I will tell you about my experience with rabbits, and then you can draw your own conclusions. The nearest the house part of our garden is a crew yard of 2ft depth of fused iron ore. When we moved here I thought we could dig some beds into the gravel.... but obviously not. So I built raised beds and a pond out of leftover stone and brick..... Between the iron ore and the paddock was a broken down fence. I filled the raised beds with soil and plants, only to have rabbits come in and eat all my flowers.
The next year, we built a picket fence, and put netting behind it to stop the rabbits coming in, and they didn't come in, even though we got lazy and didn't close the gates.
The year after that, in the area beyond the picket fence, we levelled and put in a pitch for football etc. And still the rabbits didn't come.
The gates are always open now, and no rabbit has ever come in.
Throughout the whole time, Lincolnshire continues to be over-run by rabbits.
So my conclusions are....
That just because you get rabbits one year, you won't necessarily get them the next.
That when we enclosed the bit of the garden with the raised beds, even though we left the gates open out of laziness, the rabbits were aware that there was only one escape route and didn't want to take their chances.
That when we put a whole area of short cut grass between the wild mayhem of the overgrown paddock (where they hang out) and the garden, the rabbits did not want to travel over it for fear of being exposed.
The only other factor which may have had an effect is that next door got cats, so maybe rabbits don't like them?
Of course my dog comment was slightly tongue in cheek and as Philippa says only get a dog if you want one and have done your research etc. As an owner of two rescue Beagles I wouldn't advocate getting a dog just as a culling device
I agree with you Busy Bee2, in our first year of serious gardening with new hard landscaping and lots of planting we had a lot of trouble with rabbits, they even chewed the bark off our young trees, now two years on we have no real rabbit problems, we do have rabbits under our shed, and there are rabbits all around, but they do not bother us, we do take preventative measures like wire round young shrubs to stop rabbits getting to them until they are established, we even bought a battery operated sensor in the shape of a owl that hoots and it's red eyes flash when it's set off, but just remember plants move in the breeze, our first night couldn't sleep for the thing hooting, had to get up in the wee small hours out into the garden and switch it off... It is confusing to me why we don't have rabbit issues, the only reason i can think off is that there is easier food to be had in surrounding gardens...
Thank you phillipa, I wasn't advocating a new fad diet for children, my boys chewed all sorts of things on the way up, now I can't stop them clearing the fridge as soon as it's half full. Maybe a chocolate coated rabbit dropping or two would discourage them?
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The next year, we built a picket fence, and put netting behind it to stop the rabbits coming in, and they didn't come in, even though we got lazy and didn't close the gates.
The year after that, in the area beyond the picket fence, we levelled and put in a pitch for football etc. And still the rabbits didn't come.
The gates are always open now, and no rabbit has ever come in.
Throughout the whole time, Lincolnshire continues to be over-run by rabbits.
So my conclusions are....
That just because you get rabbits one year, you won't necessarily get them the next.
That when we enclosed the bit of the garden with the raised beds, even though we left the gates open out of laziness, the rabbits were aware that there was only one escape route and didn't want to take their chances.
That when we put a whole area of short cut grass between the wild mayhem of the overgrown paddock (where they hang out) and the garden, the rabbits did not want to travel over it for fear of being exposed.
The only other factor which may have had an effect is that next door got cats, so maybe rabbits don't like them?
I agree with you Busy Bee2, in our first year of serious gardening with new hard landscaping and lots of planting we had a lot of trouble with rabbits, they even chewed the bark off our young trees, now two years on we have no real rabbit problems, we do have rabbits under our shed, and there are rabbits all around, but they do not bother us, we do take preventative measures like wire round young shrubs to stop rabbits getting to them until they are established, we even bought a battery operated sensor in the shape of a owl that hoots and it's red eyes flash when it's set off, but just remember plants move in the breeze, our first night couldn't sleep for the thing hooting, had to get up in the wee small hours out into the garden and switch it off... It is confusing to me why we don't have rabbit issues, the only reason i can think off is that there is easier food to be had in surrounding gardens...
Thank you phillipa, I wasn't advocating a new fad diet for children, my boys chewed all sorts of things on the way up, now I can't stop them clearing the fridge as soon as it's half full. Maybe a chocolate coated rabbit dropping or two would discourage them?
My comment re the children was actually aimed at the OP, of course you wouldn't feed your children rabbit droppings LOL
Everybody wants to kill the rabbits
Its so sad. And the rats. 
Fencing to keep them out is the best idea ( in my opinion )