How do I get rid of a soggy lawn

[kendunlop]

Part of our lawn gets really soggy during heavy rain and in winter never dries out. I had an idea to lay about 2 inches of gravel, then topsoil and then re-turf, hence lifting the lawn by about 6 inches. Would this work? Any other ideas?

[rekstout]

If it is a clay soil then try to get more sand into it which will bulk it up and improve drainage.

You can do this without removing the turf by walking along with a garden fork and making holes every four inches or so uning the prongs of the fork (as far as they will go). Then pour sand into the holes. Over time, the sand will work into the soil and improve its drainage ability.

Try that first as it's a far easier job to do, if the area is particularly low lying then it may not work and raising the ground level would be you only option but wathc where the water will run to when you do this (i.e. make sure that water that was collecting there doesn't subsequently collect somewhere worse like against your house walls or your flowerbeds)