Have you taken the leylandii down ? The first thing to remember when taking any hedging out is to see what lays beyond, if the trunks of the leylandii were kept then these could have become a good feature and with some clever thought a tapestry of climbers could of been used to screen the eyesore beyond, if the stumps have to stay then it’s either a fence or hedging, the latter will take more time, here’s what I did over in the french garden, leylandii cut back the trunks kept between each trunk the impoverished soil was dug out and replaced with decent earthy compost and planted laurel which is quick to get going, I did this three years back and it’s doing fine, you try putting some trellis up, make your own chunky square trellis by using roofing lats paint with Tudor black fence paint and plant with quick growing climbers . It’s fairly cheap to do, have a look at Lonicera baggesons gold does well in this aspect very quick growing and is evergreen or really it’s cheerful yellow all year round.

Thank you, Julien. Yes, the leylandii are already down. I really wish we'd thought to check out what we'd look out upon before removing them! We didn't keep the trunks but what a good idea! Thanks for suggesting climbers. I'll have a look at Lonicera baggesons gold - it would be really good to have some cover all year round. Thanks for your suggestions.