrete bit where swing is . id like to go spanish kind of colours and to take out log roll round trees and replace with maybe sleepers and put more purple slate all the way along. Then to tackle the other planters and fence. First job though which my 5 year old is very excited about is to jet wash the patio

When it stops raining, presumably, lol!

Great Bamboo - I did suggest artificial turf but having never seen it prepped I didn't recognise it. I really hope you are pleased with it Astrantia - and no mowing!

lol yep if it ever stops raining! you'd think with the amount of rain we are getting it would wash the patio but no! lol . I am really happy with it, can't wait to get picking the other bits for the garden.

I can understand your happy feeeling even with the rain, looks like a completely different garden.
Pleased for you Astrantia because you sounded so down in March which wasn't surprising with all that had happened during the previous year, now if we ever get some sunshine you can be outside with the family and relax knowing its looking very good...

Thank you lincslass, had been very tough year but feeling really happy now. I've updated the picture as I've put the slate down today. The other half has decided he likes the look of bamboo in pots to block out the neighbours a bit on the right so we are searching now for best price.

Looks great!