On flat ground I would be looking at a raised-bed type of rockery. I don't like wood or artificial blocks so would use natural stone to build the raised-bed with a steep wall on the north side falling away to a low retainind wall (1 stone high) on the south side. Fill with a gritty compost and use more stone to give some feature to it.

Totally agree!

Brilliant, thank you we will attempt to follow your suggestion and post photos as we go.

Good idea to use large stones and try to make pockets of soil between them - the idea is to try to imitate natural strata if you have room. If you just sit smaller stones on top of the soil it will never look natural. Best of luck, its hard work but well worth it! Looking forward to the photos.