I grew up in Merseyside, and lots of privet hedges there too. My mum had one, it was green and bushy all year round, and it was a lovely thing when it flowered.
They are good sources of nectar and pollen for bees and butterflies.
The OP already has a privet hedge which, with a bit of care, will make a nice boundary.
Bee x
Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
My entire garden I have attempted to keep to native plants bar two cherry blossoms which are older than my years. I have one side hawthorn - one privet and the last hornbeam - the front garden all privet. It seems to work and the wildlife thrives in and around it. I even have a weasel that hunkers down in the log store - I am very lucky. I love privet 😍
Hornbeam is my favourite hedge @coppard.sarah, but privet is also brilliant as it's so sturdy. You can also let some of it grow if you want, and it'll become a tree. The flowers are excellent for pollinators Weasels are great little creatures. They'll love hiding in among your boundaries. It can be difficult only keeping native species though. Don't worry about adding other non native plants, as so many can benefit wildlife too. A good mix is the ideal if you can manage it .
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Nobody mentioned scent. Both the native vulgare and the all too commonly planted ovalifolium. I love it, and so do the bees, and it carries. But not everybody does like the smell.
There is gloriously scented (to me) spread of wild vulgare by the Gannel river crossing by Newquay, Cornwall. Worth timimg your South West Coastal Path walk to coincide with it's flowering.
I have one samll plant in my scent garden. But never as a hedge.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
My mum had one, it was green and bushy all year round, and it was a lovely thing when it flowered.
They are good sources of nectar and pollen for bees and butterflies.
The OP already has a privet hedge which, with a bit of care, will make a nice boundary.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Weasels are great little creatures. They'll love hiding in among your boundaries.
It can be difficult only keeping native species though. Don't worry about adding other non native plants, as so many can benefit wildlife too. A good mix is the ideal if you can manage it .
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
There is gloriously scented (to me) spread of wild vulgare by the Gannel river crossing by Newquay, Cornwall. Worth timimg your South West Coastal Path walk to coincide with it's flowering.
I have one samll plant in my scent garden. But never as a hedge.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."