Gardening advice

You may find eventually a friendly GOY member who lives near you, but as there's no guarantee, and I guess good expertise from a professional could be costly, you'll find in the meantime that if you post plenty of photos of the garden as it now is, and include a bit of detail about the kind of *soil in your area/whether it's shady/sunny and so on - lots of us will chip in and give you ideas of things to try at first and the types of plants that are not complicated but will look great.
Good luck with your project! Does your plan include room for a compost bin? Hope so.

*If you don't know about soil type, I suggest you ask a neighbour who gardens, or take a sample along to a garden centre and they'd probably advise you. Is it very sticky and heavy, difficult to dig (clay) or sandy, peaty, or looks as if previous gardeners have enriched it with compost?

I'd also suggest going round the local neighbourhood and see what your neighbours are growing. If it is doing well for them, it's going to do well for you too. If you see something you really like, you could knock on the door and ask them what it is or take a photo and post it on here and we'll try and identify it

You coud also keep a notebook and jot down any plants and shrubs that you like - look at books/magazines and the photos and gardens on this site for ideas, also try to visit other gardens - Open ones via the NGS Yellow Book, National Trust etc. Also, visit a Garden Centre and make notes of anything that catches your eye. Then, ask on here for suitable combinations to plant in your garden and we'll try to help you! AND our services come free - what more could you want? :-)