I'm very surprised you were quoted £600, or very behind the times with my pricing. Our neighbour had their privet hedge cut back which went above the gutter height on a two storey house and it was probably 3-4 metres thick in places. This was done last spring and it's now about 6ft and a couple of feet wide. It cost them £125 including removing all the cuttings and the guys even went round the neighbours at the bottom and did their side to make it all proper. That price also included trimming a laurel hedge which looks a similar height to yours albeit not as thick.
But my longwinded point is that with a couple of months, even though it was properly hacked back to a framework, you wouldn't have noticed it had been touched.
Too late to go back now! It really is a time consuming job because the vast majority of it you can't use a hedge trimmer on and needs the loppers. I'm thinking I'll get it all down to about 1.5 metres high by deep and then see if I can cut through the thick stumps at the bottom with a saw and just remove the whole thing?
While it's pretty bare, if you can find the time and energy to pull out the ivy that's in the bottom while you can see it easily, so much the better (I have ivy in my privet, and I never completely get rid of it but keeping reasonably on top of it is a good idea if you can manage it).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
If you wanted to keep it (can't remember) that should bounce back next Spring and could then be kept under control at the height/width of your choice. As Jenny says, it you can pull out as much ivy as you can and give the hedge a good feed next year, it should look much better.
Carry on and do it all like that. Then it'll green up next year and you'll have the makings of a smart hedge ... my mother in law has one that just needs going over with a small set of electric clippers when we visit two or three times a year. Half an hour each time at the most.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
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I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
But my longwinded point is that with a couple of months, even though it was properly hacked back to a framework, you wouldn't have noticed it had been touched.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.