Front garden drainage/when to plant hedge

Not sure if this is the right section so, apologies if not. I've recently moved in to a "cottage" that needs a lot of work both inside and out and have started on the small front garden. So far I have ripped out an old tree, hedging and a concrete path that ran alongside the house. I've just had a fence put up around the perimeter and have been mattocking out the roots from the tree and was wondering about drainage as it slopes towards the house. Do I need to put something in (French drain?) or is it just a question of re-levelling the soil so that it's slanted away from the house? I haven't yet noticed any pooling of water near the house to be honest, but wasn't sure how this would be affected when I put membrane down and stones etc...

I also plan to put in some hedging, just inside the fence area - maybe Beech 6-7ft instant hedging, but read somewhere that I only have until April to plant?

Pics here, thanks.

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Thanks, I think I'm worrying about nothing. Only reason for membrane is I just wanted slate/stones at the front and pot plants and didn't want to weed. Pot grown it is then!

 

It's only a mild slope, but I've just been out there levelling it off somewhat. I've turned over and filled in the bit where the old concrete path was with soil and am was going to start the process of levelling it the other way (away from the house)...hmmm so many options!

 

Another newbie question, save making a new thread - How far away from a fence do I need to plant hedging and what is the best spacing for Laurel? (I said Beech before!).

 

Bare rooted hedging should be planted now, before the end of the month. Bare rooted plants are also very cheap now with lots of bargains around as the growers will be wanting to quickly sell any of their stock which is unsold. I wouldn't go for laurel...it's kind of boring. How about a mixed hedge?

 

If I don't manage to get round to getting bare root I was just intending to get the pot grown stuff. A mixed hedge would be okay, but I need to buy instant hedging already at around 7ft as I need it dense enough so the neighbours/general public can't see through.

 

Ah something I forgot to ask, how far away from the fence do I plant a hedge? And for 6-7ft plants is the spacing I need roughly 2ft from each other? Thanks