Whats the best tools to use?

My garden is completely overgrown, but there is an underlying problem, I cant just use a lawnmower, Only the top inch would be soil on which the grass/weeds are growing, the rest is gravel which was possibly layed over 30 odd years ago. I want to bring it back to a garden by removing the gravel but not sure what would be the best tools to use for that. Please Help