my garden is a jungle....help!!!!!

i would advise you get in tree surgeon's , they will take down the conifers and drill out the old stumps without destroying your house.it may cost a few hundred pounds , but it's money well spent.
start nearest the house and gradually move towards the bottom of the garden, that way you can see what space you have and once the decking is done, somewhere to sit and admire your handywork!
the bottom bit of garden.... i bet a few days work with a sythe or strimmer will work wonders, the beauty of 'cottage' gardens is there is no formal layout, so cut a few paths through the jungle , incorporate what is already there , you maybe surprised how good it will look with just a 'haircut'........good luck

I guess you've gone to live in the wrong place!

when we moved into our house we had two conifers about a metre apart, right in the middle of the garden. We put a pond in front of them but found it difficult to access the pond so what we did was took a chain saw to them and were left with two stumps about 6inches high. We then nailed an old scaffolding plank between them and hey presto we have a seat where we can view the pond.

i would rent the house out to a gardening fanatic then get it back when work is done lol

I'll do a house swap with you if you like - you can have my town house with smallish garden and no big trees and I'll have your lovely big garden with it's big trees - the sort of garden dreams of made of!!! :-D

You can always hire a professional landscaper or a designer to do a layout and arrangement for exactly what you want. As long as you are straight forward about what you want and are willing to maintain this would be a good course for you. If you prefer to "do it yourself" I would do a lot of research first and hire professionals for some things like taking out the trees and building the decking. Any garden is going to require some maintenance but you can have this at whatever level you like by how you arrange and set up your space. Who knows you may find you enjoy spending time doing garden jobs!

If you do get professional help with the trees, the tree surgeons will be able to 'chip' all the debris or just remove it for you, as well as grind out the stumps. This will save a lot of work and expense, as hiring skips costs a fortune. Cutting down 'very large trees' is not an easy or safe job for amateurs. I wouldn't tackle it! Then as Steve says, start with the area nearest to the house and plan what you'd like for each further section. A wish-list! What fun! Don't think of this as a massive task, remember the elephant. You can't tackle it all at once - do it in small 'bites' and even an elephant can be dealt with! I hope you 'get' the analogy!