strawberries from seed

I've been meaning to replace the strawberries that I had decimated by vine weevil but there was always something else I wanted so never got around to it. The other day at the garden center I picked up a couple of packets of seed for 50p each and thought I'd have a go that route. My questions are:
Anyone grown them from seed before?
When should I plant them? (packet says spring)
Are they easy?
Their are around 30 seeds total so I'm hoping to get 20 plants out of them. They are an ever bearing variety which I have not tried growing before. What I'm HOPING to get are several flushes of berries through summer and not a glut all at one time.
Any help or advice is much appreciated!!

 

I have tried myself to germinate some, but it never worked.

Established strawberry plants give easily life to new plants by means of the side growth so, unless you really want to see the plant developing from seed, I think it is more convenient to buy a few plants which will give you endless other plants. The same could be said for other plants, flowers.

 

When I tried to grow them from seed, germination was very slow and erratic. Personally, as miraflores says, I wouldn't bother, the plants are so cheap and their runners will provide you with more plants, which will provide more runners, which will provide more plants ... ad infinitum.

 

Thank you ladies. I'll plant the seeds anyway and see what happens but most likely buy some plants next spring. The seeds were only a quid so no big loss if nothing happens.......