An overgrown garden always looks like more work than it is, because you take in the whole thing at once. It isn't one job. It's a sequence, and done in the right order it comes back faster than you'd think. Done in the wrong order, you make three jobs out of one.
Here's the order I use on a rescue, whether it's a season's neglect or a few years of it.
First, check before you cut
Ten minutes here saves trouble later.
Wildlife. Long grass and dense growth is where hedgehogs shelter and, from spring into summer, where birds nest. Walk it slowly first. If a hedge or a bramble patch is in active use, leave that bit and come back in a fortnight; the rest can wait. (More on the nesting-bird side of this in hedge cutting and nesting birds.)
What's actually there. Under the mess there's often a decent shrub, a fruit tree, or a border worth keeping. Work out what stays before anything gets ripped out. You can't put it back once it's on the trailer.
Knock it all down to one rough height
The usual mistake is starting in one corner and trying to finish it perfectly. You run out of daylight with one tidy patch and an untouched jungle.
Do the opposite. Take the whole garden down to a rough, manageable height first: a strimmer for the heavy growth, then the mower once it's low enough to take it. Don't tidy anything yet. The point is just to see the shape of the place again. Once it's all knocked back, the real jobs become obvious.
Clear the cuttings before anything else
Green waste left lying smothers what's underneath and doubles the work once it wilts into a mat. Get it off the ground and bagged as you go. On a proper clearance this is half the labour and most of the mess, and it's the part people underestimate. Taking the waste away is part of what I do on a rescue, precisely because a car boot won't touch the volume.
Then, and only then, the detail
With the bulk gone and the ground clear, the finishing work is quick. Define the borders, cut a clean edge along the paths and beds, take the brambles and ivy back to where you want them, and give the lawn a second, lower cut a week later once it's recovered from the first.
When it's worth calling someone
Plenty of overgrown gardens are a good weekend's work for anyone reasonably fit. It's worth calling for a hand when:
it's beyond a weekend and you'd rather have it done in a day;
there's heavy bramble, ivy, or self-set saplings that blunt hand tools;
or you genuinely can't tell what to keep, and don't want to lose something good.
I take these on as a one-off, waste taken away, and most of the gardens I rescue are around Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye and out toward Newent.
Bottom line
Check first. Knock the whole thing back before you tidy any of it. Clear the waste as you go. Then do the detail. An overgrown garden isn't a lost cause; it's just a job that rewards being done in the right order.
If yours has got away from you and you'd like a hand, give me a call and I'll come and have a look.