Renovating Garden

A question about : Renovating Garden

We are undertaking a fairly large project to completely redo our garden. We inherited a fairly blank slate which is fortunate, although there was a brick shed right in the middle of it! We have now demolished this, salvaged the majority of the bricks which we intend to reuse as a brick pathway and a built-in BBQ. We want to put decking over the old foundation of the brick shed, as well as installing a small greenhouse and new (smaller) shed. Trouble is, it's difficult to visualise all this! Does anyone know of some good (free) garden design software?

We have looked online and tried a few of the first ones which come up in a google search, but they're not very good and/or don't really do what we need. Recommendations would be great!

Best answers:

• Not being funny, but given the cost/effort of a complete make-over, have you considered hiring a designer to come up with ideas and layouts? They should also give you an idea about materials, costs and so forth.
  The time to become proficient with any drawing package shouldn't be underestimated and it's frustrating when you're a newbie too.
• I have looked (being both a keen gardener, and spending most of my waking non-gardening time stuck in front of this damn machine), but I have not found.
  I have paid out a few quid for some - and they all turn out to have the same graphical engine (hopeless & clunky), a similar lack of plants in the database, and a proprietary file system, so no export. You can find them on Amazon & Ebay, various names, some aged ones marketed by Geoff Hamilton, some newer ones, but based on the same system. It's also the one (or very similar) used by Shootgardening, which is online.
  I'm afraid I resorted to pen & paper in the end. That, and just bunging the plants in! I will watch for suggestions from others....
• What about just taking a picture from an upstairs window, printing it and then drawing over with tracing paper to try different ideas?
• That's an excellent idea! Thanks, I think we'll try that.
• I had a lot of fun redesigning a garden last summer using the Marshalls Garden Visualiser.
  https://www.marshalls.co.uk/transform/garden_visualiser/
  It obviously uses Marshalls products but, with a little imagination, it is not too difficult to substitute items to give the required effect e.g. wood effect paving slabs for decking areas.
  You can also view a 3D representation from all sides, and we were pleased to find our end result was just what we wanted.