I'm going to have a brand new garden this Winter, it'll be a completely blank canvas with *nothing whatsoever* (bar a big rectangle of grass) in it!

This means that we get the opportunity to plan it all out for ourselves. From what I understand Winter (or maybe Autumn) is the best time of year to initiate such a project, and get all the boring muddy stuff done ready for the new year...

Thing is we're only 'potterers' in the garden, never had a project like this before that entails doing all the planning and soil preparation and so-on.. So where to start?

The front garden is relatively small and North facing. There is a busy road out front that I'd like to shield the house from.
The back garden is around 120ft long (and maybe 40ft wide) and South facing.

As a general guide I love the romance of cottage gardens (who doesn't), ornamental potagers (especially 'heritage vegetables'), historic medicinal herbal gardens, woodland flowers and bulbs. And indeed pretty much anything green and growing that has a bit of magic, mystery and folk-lore attached.

I'd love to get this garden started right so we can make it something special in the years to come. Help!