The first raised bed

It is possible we don't really need raised beds here for the purpose of helping the soil warm early in the year to extend the growing season, as the growing season is a reasonable length anyway. However we want them to keep the beds there they are meant to be, and to stop the wood chips we plan on using on the paths from getting in to the beds.
A few weeks ago, we layed out the outline of the area with string, we then bought and cut the wood for 3 beds. (There will be something like 20 in total. It is unlikely we will make them all this year)
We put together the first bed

and while I dug more mud off the car parking area at the top of the drive (6 more wheelbarrows full - back breaking work)

Doug dug the bed in to the ground and then dug over the earth in it

 Added some leaves (we hope they will break down a bit before we plant anything)

And then put some damp and partially rotted hay that the sheep have thrown on the ground on top to finish killing the weeks. We hope it will be ok if we just plant things like beans or courgettes through the straw. Carrots for example we will dig the ground more thoroughly for and not give leaves and straw.

We don't know what we are doing though, so hopefully it will all work out. The wood we used for these beds is intended for concrete forms and not treated in any way, so it is possible they will just rot away pdq. We hope not as the wood seems pretty solid, and treated wood is a.) expensive and b.) full of chemicals that will leach out and be bad for us.
You can't really see in the photos, but the bed is made by screwing the sides on to corner pieces. These corner pieces are not hammened in to the ground, they are just as long as the planks are wide, then the whole bed has been sunk a few inches in to the earth which will support the sides a bit we hope. They are rectangular - although the corners don't look 90° in the photo, they are.