Hedging ideas,please.

I think beech hedges always look lovely, and they're great for the declining bee population.

There is a long beech hedge nearby where I walk my dog everyday, and you can hear the bees buzzing and flying around.

Good luck finding something suitable.

I have a Pyrocantha hedge which has the same drawbacks. A few years ago I hacked it right back to a foot width but it is back to about 3ft again.
A neighbour has a tiny-leaved variegated holly hedge which doesn't need cutting often and is very attractive. Of course there is also good old-fashioned Privet, and some Euonymus are very easy to shape.
I hope you find something to suit your needs.

A yew hedge is low maintenance, and evergreen. A beech hedge, although attractive, sheds its leaves.

I have Griselinia hedges here. They don't take too long to establish, have lovely green leaves and are easy to trim [soft stalks, not woody like privet or laurel] and to keep in shape.

Mine look lovely, visitors comment how nice they are.

...And they keep their leaves, so greenery all through the year.

Red berberis is also great for security reasons. Love Phoetinia too, but constant cutting spoil the colour. Must say OH does not miss cutting a massive privet hedge, and about 80 metres of Yew!

What about Blueberry Burberry hedge. It's a variety of blueberry, makes a lovely evergreen hedge with the benefit of pretty white flowers in the spring, and blueberries in the autumn.
Have a look at it, from Thompson and Morgan.

Blueberry Buxberry

Escallonia?

I'd go for hawthorn - pretty, scented flowers in spring and shiny red berries in late summer/autumn. The berries are food for many wild birds and the thorny plants make secure nest sites in spring. The sheer thorniness of a hawthorn hedge at your boundary can be a security plus point, too!

I prefer mixed hedges a mix of lots of different evergreens tends to look less hedge like and doesn't need to be kept quite so neatly trimmed.

Depends on what you want the hedge for. Keeping burglars out: berberis stenophylla.

Fast privacy: 6 foot trellis and pretty roses or clematis.

I have A hedge at the front of Rosa Rugosa. Very pretty and I just cut it back once a year.

I agree with Scribbles. We've had a "mixed hawthorn" hedge planted on two ides of our garden. (This is mostly hawthorn, but has other hedging plants included, e.g. holly.) It was planted in December and is already growing well. The birds love it, and it offers a great deal to support wildlife (from insects, up to mammals.) Wildlife in the UK needs all the help that it can get!

We have holly hedges, evergreen and the birds like the berries and also good for cutting and taking into the house at Christmas.

If maintenance is a problem, why not a fence? One of those decorative ones you can get these days, part boarding part trellis and plant clematis, roses and other climbers towork in and out of it.

Photinia (red robin) make lovely decorative hedging, easy to clip with pretty red new growth.

Someone near us had a hedge of photinia alternated with something similar in bright green (not sure what that is, it could be choisya. It looks very attractive.

A friend has a huge lavender hedge. The lavender is one that grows to be about 3 ft high when in full bloom in summer but would be about 2 ft once clipped back in the winter.

You would need to make sure you got the right lavender as they vary in size.

Do you want a hedge of flowers or no?