Hi - we had a similar problem as sloping gardens can be the norm in South Wales! We originally had wooden decking - which as everyone has said has maintenance and slipping issues - but changed to composite decking after about 10 years. This is terrific as it's non slip and so easy to brush down. The only thing you need to be careful with is rust which can mark it. Having said that if you love wood there are non slip solutions that are quite effective. With regard to the sides we have glass and covered metal supports which not only stop small children flying off the edge but also add a decorative finish. The beams underneath the decking raise it to the same level as the patio doors so it's quite seamless moving from house to garden. The beams are protected by the decking so they just needed a top up coat of something that smelled disgusting when we replaced the wood with plastic. There are two steps down to the garden and again we've never had any problems as they are quite wide and deep. Oh! And I have had a number of cats living here and expected to find corpses of the rats someone else mentioned...nothing just the fattest spiders you've ever seen. Yuck! Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

The makeover commences in the morning. Rather than a complete revamp we have opted for a restoration of the status quo. The flags are to be taken up and relayed with the sunken square (formerly an eighties style brick built bbq) raised onto the same level as the surrounding patio. The wooden edging has had its day and is to be taken up, with new edging (as yet unknown) in its place. Some of the shrubs are also going - one or two of them seem to be existing much like Schrodinger's Cat - the foliage lustrous and waxy whilst the substructure of twigs dried out and brittle. It looks to my untrained eye to be dead but possibly this is due to my ignorance of all things horticultural.

As a vague vision, (can help on detail if you think ok In principle) Ideally I’d reclaim the annexe for play/music/ kids room and annexe bed add ensuite as use for students. Turn cloak room to downstairs loo access from hall. current student bed into cloak/boots storage and utility. Open up current utility to access new cloak room and if you need extra kitchen space could put larder where wash machine etc is at moment, I would avoid too much wall movement as expensive assuming you need to save the money for new chalet in garden (friend achieved chalet style for around £65-70k). If you have budget I would certainly extend upstairs one side of house to make use of eades and up to full height so you could have as a minimum bunk bed arrangement or 2beds depending ages of your children. Pending budget could look into whether can get another bedroom up there. Obviously this is just a vision would need more detail to confirm, hope you can see mark up on plan attached

Thank you Carolina and Minnie. I'm still surprised people are so helpful on these forums- really grateful for everyone's advice! I'm no expert at design for sure - if it's xray guided surgery no problems haha. Carolina I'm glad you think the steps can look OK. I'm beginning to think maybe it might not look so odd. The kitchen design is just whatever the architect put together himself for the plans, but I'm yet to consider how to actually lay it out. Any advice? The idea for the 'utility' is that there will be long closet / cupboards from wall to ceiling with the washer and dryer hidden by those. I know it's called utility but in reality itll just be an extension to the massive hallway in order to get access to the kitchen and downstairs loo. Storing the washer and dryer there was a thought to utilise the remainder of that space. The reason it has to have a door is because the architect says new fire safety rules stipulate there has to be a fire door to a kitchen to prevent fire from spreading to the main house. Otherwise I would have just not kept that door at all and kept a big hallway. Although the hall is disproportionate, with the high ceilings, it is what we really liked about the property and gave a really nice airy feeling to the place. Minnie thank you for that link. What a stunning conservatory they've built. With regards to having one set of steps- I was thinking the same at one point - that maybe I could just keep one set of steps from the 'utility' down - and swap the kitchen and dining space. The only thing that I don't like about that idea is that I wanted there to be a free flow of space to go from the living room down into the extension too. But I guess you can't have everything in life and maybe having a bannister like they have in the link you've sent, would allow for that airy feeling and continuity of light. Should people need to go from the living room down into the kitchen they'd have to go through the 'utility'....